Amélie Mauresmo is a French professional tennis player who won two Grand Slam titles—the Australian Open and Wimbledon—in 2006. Mauresmo was not yet four when she watched countryman Yannick Noah win the French Open, and his victory inspired her to take up the game. She took to tennis easily, and in

Mauretania, transatlantic passenger liner of the Cunard Line, called the “Grand Old Lady of the Atlantic.” It was launched in 1906 and made its maiden voyage in 1907; thereafter, it held the Atlantic Blue Riband for speed until 1929, challenged only by its sister ship, the Lusitania (sunk by a

Mauretania: …ocean liner with the name Mauretania was launched in 1938 by the Cunard White Star Line. It made its maiden voyage the following year and, like its predecessor, was noted for its luxury and service. With the outbreak of World War II, the Mauretania became a transport ship but resumed…

Mauretania, region of ancient North Africa corresponding to present northern Morocco and western and central Algeria north of the Atlas Mountains. Its native inhabitants, seminomadic pastoralists of Berber stock, were known to the Romans as the Mauri (i.e., Moors) and the Massaesyli. From the 6th

North Africa: The rise and decline of native kingdoms: …was divided into two provinces, Mauretania Caesariensis, with its capital at Caesarea, and Mauretania Tingitana, with its capital at Tingis (Tangier, Morocco).

North Africa: The rise and decline of native kingdoms: …its capital at Caesarea, and Mauretania Tingitana, with its capital at Tingis (Tangier, Morocco).

Anastasia: …French play, Anastasia, written by Marcelle Maurette (1903–72) and first produced in 1954. An American film version appeared in 1956, with Ingrid Bergman winning an Academy Award for her title role.

Sénégal River: People and economy: …small groups of Fulani and Mauri (Maure or Moors) are found.

Claude Mauriac was a French novelist, journalist, and critic. He was a practitioner of the avant-garde school of nouveau roman (“new novel”) writers, who, in the 1950s and ’60s, spurned the traditional novel. A son of the novelist François Mauriac, he was able to make the acquaintance of many

François Mauriac was a novelist, essayist, poet, playwright, journalist, and winner in 1952 of the Nobel Prize for Literature. He belonged to the lineage of French Catholic writers who examined the ugly realities of modern life in the light of eternity. His major novels are sombre, austere

Maurice was an outstanding general and emperor (582–602) who helped transform the shattered late Roman Empire into a new and well-organized medieval Byzantine Empire. Maurice first entered the government as a notary but in 578 was made commander of the imperial forces in the East. Distinguished by

Maurice, novel by E.M. Forster, published posthumously in 1971. Because of the work’s homosexual theme, the novel was published only after Forster’s death. Maurice Hall, a student at the University of Cambridge, reaches maturity and self-awareness when he accepts his homosexuality and also

Merchant and Ivory: …followed by three Forster adaptations—Maurice (1987), A Room with a View (1986), and Howards End (1992)—all of which won awards. For the latter two films, Ivory received Academy Award nominations for best director, and both were nominated for best picture. By the time The Remains of the Day was…

Maurice was the duke (1541–53) and later elector (1547–53) of Saxony, whose clever manipulation of alliances and disputes gained the Albertine branch of the Wettin dynasty extensive lands and the electoral dignity. Maurice succeeded his father, Duke Henry of Saxony, in 1541. Although a Protestant,

Maurice was the hereditary stadtholder (1585–1625) of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, or Dutch Republic, and the successor to his father, William I the Silent. His development of military strategy, tactics, and engineering made the Dutch army the most modern in the Europe of his time.

United Kingdom: Lloyd George: Although this controversy, the so-called Maurice Debate (which took place on May 9), strengthened Lloyd George temporarily, it also made clear his dependence upon the Conservatives. Soon afterward, in the summer of 1918, he began to plan what he expected to be a wartime general election to be entered into…

Australian literature: Nationalism and expansion: Her Maurice Guest (1908), set in Leipzig, Germany, is an antiromantic novel about ordinariness caught up with genius, provincialism among the exotic, the tragedy of an insufficiently great passion. Her three-volume masterpiece, The Fortunes of Richard Mahony (1917–29), traces the fluctuating fortunes of the immigrants who…

