People and Peoples (M-P)


Macbeth
Macbeth was
King of Scotland from 1040 to 1057.

Macusis
The Macusis are a South American indian tribe still found in
Guyana.

Magistrate
A Magistrate is a "
junior judge", they serve in lower courts of law and hear minor offences.

Makua
The Makua are a people living to the north of the Zambezi River in
Mozambique. With the Lomwe people, they make up the country's largest ethnic group. The Makua are mainly farmers,
living in villages ruled by chiefs. The Makua language belongs to the Niger-Congo family, and has about 5 million speakers.

Malagasy
A Malagasy is an inhabitant of or native to
Madagascar. The Malagasy language has about 9 million speakers; it belongs to the Austronesian family.
Despite Madagascar's proximity to Africa, Malagasy contains only a small number of Bantu and Arabic loan words. It seems likely that the earliest settlers came by sea, some 1,500 years ago, from Indonesia. Primarily rice farmers, the Malagasy make use both of irrigated fields and swidden (temporary plot) methods.

Malcolm I
Malcolm I was King of Scotland from 943 to 954.

Malcolm II
Malcolm II was
King of Scotland from 1005 to 1034.

Malcolm III
Malcolm III was
King of Scotland from 1057 to 1093.

Malcom IV
Malcolm IV was
King of Scotland from 1153 to 1165.

Mameluke
The Mameluke were Turkoman warriors taken to
Egypt as slaves to act as bodyguards for the caliphs and sultans. When the Ottoman Turks conquered Egypt in 1250 the Mamelukes became sultans. They were defeated by Napoleon in 1798 and the survivors were massacred by Muhammad Ali in 1811

Manuel de Falla
Manuel de Falla was a Spanish composer. He was born in 1876 at
Cadiz and died in 1946.

Mao Tse-Tung
Mao Tse-Tung was a Chinese revolutionary leader. He was born in 1893 at Kunan Province. He was a founder member of the Chinese Communist party.

Maori
The Maori are a Polynesian people of pre-European
New Zealand.
Their language, Maori, belongs to the eastern branch of the Austronesian family.
The Maori colonized New Zealand from about 850, establishing a flourishing civilization
throughout the country.

Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall was a
Russian painter. He was born in 1887 at Vitebsk.

Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp was a
French artist. He was born in 1887 and died in 1968.

Marcel Proust
Marcel Proust was a
French novelist. He was born in 1871 at Paris and died in 1922.

Marcellin Berthelot
Marcellin
Pierre Eugene Berthelot was a French chemist and politician. He was born in 1827, dying in 1907. He was the first person to produce organic compounds synthetically.

Marco Polo
Marco Polo was a Venetian explorer. He was born in 1254 and died in 1324.

Marco Polo
Marco Polo was a Venetian traveller. He was born in 1256, dying in 1323. He travelled through various eastern countries.

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was a Roman Emperor. He was born in 121 and died in 180.

Marcus Bloch
Marcus Eliezer Bloch was a naturalist. He was born in 1723 at Anspach and died in 1799. His main work was on fish, and he wrote "Natural History Of Fishes" in 1785 which included 432 colour plates.

Marcus Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero was a
Roman orator, politician and writer. He was born in 106BC and died in 43BC.

Margaret
Margaret was
queen of Scotland from 1286 to 1290.

Maria Montessori
Maria Montessori was an Italian educationalist. She was born in 1870 and died in 1952. She developed the Montessori system of education.

Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette was Queen of Louis XVI of France. She was born in 1755 and died in 1793 when she was executed for treason during the French revolution.

Marie Bichat
Marie Francois Xavier Bichat was a French physiologist. He was born in 1771 and died in 1802. He studied tissue and formed the basis of modern histology.

Marie Corelli
Marie Corelli was an English novelist. She was born in 1864 and died in 1924. She first made her name with the work "The Romance of Two Worlds" published in 1886. Her books are superficial, and popular.

Marie Curie
Marie Curie was a
French scientist. She was born in 1867 at warsaw and died in 1934. She and her husband together separated radium in 1902.

Marie Stopes
Marie Carmichael Stopes was the
English pioneer of birth control. She was born in 1880, dying in 1958. Her book married love was published in 1918.

Marie Tussaud
Marie Tussaud was born in 1760 in Switzerland. She died in 1850. She founded the famous Tussaud's wax works in London.

Marino Falieri
Marino Falieri was the
doge of Venice who repelled the Hungarians at Zara in 1346 and captured that city. He was born in 1274 and died in 1355 when he was executed for conspiring against the nobles of Venice in the hope of becoming Prince of Venice.

Mark Twain
Mark Twain was an
American writer. He was born in 1835 at Hannibal and died in 1910. He wrote "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer".

Maroon
The Maroon were escaped slaves in
Jamaica who were armed by the Spanish to attack the British forces on the island during the late 17th and 18th centuries. They lived mainly in the mountainous region now known as cockpit country and developed a method of cooking known as "jerking" peculiar to Jamaica.

