OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Minehead

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​MINEHEAD, a market town and seaside resort in the Wellington parliamentary division of Somersetshire, England, 188 m. W. by S. of London by the Great Western railway. Pop. of urban district (1901), 2511. The town has three parts: the Upper, built on the sides of a lofty foreland known as North Hill; the Lower; and the Quay Town, with many ancient houses, stretching for about a mile beside the harbour. It is much visited for the sake of its mild climate, the grand cliffs, moors and hills of the neighbourhood, and the beach, admirably suited for bathing. St Michael’s, the parish church, has a striking Perpendicular tower, an arch of carved oak dividing its nave and ​chancel, a magnificent rood-loft, and a 13th-century monument doubtfully described as the tomb of Bracton, the famous lawyer, whose birthplace, according to local tradition, was Bratton Court in the vicinity. Coaches for Porlock and Lynton start from the town.
There is no evidence of the existence of Minehead (Mannheve, Manehafd, Mynneheved) in Roman or Saxon times. The town owed its origin and growth to its position on the shores of the Bristol Channel, and its good harbour developed an oversea trade with Bristol, South Wales and the Irish ports. The De Mohun family were overlords of the town from 1086 to the 14th century, when they were followed by the Luttrells, who are the present owners. It is possible that Minehead had a corporate existence during the 15th century, as certain documents executed by the portreeve and burgesses at that date are preserved, but no record of the grant of a charter has been found. A charter of incorporation given by Elizabeth in 1558 vested the government in a portreeve, a steward and twelve burgesses, the continuance of the corporation being subject to the port and harbour being kept in repair. This condition being unfulfilled, the charter lapsed in the reign of James I., and an attempt to obtain its renewal in the 18th century failed. The corporation was replaced by two constables chosen annually in the court leet of the manor until 1894, when an urban district council was appointed. The borough returned two members to parliament from 1558 until disfranchised by the Reform Act of 1832. A weekly market on Tuesdays and a fair (Sept. 29 to Oct. 2) were held by the lord of the manor from the 15th century, but the date of the grant has not been found. In 1465 a second annual fair on the 1st of May was granted by Edward IV., which is still held on the Wednesday in Whitsun week. The other fair has been discontinued, and the market day has been changed to Wednesday. During the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries Minehead had a considerable coastwise trade in wool, grain and wine, but began to decline owing to the migration of the woollen industry to the north of England, and to the decay of the herring fishery. A renewal of prosperity began when it acquired a reputation as a watering-place.
See Victoria County History: Somerset; F. Handcock, Parish and Borough of Minehead (1903).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Mineo

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​MINEO, a town of the province of Catania, Sicily, 34 m. S.W. of Catania by rail. Pop. (1901), 9828. It occupies the site of the ancient Menaenum, founded by Ducetius in 459 B.C. There is some doubt as to whether this town was also the birthplace of Ducetius, owing to confusions in nomenclature (see E. A. Freeman, History of Sicily, ii. 361). Remains of fortifications still exist, though it seems uncertain whether they are of Greek or of Byzantine origin (Notizie degli Scavi, 1899, p. 70). Four miles to the north is the Lacus Palicorum, a small lake in a crater, which still sends up carbonic acid gas. By it was the temple of the Palici, twin Sicel gods, the most holy place in Sicily, where an oath taken was especially binding, and an inviolable asylum for fugitive slaves. There is now nothing to suggest twin deities; in ancient times there were probably two craters, whereas now there is only one. It was here that Ducetius, a few years later, founded a new seat for his power, the city of Palica.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Minas

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​MINAS [MINOÏDES] (c. 1790–1860), Greek scholar, was a native of Macedonia. During the Greek War of Independence he migrated to Paris, where he tried to enlist the sympathies of Europe on behalf of his countrymen and to promote the study of ancient and modern Greek. But his chief claim to recognition consists in his discovery of two important MSS. (amongst others) in the monastery of Mt Athos during his exploration of the libraries of Turkey and Asia, at the instance of M. Villemain, minister of public instruction in France. One of these contained the last part of a treatise on the Refutation of all Heresies, now generally admitted to be the work of Hippolytus (q.v.), the other the greater portion of the Fables of Babrius.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Minchinhampton