Millville, city, Cumberland county, southwestern New Jersey, U.S. It lies at the head of navigation on the Maurice River, 45 miles (72 km) south of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Union Lake, formed by a dam (1806), is to the northwest. The earliest settlers were woodcutters who built cabins along the

Paula Fox: Writing career: These include Maurice’s Room (1966), Portrait of Ivan (1969), The Western Coast (1972), The Little Swineherd, and Other Tales (1978), The Moonlight Man (1986), Western Wind (1993), and Amzat and His Brothers: Three Italian Tales (1993). Her book

Frederick Denison Maurice was a major English theologian of 19th-century Anglicanism and prolific author, remembered chiefly as a founder of Christian Socialism. Prevented from graduation in law at Cambridge by his refusal to subscribe to the Thirty-nine Articles, the Anglican confession of faith,

Furnley Maurice was an Australian poet, best known for his book To God: From the Warring Nations (1917), a powerful indictment of the waste, cruelty, and stupidity of war. He was also the author of lyrics, satirical verses, and essays. At age 14 Wilmot worked in a Melbourne bookshop, rising to the

Joan Robinson was a British economist and academic who contributed to the development and furtherance of Keynesian economic theory. Joan Maurice studied at the University of Cambridge, earning a degree in economics in 1925. In 1926 she married Austin Robinson, another Cambridge economist. She

Frederick Denison Maurice was a major English theologian of 19th-century Anglicanism and prolific author, remembered chiefly as a founder of Christian Socialism. Prevented from graduation in law at Cambridge by his refusal to subscribe to the Thirty-nine Articles, the Anglican confession of faith,

Maurice was the hereditary stadtholder (1585–1625) of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, or Dutch Republic, and the successor to his father, William I the Silent. His development of military strategy, tactics, and engineering made the Dutch army the most modern in the Europe of his time.

Saint Maurice ; feast day September 22) was a Christian soldier whose alleged martyrdom, with his comrades, inspired a cult still practiced today. Among those martyred with him were SS. Vitalis, Candidus, and Exuperius. He is the patron saint of the Vatican’s Swiss Guard. Their story was recorded

Maurienne, high Alpine valley, about 80 miles (130 km) long, in southeastern France. Drained by the Arc River, a tributary of the Isère, it consists of a succession of large basins and narrow, wild gorges that are cut through outcrops of heavily folded and overthrust rocks. A bevy of hydroelectric

Daphne du Maurier was an English novelist and playwright, daughter of actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier, best known for her novel Rebecca (1938). Du Maurier’s first novel, The Loving Spirit (1931), was followed by many successful, usually romantic tales set on the wild coast of Cornwall, where

George du Maurier was a British caricaturist whose illustrations for Punch were acute commentaries on the Victorian scene. He also wrote three successful novels. Du Maurier’s happy childhood at Passy, France, is recalled in Peter Ibbetson (1891), and his full-blooded enjoyment of student life in

Sir Gerald du Maurier was an actor-manager, the chief British exponent of a delicately realistic style of acting that sought to suggest rather than to state the deeper emotions. A son of the artist and novelist George du Maurier, he won immense popularity, but the fact that he presented characters

Félix Vallotton: …protégè of artist and printmaker Charles Maurin, who introduced him to the art of woodcut. Maurin also introduced Vallotton to the haunts of Montmartre—the cafés and cabarets such as Le Chat Noir, where he met artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Vallotton moved to live near Montparnasse, the city’s slumlike breeding ground…

Dorothy Day: In 1932 Day met Peter Maurin, a French-born Catholic who had developed a program of social reconstruction, which he initially called “the green revolution,” based on communal farming and the establishment of houses of hospitality for the urban poor. The program, now called the Catholic Worker Movement, aimed to…

Maurist, member of a former congregation of French Benedictine monks founded in 1618 and devoted to strict observance of the Benedictine Rule and especially to historical and ecclesiastical scholarship. The Maurists excelled both as editors and as historians, and many of their texts remain the best

Mauritania, country on the Atlantic coast of Africa. Mauritania forms a geographic and cultural bridge between the North African Maghrib (a region that also includes Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia) and the westernmost portion of sub-Saharan Africa. Culturally, it forms a transitional zone between

Although Mauritania includes both black African and Arab-Berber populations, the official symbolism of the nation’s flag and coat of arms is associated with the latter. The flag’s green background and its star and crescent are traditional Muslim symbols, in use for centuries. The design is of the

Mauritania: History of Mauritania: This discussion focuses on the history of Mauritania since European contact. For a more complete treatment of the country in its regional context, see western Africa, history of.