Marranos
see "
Crypto-Jews"

Marshal Henri Petain
Marshal Henri Philippe Petain was a
French soldier. He was born in 1856 at Normandy and died in 1951. He headed the Vichy government which collaborated with the Germans after the fall of France during the second World War.

Marsilio Ficino
Marsilio Ficino was an Italian philosopher. He was born in 1433 and died in 1499. In 1482 he translated
Plato.

Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German Protestant Reformer and translator of the bible. He was born in 1483 at Saxony and died in 1546.

Martin Tupper
Martin Tupper was an English author. He was born in 1810 and died in 1889. He wrote "Proverbial Philosophy" a collection of didactic poems of little value, which enjoyed great popularity.

Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren was the eighth President of the USA. He was born in 1782 and died in 1862. He was the son of a tavern keeper, and was called to the Bar in 1813. He became a State Senator in 1812 and held the position until 1821 when he was elected to the Senate and in 1835 he was elected President.

Martinus Steyn
Martinus Theunis Steyn was a South African statesman. He was born in 1857 and died in 1916. In 1896 he was elected
president of the Orange Free State and on the outbreak of the Boer War sided with Transvaal against the British.

Mary Eddy
Mary Baker Eddy was the founder of the Christian Science Movement. She was born in 1821 and died in 1910.

Mary Godwin
see "
Mary Shelley"

Mary Hamilton
Mary Hamilton was tried in 1746 for marrying with her own sex.

Mary I
Mary I was queen of Scotland from 1542 to 1567.
Mary I was Queen of England from 1553 to 1558. She was born in 1516 and died of cancer in 1558.
She was known as Bloody Mary because of the religious persecutions of her reign, and also called Mary Tudor, she was the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon.

Mary II
Mary II was
queen of England from 1689 to 1694. She was born in 1662 and died of smallpox in 1694.
She was a Stuart, the elder daughter of James II.
She became joint sovereign of Great Britain with her husband, William III, when the Revolution of 1688 drove her father from the throne. Although the
administration was exclusively in the hands of William, it was the queen who made the reign popular by her youth, good heart, and pleasing manners.

Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley (
Mary Godwin) was the daughter of William Godwin. She was born in 1797, dying in 1851. She is remembered for writing Frankenstein.

Mary Slessor
Mary Slessor was a Britsh missionary. She was born in 1848 and died in 1915.

Mary Stuart
see "
Mary II"

Mary Tudor
see "
Mary I"

Masaccio
Masaccio was an Italian
painter. He was born in 1401 and died in 1428.

Masai
The Masai are an east
African people whose territory is divided between Tanzania and Kenya, and who number about 250,000. They were originally warriors and nomads, breeding humped zebu cattle, but some have adopted a more settled life. They speak a Nilotic language belonging to the Nilo-Saharan family.

Mathias Grunewald
Mathias Grunewald was a German religious painter. He was born in 1480 and died in 1530.

Matthew Boulton
Matthew Boulton was an
English mechanical engineer. He was born in 1728 at Birmingham and died in 1809. In 1769 he formed a partnership with James Watt.

Matthew Flinders
Matthew Flinders was a British navigator. He was born in 1774 and died in 1814. After serving in the Navy he went to
Australia in the Reliance and with George Bass, the ship's surgeon, explored much of the Australian coast and Tasmania. In 1801, as commander of the Investigator, he went out in charge of a scientific expedition, and circumnavigated Australia.

Matthew Locke
Matthew
Locke was an English composer. He was born in 1630 at Exeter and died in 1677.

Maurice Fitzmaurice
Sir
Maurice Fitzmaurice was a British engineer. He was born in 1861 and died in 1924. He built the Rotherhithe tunnel under the Thames in 1908.

Maurice Ravel
Maurice Ravel was a French composer. He was born in 1875 at Cibourne and died in 1937.

Maurice Sarrail
Maurice Sarrail was a
French General. He Was born in 1856 at Carcassonne. He commanded the French 3rd army in 1914 during the Great War and was responsible for the defence of the Verdun region. In 1925 he became High Commissioner of Syria.

Maurice Utrillo
Maurice Utrillo was a French painter. He was born in 1883 in Paris and died in 1955. He was taught how to paint by his mother, Suzanne Valadon.

Max Planck
Max planck was a German scientist. He was born at Kiel in 1858, dying in 1947. He won the nobel prize for physics in 1918.

Maxim Gorky
Maxim
Gorky was a Russian writer. He was born in 1868 and died in 1936.

Meindert Hobbema
Meindert Hobbema was a Dutch artist. He was born in 1638 and died in 1709. He is remembered for his landscapes.

Meleager
Meleager was an ancient
Greek poet who wrote epigrams.

Mende
The Mende are a west
African people living in the rainforests of central east Sierra Leone and west
Liberia. They number approximately 1 million. The Mende are farmers as well as hunter-
gatherers, and each of their villages is led by a chief and a group of elders. The Mende
language belongs to the Niger-Congo family.