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​MINCHINHAMPTON, a town in the Stroud parliamentary division of Gloucestershire, England, 4 m. S.E. of Stroud. Pop. (1901), 3737. It lies high on a slope of the Cotswold Hills; Minchinhampton Common being a fine open upland. The church of Holy Trinity, largely reconstructed, contains many brasses and memorials. The manufacture of woollen cloth is the long-established staple of Minchinhampton. Prehistoric remains have been discovered on the common, and earthworks are also seen; while the name of Woeful Dane Bottom, a neighbouring valley, perhaps indicates the scene of a defeat of the Danes (c. 918).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Minbar

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​MINBAR, or Mimbar, a term in Mahommedan architecture for the pulpit in a mosque from which the Friday or Mahommedan Sabbath sermon is given (see Pulpit).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Minbu

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​MINBU, a district and division of Upper Burma. The district has an area of 3299 sq. m., and a population (1901) of 233,377, showing an increase of 8% in the decade and a density of 71 inhabitants to the sq. m. The district may be said to consist of low plain-land towards the Irrawaddy, and of undulating country inland rising higher and higher westwards towards the Arakan hills. Between the plain and the Arakan Yoma range is a distinct line of hills running north and south, and usually called the Nwa-Madaung hills. The submontane valleys are largely cultivated, but are deadly except to those born in them. The chief streams besides the Irrawaddy are the Mon, the Maw, and the Salin, which are largely used for irrigation. At Minbu town the Irrawaddy is 3 miles wide, with many islands and sandbanks. There are considerable fisheries along the Irrawaddy and on the Paunglin lake, which is a lagoon fed from the Irrawaddy. The rights are sold yearly by public auction, and realize an average of £1000. Oil has been discovered near the mud volcanoes of Minbu, but it seems to lie at too great a depth to be profitably worked.
There is a large area of reserved forest in the district. The chief crops raised are rice, gram, millet, beans, peas, sesamum and tobacco. The betel-vine is largely cultivated along the Mon River. The district, which was in a chronically disturbed state before the annexation, was not reduced till two years afterwards, many officers losing their lives, among them Phayre, the first deputy-commissioner. The annual rainfall varies greatly over the district. It is very considerable on and under the Arakan Yomas, and very slight towards the Irrawaddy. The thermometer rises to over 100° in the hot months, and the mean of minimum in December is about 49°. Minbu, the district headquarters, stands on the Irrawaddy. It had a population of 5780 in 1901. The river steamers in the dry season can come no nearer than two miles to the south of the town.
The division includes the districts of Thayetmyo, Pakôkku, Minbu and Magwe. It has a total area of 17,172 sq. m. and a population (1901), of 1,076,280, showing an increase of 8% in the decade and giving a density of 63 inhabitants to the square mile. It bestrides the Irrawaddy. (J. G. Sc.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Minaret