Moktar Ould Daddah: …an authoritarian one-party system (Mauritanian People’s Party, of which he was secretary-general). In July 1978 dissatisfaction with the costly attempt by Mauritania to annex part of former Spanish Sahara resulted in his ouster by a military coup d’état led by Lieutenant Colonel Mustafa Ould Salek.

Moktar Ould Daddah: …a new unity party, the Mauritanian Regrouping Party, which in 1960 incorporated the chief remaining opposition party.

Mauritania: Labour and taxation: …operation, the oldest of which—the Union of Mauritanian Workers—was formed in 1961.

Benedict Cumberbatch: Doctor Strange and The Grinch: …a number of films, including The Mauritanian, which was based on the memoir of a man held at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp for 14 years, and The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, a biopic about a British artist who was known for his anthropomorphic drawings of cats. However, his…

Africa: The Paleozoic Era: The Mauritanide mountain chain was compressed and folded at that time along the western margin of the West African craton from Morocco to Senegal. Elsewhere, major uplift or subsidence occurred, continuing until the end of the Triassic Period (i.e., about 201 million years ago). Those structures…

Mauritania, country on the Atlantic coast of Africa. Mauritania forms a geographic and cultural bridge between the North African Maghrib (a region that also includes Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia) and the westernmost portion of sub-Saharan Africa. Culturally, it forms a transitional zone between

A Tale of Two Submerged Continents: …landmass (which the scientists called Mauritia) that extends from Mauritius to India’s southwestern coast.

Amazon River: Plant life: …species of palms—of the genera Mauritia, Orbignya, and Euterpe. Myrtles, laurels, bignonias, figs, Spanish cedars, mahogany, and rosewoods are also common. They support a myriad of epiphytes (plants living on other plants)—such as orchids, bromeliads, and

palm: Economic importance: …for other crops, such as Mauritia flexuosa in waterlogged soils, the black palm in seasonally inundated areas, and Euterpe chaunostachys in swamps. Many palms, such as the sugar palm, the palmyra palm, and the sago palm, are multipurpose trees. In tropical America, the peach palm (Bactris gasipaes) is widely grown…

Mauritian Creole, French-based vernacular language spoken in Mauritius, a small island in the southwestern Indian Ocean, about 500 miles (800 km) east of Madagascar. The language developed in the 18th century from contact between French colonizers and the people they enslaved, whose primary

Mauritius: Political process and security: … (MLP; Parti Travailliste [PTr]), the Mauritian Militant Movement (Mouvement Militant Mauricien; MMM), and the Militant Socialist Movement (Mouvement Socialiste Militant; MSM). The MLP and the MSM generally compete for the dominant Hindu vote, although they both have supporters in all communities. The MMM has its base in the minorities—the Creoles,…

Mauritius, island country in the Indian Ocean, located off the eastern coast of Africa. Physiographically, it is part of the Mascarene Islands. The capital is Port Louis. Mauritius lies about 500 miles (800 km) east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Its outlying territories are Rodrigues Island,

Mauritius hemp, (Furcraea foetida), plant of the asparagus family (Asparagaceae) and its fibre, belonging to the leaf fibre group. The fibre is made into bagging and other coarse fabrics and is sometimes mixed with other fibres to improve colour in rope. Despite its name, it is not a true hemp. The

Mauritius: Political process and security: …parties dominate Mauritian politics: the Mauritius Labour Party (MLP; Parti Travailliste [PTr]), the Mauritian Militant Movement (Mouvement Militant Mauricien; MMM), and the Militant Socialist Movement (Mouvement Socialiste Militant; MSM). The MLP and the MSM generally compete for the dominant Hindu vote, although they both have supporters in all communities. The…

Like many other islands in the Indian Ocean and elsewhere, Mauritius was long under colonial rule by both the British and the French. The unique culture that resulted is reflected in the national flag, one of only two in the world with four equal horizontal stripes (the Central African Republic has

history of Mauritius, survey of the notable events and people in the history of Mauritius, an island country in the Indian Ocean, located off the eastern coast of Africa. Physiographically, it is part of the Mascarene Islands. Approximately two-thirds of Mauritius’s population is of Indo-Pakistani

Maurice was the hereditary stadtholder (1585–1625) of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, or Dutch Republic, and the successor to his father, William I the Silent. His development of military strategy, tactics, and engineering made the Dutch army the most modern in the Europe of his time.