Merchants of the Steelyard
The Merchants of the Steelyard were a
league of German merchants established in London in the 13th century. Their headquarters, the Steelyard, stood near London Bridge. They were expelled in 1578.

Merlin
Merlin was a magician who aided
Arthur.

Meskhetian
The Meskhetian are a community of Turkish descent that formerly inhabited Meskhetia, on the then
Turkish-Soviet
border.

Michael Collins
Michael
Collins was an Irish politician. He was born in 1890 and died in 1922 when he was ambushed and shot. He took part in the Easter rising in Dublin of 1916 and was elected Sinn Fein member for Cork in 1918.

Michael Davitt
Michael Davitt was an
Irish Nationalist. He was born in 1846 in County Mayo and died in 1906. he joined the Fenians and was sentanced to 15 years penal servitude in 1865 on a charge of importing arms into Ireland. On his release in 1879 he returned to Ireland and with Parnell started the Land League, an anti-landlord organisation.

Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday was a British chemist. He was born in 1791. He died in 1867. He discovered electrical currents and invented the dynamo. The
farad is named after him.

Michel de Montaigne
Michel de Montaigne was a
French essayist. He was born in 1533 at Bordeaux and died in 1592.

Michel Ney
Michel Ney was a
French general. He was born in 1769 and died in 1815. He served under Napoleon at Jena, Borodino and Waterloo.

Mihail Eminescu
Mihail Eminescu was a Romanian poet. He was born in 1849 and died in 1889. He studied philosophy, started life as a teacher and was then appointed to the University Library at Jassy. He later became the editor of Timpul, a Romanian Conservative paper. In 1883 he developed signs of aleged madness and was killed by a
fellow inmate in an institution in 1889.

Mikhail Fokine
Mikhail Fokine was a
Russian dancer. He was born at St Petersburg in 1880. He died in 1942. He is famous for his work with ballet.

Mikhail Glinka
Mikhail Glinka was a
Russian composer. He was born in 1803 at Smolensk and died in 1857.

Miles Coverdale
Miles Coverdale was an English bishop. He was born in 1488 at Yorkshire, dying in 1568. He translated the bible in 1535.

Minangkabau
Minangkabau are an
Indonesian people of west Sumatra. In addition to approximately 3 million Minangkabau in west Sumatra, there are sizeable communities in the major Indonesian cities. The Minangkabau language belongs to the Austronesian family.

Mirabeau
Mirabeau was a
French orator. He was born in 1749 and died in 1791.

Miskito
The Miskito are an
American Indian people of Central America, living mainly in the area that is
now Nicaragua.

Modest Moussorgsky
Modest Petrovich Moussorgsky was a
Russian composer. He was born in 1835 at St. Petersburg and died in 1881.

Modocs
The Modocs are an
American Indian tribe. They lived on the south shore of Klamath Lake in California.

Moeso-Goths
The Moeso-Goths were a tribe of
Goths who settled in Moesia on the Lower Danube and devoted themselves to architecture under the protection of the Roman emperors.

Mohammed
Mohammed (
Mahomet, Mehmet, Muhammad) was the founder of the religion of Islam. He was born in 570 at Mecca and died in 632.

Mohammed Sadat
Mohammed Anwar el Sadat was presidant of Egypt. He was born in 1919, dying in 1981 when he was assassinated.

Mohawk
The Mohawk are a North American Indian people, part of the
Iroquois confederation, who lived in
the Mohawk Valley, New York, and now live on reservations in Ontario, Quebec, and New
York State, as well as among the general population. Their language belongs to the Macro-
Siouan group.

Mohican
The Mohican are a North American Indian people, speaking an Algonquian language, who
formerly occupied the
Hudson Valley.

Moliere
Jean Baptiste Poquelin (Moliere) was a French dramatist. He was born in 1622 and died in 1673.

Mon
The Mon are a minority ethnic group living in the
Irrawaddy delta region of lower Myanmar
(Burma) and Thailand. The Mon language belongs to the Mon-Khmer branch of the Austro-Asiatic family. They are
Buddhists, but also retain older animist beliefs.

Mongol
Mongols are any of the various Mongol (or Mongolian) ethnic groups of
Central Asia. Mongols
live in Mongolia, Russia, Inner Mongolia (China), Tibet, and Nepal. The Mongol language
belongs to the Altaic family; some groups of Mongol descent speak languages in the Sino-
Tibetan family, however.
The Mongols are primarily pastoral nomads, herding sheep, horses, cattle, and camels.
Traditionally the Mongols moved with their animals in summer to the higher pastures,
returning in winter to the lower steppes.

Mongoloid
Mongoloid refers to one of the three major races of humans,
including the indigenous peoples of
Asia, the Indians of the Americas, Polynesians, and the
Eskimos and Aleuts. General physical traits include dark eyes with epicanthic folds; straight
to wavy dark hair; little beard or body hair; fair to tawny skin; low to medium-bridged noses;
thin to medium lips.

Monk
A Monk is a man who retires from the world to live in a monastery as a member of some religious order. Originally all monks were laymen, but after the 8th century the seniors and by degrees the other member were admitted to holy orders.

Monks
see "
Monk"

Montenegrin
The Montenegrin are Slavic inhabitants of
Montenegro whose culture has much in common with the
Serbs.

Montgolfier
The Montgolfier brothers made a hot
air balloon, in which Jean francois pilatre de rozier and the marquis d'ariandes made the world's first aerial voyage over paris on november the 21st 1783.

Montgomery
Montgomery was a British
soldier. He was born in 1887 at County Donegal in Ireland. He entered the army in 1908 and served in the Great War. In 1939 he was Divisional Commander. He took part in the evacuation of Dunkirk and in 1942 took over command of the Eight Army in North Africa. In 1944 he led the 21st Army Group in Normandy to the Rhine.

Moors
The Moors were dark skinned people of North Africa who under the influence of Islam conquered an
empire stretching from the Pamirs to the Pyrenees in the 9th century. Their occupation of Spain lasted from 711 until 1492.

Mordvin
The Mordvin are a Finnish people inhabiting the middle
Volga Valley in west Asia. They are known to have lived in
the region since the 1st century. There are 1 million speakers of Mordvin scattered
throughout west Russia, about one-third of whom live in the Mordvinian republic. Mordvin is a
Finno-Ugric language belonging to the Uralic family.

Moses
Moses was the founder and legislator of the Israelite nation. He delivered his people from
Egypt.

Mossi
The Mossi are the majority ethnic group living in Burkina Faso. Their social structure, based on a
monarchy and aristocracy, was established in the 11th century. The Mossi have been
prominent traders, using
cowrie shells as currency. There are about 4 million speakers of
Mossi, a language belonging to the Gur branch of the Niger-Congo family.

Mother Shipton
Mother Shipton was an English prophetess. She was born around 1487 Ursula Southill and lived in Knaresborough, Yorkshire. She was popularly believed to have occult powers and to have foretold the Great Fire of London.

Mountstuart Elphinstone
Mountstuart Elphinstone was an
English statesman and historian. He was born in 1779 and died in 1859. In the service of the East India Company he helped to spread Britain's influence in India, serving as aide-de-camp to Wellesley and in 1803 being sent as Envoy to Kabul. In 1841 he wrote a History of India.

MP
MP is an
abbreviation for member of parliament. An MP is a politician.

Mpongwa
The Mpongwa are a native tribe of the
Gabon.

Muhammad
see "
Mohammed"

Munda
The Munda are any one of several groups living in north east and central
India, numbering about 5
million (1983). Their most widely spoken languages are Santali and Mundari, languages of
the Munda group, an isolated branch of the Austro-Asiatic family. The Mundas were formerly
nomadic hunter-gatherers, but now practise shifting cultivation. They are Hindus, but retain
animist beliefs.

Muslim
A Muslim is someone who professes the religion of Islam.

Mutsuhito
Mutsuhito was
Emperor of Japan from 1867 until 1912. He was born in 1852 and died in 1912. He abolished the feudal system and modernised Japan with state schools, conscription and the Western calendar. Under his rule Japan became a world naval and military power. In 1889 he introduced a constitution.

Muzio Clementi
Muzio Clementi was an Italian composer. He was born in 1752 and died in 1832. He is best known for his Gradus
ad Parnassum pianoforte studies. He was a brilliant pianist, competing with Mozart in a contest at Vienna in 1781. After a brilliant career as a concert pianist he established in London the music-publishing and pianoforte manufacturing business which became Collard & Collard.

Naga
The Naga are the various peoples who inhabit the
highland region near the
Indian/Myanmar (Burma) border; they number approximately 800,000. These peoples do not
possess a common name; some of the main groups are Ao, Konyak, Sangtam, Lhota, Sema,
Rengma, Chang, and Angami. They live by farming, hunting, and fishing. Their languages
belong to the Sino-Tibetan family.

Nahua
The nahua are an indigenous people of
Mexico.

Nahuatl
The Nahuatl are a group of Mesoamerican Indian peoples, of
which the best-known group were the Aztecs. The Nahuatl are the largest ethnic group in
Mexico, and their languages, which belong to the Uto-Aztecan (Aztec-Tanoan) family, are
spoken by over a million people today.

Naiman
The Naiman are a tribe of the
Uzbeg people.

Nanak
Nanak was an Indian guru who formed the religion of
Sikhism. He was born in 1469 and died in 1539.

Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte (Napoleon I) was emperor of France. He was born in 1769 and died in 1821. In 1799 he overthrew the Directory and appointed himself dictator. He became emperor in 1804 and reigned until 1815. From 1803 he conquered most of Europe. He was finally overthrown following his defeat at Waterloo at the hands of Wellington's army and was exiled on the Island of St Helena.