Mauritshuis, museum in The Hague especially noted for its Flemish and Dutch paintings from the 15th to the 17th century. The collection itself is called the Royal Picture Gallery, which has been housed since 1822 in a palace (1633–44) designed for John Maurice of Nassau, called the Mauritshuis. The

Recife, city, capital of Pernambuco estado (state), northeastern Brazil, and centre of an area that includes several industrial towns. It is an Atlantic seaport located at the confluence of the Capibaribe and Beberibe rivers. Recife has been called the Venice of Brazil because the city is crossed

Recife, city, capital of Pernambuco estado (state), northeastern Brazil, and centre of an area that includes several industrial towns. It is an Atlantic seaport located at the confluence of the Capibaribe and Beberibe rivers. Recife has been called the Venice of Brazil because the city is crossed

Jakob Wassermann: …is Der Fall Maurizius (1928; The Maurizius Case), which treats the theme of justice with the carefully plotted suspense of a detective story. It introduced the character Etzel Andergast, whose questioning of the judgment of his cold-hearted jurist father and whose own detective work eventually prove the innocence of a…

André Maurois was a French biographer, novelist, and essayist, best known for biographies that maintain the narrative interest of novels. Born into a prosperous family of textile manufacturers, Maurois came under the influence of the French philosopher and teacher Alain (Émile-Auguste Chartier). He

John Mauropous was a Byzantine scholar and ecclesiastic, author of sermons, poems and epigrams, letters, a saint’s life, and a large collection of canons, or church hymns (many unpublished). The chronology of Mauropous’ life is uncertain. He was a private tutor in Constantinople in the first

Charles Maurras was a French writer and political theorist, a major intellectual influence in early 20th-century Europe whose “integral nationalism” anticipated some of the ideas of fascism. Maurras was born of a Royalist and Roman Catholic family. In 1880, while he was engaged in studies in the

Charles Maurras was a French writer and political theorist, a major intellectual influence in early 20th-century Europe whose “integral nationalism” anticipated some of the ideas of fascism. Maurras was born of a Royalist and Roman Catholic family. In 1880, while he was engaged in studies in the

Îles Sous le Vent: The other inhabited islands are Maupiti (Maurua), known for its black basaltic rock deposits, and Bora-Bora. Three of the westernmost coral atolls (uninhabited) are planted in coconuts used for copra.

Aristotelianism: From the Renaissance to the 18th century: …in the 16th century and Sylvester Maurus, author of short but pithy commentaries on all of Aristotle’s works, in Rome in the 17th century are noteworthy examples. Insofar as the different Scholasticisms were living and interesting philosophical movements, however, they had more to do with newer philosophies than with Aristotle.

dream: Dreams as extensions of the waking state: …work of the French scientist Alfred Maury, who studied thousands of reported recollections of dreams. Maury concluded that dreams arose from external stimuli, instantaneously accompanying such impressions as they acted upon the sleeping person. Citing a personal example, he wrote that part of his bed once fell on the back…

Matthew Fontaine Maury was a U.S. naval officer, pioneer hydrographer, and one of the founders of oceanography. Maury entered the navy in 1825 as a midshipman, circumnavigated the globe (1826–30), and in 1836 was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. In 1839 he was lamed in a stagecoach accident,

Chandragupta was the founder of the Mauryan dynasty (reigned c. 321–c. 297 bce) and the first emperor to unify most of India under one administration. He is credited with saving the country from maladministration and freeing it from foreign domination. He later fasted to death in sorrow for his

Mauryan empire, in ancient India, a state centred at Pataliputra (later Patna) near the junction of the Son and Ganges (Ganga) rivers. It lasted from about 321 to 185 bce and was the first empire to encompass most of the Indian subcontinent. The Mauryan empire was an efficient and highly organized

road: India: The Great Royal Road of the Mauryans began at the Himalayan border, ran through Taxila (near modern Rawalpindi, Pakistan), crossed the five streams of the Punjab, proceeded by way of Jumna to Prayag (now Prayagraj, India), and continued to the mouth of the Ganges River. A…

Art Spiegelman: …and illustrator whose Holocaust narratives Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History (1986) and Maus II: A Survivor’s Tale: And Here My Troubles Began (1991) helped to establish comic storytelling as a sophisticated adult literary medium.