Napoleon I
see "
Napoleon Bonaparte"

Napoleon II
Napoleon II was the titular king of Rome. He was born in 1811 and died in 1832.

Napoleon III
Napoleon III was President of France from 1848 - 1852 and Emperor of France from 1852 - 1870. He was born in 1808 and died in 1873.

Natchez
The Natchez are an
American Indian tribe of the Mississippi area. They were almost wiped out by the French in 1731. Today a few survive in Oklahoma.

Navaho
The Navaho are a peaceable agricultural North American Indian people related to the
Apache;
population about 200,000. Like the Apache, they speak a Southern Athabaskan language.

Navajo
The Navajo are an
American Indian tribe.

Nazi
The nazis were a
German fascist political party led by Hitler.

Neanderthal
The Naenderthal were early
human beings of the Palaeolithic period. The first Neanderthal skeleton was found in the Rhineland in 1857. They became extinct in 30,000 BC.

Negrito
The Negrito are several groups living on various islands in south east
Asia. The Negritos are long-
established inhabitants of the region. They include the cave-dwelling Vedda of Sri Lanka, the
Andamanese of the Andaman Islands, and the Semang of Malaysia.

Negroid
Negroid refers to one of the three major races of humans,
mainly the indigenous peoples of Subsaharan
Africa and some of the nearby islands in the
Indian Ocean and the west Pacific. General physical traits include dark eyes, tightly curled dark
hair, brown to very dark skin, little beard or body hair, low to medium-bridged wide noses, and
wide or everted lips.

Neil Armstrong
Neil
Armstrong was the first man to step onto the moon in 1969.

Neil Kinnock
Neil Gordon Kinnock is a British
MP. He was born in 1942 in Wales. He was secretary of state for employment between 1974 and 1975.

Nell Gwynn
Nell Gwynn was an
English actress and dancer. She was born in 1650 and died in 1687. She is remembered for her early career as an orange seller outside the Drury Lane Theatre in London.

Nero
Nero (
Claudius Caesar) was a Roman Emperor. He was born in 37 and died in 68. He was a cruel and unpopular Emperor and committed suicide after a successful revolt against him.

Niccala Pisano
Niccala Pisano was an Italin sculptor. He was born in 1220 and died in 1280. He created reliefs such as those on the pulpit in
Pisa Cathedral.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Niccolo Machiavelli was an Italian statesman and writer. He was born in 1469 at
Florence and died in 1527. He has the reputation of being manipulative, hence the psychological term "Machiavellism" which refers to manipulation of people.

Nicholas Copernicus
Nicholas Copernicus was the founder of
astronomy. He was born in 1478 at torun in poland. He died in 1543. He studied at cracow university and settled in frauenburg in 1512. He put forward the theory that the planets revolve around the sun.

Nicholas Culpeper
Nicholas
Culpeper was a 17th century English medical writer and astrologer.

Nicholas Filipescu
Nicholas Filipescu was a Romanian statesman. He was born in 1862 and died in 1916. A Conservative leader, he became Minister of Agriculture and
War Minister in 1910.

Nicholas Hilliard
Nicholas
Hilliard was an English artist. He was born in 1547 and died in 1619.

Nicholas I
Nicholas I was Czar of
Russia from 1825 to 1855.

Nicholas II
Nicholas II was Czar of
Russia from 1894 to 1917. He was a great-grandson of Nicholas I.

Nicholas Ridley
Nicholas
Ridley was an English protestant martyr. He was born in 1500, dying in 1555 when he was burnt at the stake.

Nicholas Storch
see "
Nicholas Storck"

Nicholas Storck
Nicholas Storck (Storch?) was a fanatical
German preacher. He formed the anabaptists in 1521 and excited rebellion of the German lower orders which was quelled with force in 1525.

Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov was a
Russian composer. He was born in 1844 at Novogrod and died in 1908.

Nicolas Oudinot
Nicolas Charles Oudinot was born in 1767 and died in 1847. He was
Duke of Reggio and became Marshal of France in 1809.

Nicolas Poussin
Nicolas Poussin was a
French painter. He was born in 1593, dying in 1665.

Nicolo Paganini
Nicolo Paganini was an Italian violinist and composer. He was born in 1784 and died in 1840. He was the founder of the modern school of violin-playing.

Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol was a
Russian novelist and dramatist. He was born in 1809 and died in 1852.

Noel Coward
Noel Coward was an
English actor, playwright and composer. He was born in 1899.

Nordic
Nordic is the ethnic designation for any of the various Germanic peoples, especially those of
Scandinavia.
The physical type of Caucasoid described under that term is tall, long-headed, blue-eyed, fair
of skin and hair.

Norseman
The Norsemen were early inhabitants of
Norway. The term Norsemen is also applied to Scandinavian Vikings who
during the 8th-11th centuries raided and settled in Britain, Ireland, France, Russia, Iceland,
and Greenland.
The Norse religion (banned 1000) was recognized by the Icelandic government 1973.