Sanjeev Kumar: Stardom and Sholay: “Effort”), Aandhi (1975; “Storm”), and Mausam (1975; “Season”)—and brought a gravitas far beyond his actual years to his performances. Gulzar also cast Kumar in the light-hearted Angoor, based on Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors. Kumar played a dual role in the film, regarded as a classic among Bollywood comedies.

Shahid Kapoor: Evolution as an actor: …Pankaj Kapur, in two films: Mausam (2011; “Season”), which Kapur directed, and Shaandaar (2015; “Magnificent”), in which father and son starred with Sanah Kapoor and Alia Bhatt.

Mauser rifle, any of a family of bolt-action rifles designed by Peter Paul Mauser (1838–1914), a German who had worked in an arms plant before entering the German army in 1859. Mauser’s first successful design was a single-shot, 11-millimetre, bolt-action rifle that became the forerunner of many

Mauser rifle: …of bolt-action rifles designed by Peter Paul Mauser (1838–1914), a German who had worked in an arms plant before entering the German army in 1859. Mauser’s first successful design was a single-shot, 11-millimetre, bolt-action rifle that became the forerunner of many important designs. In 1880 Mauser applied a tubular magazine…

Machu Picchu: The site: …of the ruin is the Sacred Rock, also known as the Temple of the Sun (it was called the Mausoleum by Bingham). It centers on an inclined rock mass with a small grotto; walls of cut stone fill in some of its irregular features. Rising above the rock is the…

mausoleum, large, sepulchral monument, typically made of stone, that is used to inter and enshrine the remains of a famous or powerful person. The term mausoleum can also denote other types of aboveground structures used for human burials. The word is derived from Mausolus, ruler of Caria (an

Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The monument was the tomb of Mausolus, ruler of Caria, in southwestern Asia Minor. It was built in his capital city, Halicarnassus, between about 353 and 351 bce by his sister and widow, Artemisia II. The building was designed by

Mausolus was a Persian satrap (governor), though virtually an independent ruler, of Caria, in southwestern Anatolia, from 377/376 to 353 bce. He is best known from the name of his monumental tomb, the so-called Mausoleum—considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World—a word now used to designate

Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The monument was the tomb of Mausolus, ruler of Caria, in southwestern Asia Minor. It was built in his capital city, Halicarnassus, between about 353 and 351 bce by his sister and widow, Artemisia II. The building was designed by

Marcel Mauss was a French sociologist and anthropologist whose contributions include a highly original comparative study of the relation between forms of exchange and social structure. His views on the theory and method of ethnology are thought to have influenced many eminent social scientists,

Mauthausen, one of the most notorious Nazi concentration camps, located near the village of Mauthausen, on the Danube River, 12 miles (20 km) east of Linz, Austria. It was established in April 1938, shortly after Austria was annexed to Nazi Germany. Starting as a satellite of Dachau, in Germany, it

nervous system: Encephalization: …of giant cells called the cells of Mauthner, which exert some control over the local spinal-cord reflexes responsible for the rhythmic swimming undulations and the flip-tail escape response characteristic of these animals.

nervous system: Encephalization: …of giant cells called the cells of Mauthner, which exert some control over the local spinal-cord reflexes responsible for the rhythmic swimming undulations and the flip-tail escape response characteristic of these animals.

Fritz Mauthner was a German author, theatre critic, and exponent of philosophical Skepticism derived from a critique of human knowledge. Though his novels and popular parodies of German classical poems brought him moderate literary fame, he spent most of the time between 1876 and 1905 as a theatre

Juliette Binoche: …the French director Léos Carax, Mauvais sang (1986; Bad Blood) and Les Amants du Pont-Neuf (1991; Lovers on the Pont-Neuf), over the next few years. In 1988 she earned international acclaim as a woman married to a philanderer in The Unbearable Lightness of Being, her first English-language film. Binoche’s performance…

Tyrian purple, naturally occurring dye highly valued in antiquity. It is closely related to indigo

Anton Mauve was a Dutch Romantic painter who, like his friends Jozef Israëls and the three Maris brothers, was profoundly influenced by the French landscape painter Camille Corot and the Barbizon school. Mauve settled at The Hague about 1870, painting in the neighbouring fishing village of

Switzerland: Resources and power: …of the Rhône in Valais: Mauvoisin is 777 feet (237 meters) high, and Grande Dixence, at 935 feet (285 meters), has by far the largest-capacity reservoir in the country.