Nuba
The Nuba are a minority ethnic group living in south
Sudan, numbering about 1 million (1991). They
speak related dialects of Nubian, which belongs to the Chari-Nile family.
The Nuba farm terraced fields in the Nuba mountains, to the west of the White Nile.

Nyanja
The Nyanja are a central
African people living mainly in Malawi, and numbering about 400,000. The Nyanja are predominantly farmers, living in villages under a hereditary monarchy.
They speak a Bantu language belonging to the Niger-Congo family.

Oblates
Oblates are members of the
Roman Catholic Church who dedicate themselves to the service of religion as laymen, as the Oblates of St. Charles, founded in 1578; the Oblates of St. Frances of Rome, founded 1433; the Oblates of Italy, founded 1816.

Octave Feuillet
Octave Feuillet was a
French author. He was born in 1821 and died in 1890. He earned great praise and the favour of the Napoleonic Court by his novels and plays.

Offa
Offa was
King of Mercia (a region of central England) around 790. He died in 796.

Ojibwa
Ojibwa is another spelling for
Ojibway.

Ojibway
The Ojibway are a North American Indian tribe.

Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was protector of the commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland. He was born at huntingdon in 1599, dying in 1658. During the English civil war he first served under the earl of Essex before reorganising the parliamentary army. He promoted the trial and execution of Charles I.

Oliver Goldsmith
Oliver Goldsmith was a journalist. He was born in 1728 at Ireland and died in 1774.

Omar Khayyam
Omar Khayyam was a Persian poet, mathematician and astronomer. He was born in 1050 and died in 1123.

Ombudsman
An ombudsman is a government official who hears and investigates complaints by private citizens against other officials or government agencies.

Oneida
The Oneida were an
Iroquois indian race who lived east of Lake Oneida in north America.

Onondaga
The Onondaga were an
Iroquois Indian tribe who inhabited the region around Lake Onondaga, in New York.

Orangeman
An Orangeman is a member of the Ulter Protestant
Orange Society which was formed in 1795 in opposition to the United Irishmen and the Roman Catholic secret societies. It is a revival of the Orange Institution of 1688 which was formed in support of William III of Orange. The Orangemen celebrate William III defeat of the Catholic James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.

Orangemen
see "
Orangeman"

Origen
Origen was a christian theologian and writer of the early christian church. He was born in
Alexandria in 185 and died in 254.

Oriya
The Oriya are the majority ethnic group living in the Indian
state of Orissa. Oriya is Orissa's
official language; it belongs to the Eastern group of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-
European family.

Orville Wright
Orville
Wright was an American pioneer of flying. He was born in 1871 and died in 1948. Together with his brother he made the first controlled flight of an aeroplane.

Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingall O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was a British writer who was persecuted for his homosexuality. He was born in 1854 at Dublin and died in 1900. He wrote "The Importance Of Being Earnest".

Oskar Kokoschka
Oskar Kokoschka was an Austrian
painter. He was born in 1886.

Osman Digna
Osman Digna was originally a slave-dealer at Suakin, he graduated to become leader of the
Sudan tribesman. He was born in 1836 and died in 1900.

Ostrogoth
The Ostrogoths were the
eastern branch of the Goths who became divided around 370.

Oswald Spengler
Oswald Spengler was a German philosopher. he was born in 1880 at Blankenburg and died in 1936.

Otto Bismarck
Otto Eduard Leopold Von Bismarck was a Prussian
diplomat and statesman. He was born in 1815, dying in 1898. He was the main architect of the German empire.

Otto I
Otto I, or
Otto The Great as he was known was Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. He was born in 912 and died in 973. He was the son of Henry The Fowler. In 936 he was elected king of Germany.

Otto II
Otto II was the son of
Otto I. He was Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. He was born in 955 and died in 983.

Otto III
Otto III was
Emperor of The Holy Roman Empire. He was born in 980 and died in 1002. He sought to revive the greatness of the Roman Empire, but was frustrated by a general revolt in Italy in 1001.

Otto IV
Otto IV was son of Henry The Lion and Matilda of
England. He was born in 1175 and died in 1218. He was Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. He was excommunicated in 1210 for annexing Apulia.

Otto von Guericke
Otto von Guericke was a German physicist. He was born in 1602 at Magdeburg and died in 1686. He invented the air pump and demonstrated air pressure.

Ouida
see "
Louise De la Ramee"

Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso Ovid was a
Roman poet. He was born in 43BC and died in 17AD. He was born at Sulmo the son of a Roman knight and was educated in Rome with a view to a legal career.

P.G. Wodehouse
Pelham Grenville Wodehouse was an English humorous novelist. He was born in 1881. He invented the characters "Jeeves and Wooster".

Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso was a Spanish artist born in 1881, dying in 1973.

Palikur
The Palikur are a South American Indian people living in north
Brazil and numbering about 1 million. Formerly a warlike people, they occupied a vast area between the Amazon and
Orinoco rivers.

Paolo Veronese
Paolo Veronese (Paolo
Cagliari) was an Italian painter. He was born in 1528 at Verona and died in 1588.

Papuan
The Pauan are natives to or inhabitants of Papua
New Guinea; a speaker of any of various Papuan languages,
used mainly on the island of New Guinea, although some 500 are used in New Britain, the
Solomon Islands, and the islands of the SW Pacific. The Papuan languages belong to the
Indo-Pacific family.

Paris (of Troy)
Paris was a Trojan prince whose abduction of Helen of Sparta caused the Trojan war.

Patamonas
The Patamonas are a South American indian tribe still found in
Guyana.

Pathan
The Pathan are a people of north west
Pakistan and Afghanistan, numbering about 14 million (1984).
The majority are Sunni Muslims. The Pathans speak Pashto, a member of the Indo-Iranian
branch of the Indo-European family.
The Pathans comprise distinct groups, some living as nomads with herds of goats and
camels, while others are farmers.

Paul Cezanne
Paul Cezanne was a
French painter. He was born in 1839 at Aix-en-Provence. He studied with Picasso.

Paul Delaroche
Paul Delaroche was a French painter. He was born in 1797 and died in 1856.

Paul Dore
Paul Gustav Dore was a
French artist. He was born in 1833 at Strasbourg and died in 1883.

Paul Du Chaillu
Paul Du Chaillu was a French anthropologist. He was born in 1835 and died in 1903. He travelled into west Africa.

Paul Dukas
Paul Dukas was a
French composer. He was born in 1865 at Paris and died in 1935. His most popular work is the Sorcerer's Apprentice which was used by Walt Disney in his film Fantasia.

Paul Ehrlich
Paul Ehrlich was a German bacteriologist. He was born in 1854 and died in 1915. He shared the Nobel prize for medicine in 1908 and invented Salvarsan.

Paul Gauguin
Paul Gauguin was a French painter. He was born in 1848 at Paris and died in 1903.

Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith was a German composer. He was born in 1895.

Paul Klee
Paul Klee was a Swiss painter. He was born in 1879 near Berne and died in 1940.

Paul Nash
Paul Nash was an English artist. He was born in 1899 at London and died in 1946.

Paul Reuter
Paul Julius Reuter was a German newsman. He was born in 1816 at Kassel and died in 1899. He founded the Reuter's news agency.

Paul Revere
Paul Revere was an American soldier and patriot. He was born in 1735 at Boston and died in 1818. In april 1775 he rode from Boston to Concorde to warn the population of the approach of British troops.

Paul Verlaine
Paul Verlaine was a French poet. He was born in 1844 and died in 1896. He formed the Symbolists school of poetry.

Paul von Hindenburg
Paul von Hindenburg was a German soldier and the second president of the German Reich. He was born in 1847 and died in 1934.

Pedro de Covilham
Pedro de Covilham was a Portugese explorer. he was born in 1460 and died in 1530. he was sent by John II of
Portugal in 1487 to search for the legendary empire of Prester John. He travelled to India and journeyed down the east African coast to Sofala and reached Abyssinia where he was treated honourably, but never allowed to leave.

Percy Pilcher
Percy Pilcher, an Englishman, may be said to have invented the hang glider. During the late 19th century he invented a man launched glider.

Percy Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley was an English poet. He was born in 1792 at Warnham and died in 1822 when he drowned following the capsizing of a sailing-boat. He entered Oxford in 1810, but not before he had written a volume of poetry and several romances of the gothic type. In 1811 he had published his work "Necessity of Atheism".

Pericles
Pericles was an Arthenian ruler and orator. He was born in 490BC and died in 429BC.

Peter Lebedev
Peter Nikolaievich Lebedev was a Russian physicist. he was born in 1866 and died in 1912. He demonstrated that light exherts minute pressure upon a physical body.

Peter Stuyvesant
Peter Stuyvesant was a Dutch soldier and an administrator of Dutch North America. He was born in 1592 and died in 1672. He was instrumental in furthering the prosperity of New Amsterdam which he had to surrender to the British in 1664.

Peter The Great
Peter The Great was a Czar of Russia. He was born in 1672 and died in 1725.

Peter von Cornelius
Peter von Cornelius was a German painter. He was born in 1783 at Dusseldorf and died in 1867. He painted the important frescoes of the Ludwigskirche. He is renowned for reviving the art of mural decoration.

Petrarch
Francesco di Petracco (Petrarch) was an Italian poet and scholar. He was born in 1304 and died in 1374.

Pharaoh
Pharaoh was the title of the ruler of Ancient
Egypt.

Pharisee
The Pharisee were a
Jewish sect from 1BC to 1AD which were charcterized by their strict observance of the traditional and written laws.

Pheidias
Pheidias was a
Greek sculptor. He was born in 500BC and died in 433BC.