Orinoco River: Physiography of the Orinoco: …numerous mountain tributaries, including the Mavaca River on the left bank and the Manaviche, Ocamo, Padamo, and Cunucunuma rivers on the right.

Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN), U.S. spacecraft designed to study the upper atmosphere of Mars and specifically to determine how much gas Mars has lost to space during its history. Understanding the evolution of Mars’s atmosphere would allow the determination of how long Mars would

Phil Jackson: …later chronicled in his memoir Maverick (1975). As a professional, the 6-foot 8-inch (2-metre) Jackson was an awkward, stoop-shouldered forward plagued by chronic back pain and caught in the culture clash between cosmopolitan Manhattan and his spartan boyhood. Yet, playing beyond his physical limitations, he became a key role player…

American Broadcasting Company: Focus on television: …ABC with the popular western Maverick (1957–62), the private-eye series 77 Sunset Strip (1958–64), and other successful programs.

rocket and missile system: Air-to-surface: …tracked missile was the AGM-64/65 Maverick family of rocket-powered missiles. Early versions used television tracking, while later versions employed infrared, permitting the fixing of targets at longer ranges and at night. The self-contained guidance system incorporated computer logic that enabled the missile to lock onto an image of the target…

Richard Donner: The 1990s and beyond: …the amiable but rather bloated Maverick (1994), which profited from the presence of James Garner, the original Bret Maverick, and Jodie Foster. Though the film needed more substance from William Goldman’s anachronistic screenplay, it still earned some $100 million.

Israel: Early challenges: …in May 2010 when the Mavi Marmara, a civilian ship carrying pro-Palestinian activists, was raided by Israeli naval commandos in international waters as it sailed toward the Gaza Strip in an effort to break Israel’s naval blockade. Nine people—eight Turkish citizens and one with dual Turkish-American citizenship—were killed when the…

Faith Baldwin: …she published her first novel, Mavis of Green Hill. Although she often claimed she did not care for authorship, her steady stream of books belies that claim; over the next 56 years she published more than 85 books, more than 60 of them novels with such titles as Those Difficult…

graphic design: Graphic design in developing nations: In Zimbabwe, filmmaker and designer Chaz Maviyane-Davies created films and graphic designs in the late 1980s and the 1990s. His posters, advertising designs, and magazine covers captured the spirit and life of his nation and often promoted social change. At the turn of the 21st century, Maviyane-Davies was living in…

Elizabeth Mavor was a British author whose novels and nonfiction works concern relationships between women. Mavor attended St. Anne’s College, Oxford (B.A., 1950), where she worked on two popular Oxford magazines. After graduating, she worked for the magazine Argosy for several years and wrote

Elizabeth Mavor was a British author whose novels and nonfiction works concern relationships between women. Mavor attended St. Anne’s College, Oxford (B.A., 1950), where she worked on two popular Oxford magazines. After graduating, she worked for the magazine Argosy for several years and wrote

James Bridie was a Scottish playwright whose popular, witty comedies were significant to the revival of the Scottish drama during the 1930s. Trained at the University of Glasgow’s medical school, Bridie maintained a successful general practice (until 1938) and served as a physician in World War I

Romania: Between Turkey and Austria: …and of Moldavia in 1749, Constantin Mavrocordat abolished serfdom, and Alexandru Ipsilanti of Walachia (reigned 1774–82) initiated extensive administrative and legal reforms. Alexandru’s enlightened reign, moreover, coincided with subtle shifts in economic and social life and with the emergence of new spiritual and intellectual aspirations that pointed to the West…

dragoman: Alexander Mavrokordatos, who succeeded Nikousia, negotiated the Treaty of Carlowitz (1699) for the Ottoman Empire and became very prominent in the development of Ottoman policy.