Philip Massinger
Philip Massinger was a British dramatist. He was born in 1583 and died in 1640. He wrote "A New Way to Pay Old Debts".

Phillippus Paracelsus
Phillippus Aureolus Paracelsus was a
Swiss alchemist and physician. He was born in 1493 and died in 1541. He was the first to note occupational diseases.

Philo Remington
Philo Remington invented the typewriter and also the breach loading rifle.

Phineas Barnum
Phineas Taylor Barnum was an
American showman who launched the enterprise known as "the greatest show on earth". He was born in 1810 and died in 1891.

Piero
Piero was an Italian
painter. He was born in 1420 and died in 1492. He painted frescoes in Florence and at Loretto.

Pierre Abelard
Pierre Abelard was a French philosopher. He was born in 1079, dying in 1142. He founded scholastic theology.

Pierre Bonnard
Pierre Bonnard was a French painter famous for painting nudes. He was born in fontenay-aux-roses in 1867. He died in 1947.

Pierre Corneille
Pierre Corneille was a French dramatist. He was born in 1606, dying in 1684. He was a master of the classical tragedy.

Pierre de Fermat
Pierre de Fermat was a French mathematician. He was born in 1601 at Toulouse and died in 1665. His most important work was on the theory of numbers.

Pierre de Ronsard
Pierre de Ronsard was a French poet. He was born in 1524, dying in 1585.

Pierre Laplace
Pierre Simon Laplace was a French mathematician and astronomer. He was born in 1749 at Beaumont-en Auge. He argued that the whole physical universe could be explained by the law of cause and effect so that, given enough information, both the past and the future of the universe could be determined in every detail.

Pierre Laval
Pierre Laval was a French statesman. He was twice Prime Minister during the 1930s. He was born in 1883 and died in 1945.

Piet Cronje
Piet Arnoldus Cronje was a Boer general. He was born in 1840 and died in 1911. He led the
Transvaal insurrection of 1880 and besieged Potchefstroom in 1881 during the first Boer War. He was captured at Magersfontein in 1899 and sent as a prisoner to St. Helena.

Pieter De Hooch
Pieter De Hooch was a Dutch
painter. He was born in 1629 and died in 1680. He mainly painted pictures of bright domestic interiors.

Plato
Plato was an ancient
Greek philosopher. He was born in 427bc, dying in 347bc.

Plautus
Titus Marcius Plautus was a Roman comic poet. He was born in 254BC and died in 184BC.

Pope
The pope is the leader of the
Roman catholic church.

Porfirio Diaz
Porfirio Diaz was a Mexican general and politician. He was born in 1830 and died in 1915. He was elected
president in 1876.

Potiguara
The Potiguara are a group of South American Indians living in north west
Brazil, and numbering about 1
million. Their language belongs to the Tupi-Guarani family. Their religion is centered
around a shaman, who mediates between the people and the spirit world.

Praxiteles
Praxiteles was a 4th century
bc Greek sculptor. He carved hermes carrying dionysus.

Prince Eugene
Prince
Eugene of Savoy was an Imperial general. He was born in 1663 and died in 1736. Dislike of Louis XIV caused him to leave France and serve under the Emperor Leopold against the French and the Turks, sharing in Marlborough's victories at Blenheim, Oudenarde and Malplaquet. In 1717 he overthrew the Turks and captured Belgrade. He was governor of the Austrian Netherlands from 1714 to 1724, when he was made Vice-General of Italy. He died at Vienna.

Prince Iwao Oyama
Prince Iwao Oyama was a Japanese
Samurai soldier-statesman. He was born in 1842 and died in 1916. He was attache with the German army during the Franco-German war.

Princess Elizabeth
Princess
Elizabeth was the eldest daughter of James I of England. She was born in 1596 and died in 1662. It was she that the Gunpowder Plot conspirators planned to set upon the throne. In 1613 she married Frederick V who was later to be King of Bohemia.

Prophet
A prophet is some one who claims to reveal or interpret god's will.

Provost
A Provost is the chief
magistrate in a Royal burgh in Scotland. His position is like that of an English Mayor.

Ptolemy XIV
Ptolemy XIV was the brother of
Cleopatra, and joint ruler of Egypt.

Pueblo
The Pueblo were a tribe of
American Indians which lived in New Mexico and Arizona. They were a farming tribe.

Pueblo Indian
Pueblo Indian is a generic name for a member of any of the farming groups of the south west USA and north Mexico, living
in communal villages of flat-topped adobe or stone structures arranged in terraces. Surviving groups include the Hopi and the Zuni.

Puritan
The Puritans were a group of religious people who wanted what they perceived to be extreme purity in church services. They observed a strict code of
behaviour with few amusements.

Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Tchaikovsky was a 19th century
Russian composer.

Pythagoras
Pythagoras was a
Greek philosopher. He was born on the island of samos in 582bc, dying in 500bc.