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​MINARET (from the Arabic manārat; manar or minar is Arabic for a lighthouse, a tower on which nar, fire, is lit), a lofty, turret peculiar to Mahommedan architecture. The form is derived from that of the Pharos, the great lighthouse of Alexandria, in the top storey of which the Mahommedan conquerors in the 7th century placed a small praying chamber. The lighthouse form is perpetuated in the minarets which are found attached to all Mahommedan mosques, and probably had considerable influence on the evolution of the Christian church tower (see an exhaustive study in Hermann Thiersch, Pharos Antike, Islam und Occident, 1909). The minaret is always square from the base to the height of the wall of the mosque to which it is attached, and Very often octangular above. The upper portion is divided into two or three stages, the wall of the upper storey being slightly set back behind the one below, so as to admit of a narrow balcony, from which the azan, or call to prayer, is chanted by the muazzin (muezzin, moeḍḍin), In order to give greater width to the balcony it is corbelled out with stalactitic vaulting. The balconies are surrounded with stone balustrades, and the upper storeys are richly decorated; the top storey being surmounted with a small bulbous dome. The earliest minaret known is that which was built by the caliph Walid (A.D. 705) in the mosque of Damascus, the next in date being the minaret of the mosque of Tulun, at Cairo (A.D. 879), with an external spiral flight of steps like the observatory towers in Assyrian architecture. This minaret as also the example of El Hakim (996), is raised on great square towers. The more remarkable of the other Cairene minarets are those of Imam esh-Shafi (1218), Muristan al Kalaun (1280), Hassan (1354), Barkuk (A.D. 1382) and Kait Bey (A.D. 1468). Of the same type are the two minarets added to the mosque of Damascus in the 15th century. In Persia the minarets are generally circular, with a single balcony at the top, corbelled out and covered over. In India, at Ghazni, there are no balconies, and the upper part of the tower tapers upwards; the same is noticeable at Delhi, where the minaret of Kutab is divided into six storeys with balconies at. each level. In the well-known tomb of the Taj Mahal the four minarets are all built in white marble, in three storeys with balconies to each storey, and surmounted by open lanterns. The minarets of Constantinople are very lofty and wire-drawn, but contrast well with the domes of the mosques, which are of slight elevation as compared with those at Cairo.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Demerara

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​DEMERARA, one of the three settlements of British Guiana, taking its name from the river Demerara. See Guiana.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Delyanni, Theodoros

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​DELYANNI, THEODOROS (1826–1905), Greek statesman, was born at Kalavryta, Peloponnesus, in 1826. He studied law at Athens, and in 1843 entered the ministry of the interior, of which department he became permanent secretary in 1859. In 1862, on the deposition of King Otho, he became minister for foreign affairs in the provisional government. In 1867 he was minister at Paris. On his return to Athens he became a member of successive cabinets in various capacities, and rapidly collected a party around him consisting of those who opposed his great rival, Tricoupi. In the so-called “Oecumenical Ministry” of 1877 he voted for war with Turkey, and on its fall he entered the cabinet of Koumoundoros as minister for foreign affairs. He was a representative of Greece at the Berlin Congress in 1878. From this time forward, and particularly after 1882, when Tricoupi again came into power at the head of a strong party, the duel between these two statesmen was the leading feature of Greek politics. (See Greece: History.) Delyanni first formed a cabinet in 1885; but his warlike policy, the aim of which was, by threatening Turkey, to force the powers to make concessions in order to avoid the risk of a European war, ended in failure. For the powers, in order to stop his excessive armaments, eventually blockaded the Peiraeus and other ports, and this brought about his downfall. He returned to power in 1890, with a radical programme, but his failure to deal with the financial crisis produced a conflict between him and the king, and his disrespectful attitude resulted in his summary dismissal in 1892. Delyanni, by his demagogic behaviour, evidently expected the public to side with him; but at the elections he was badly beaten. In 1895, however, he again became prime minister, and was at the head of affairs during the Cretan crisis and the opening of the war with Turkey in 1897. The humiliating defeat which ensued—though Delyanni himself had been led into the disastrous war policy to some extent against his will—caused his fall in April 1897, the king again dismissing him from office when he declined to resign. Delyanni kept his own seat at the election of 1899, but his following dwindled to small dimensions. He quickly recovered his influence, however, and he was again president of the council and minister of the interior when, on the 13th of June 1905, he was murdered in revenge for the rigorous measures taken by him against gambling houses.
The main fault of Delyanni as a statesman was that he was unable to grasp the truth that the prosperity of a state depends on its adapting its ambitions to its means. Yet, in his vast projects, which the powers were never likely to endorse, and without their endorsement were vain, he represented the real wishes and aspirations of his countrymen, and his death was the occasion for an extraordinary demonstration of popular grief. He died in extreme poverty, and a pension was voted to the two nieces who lived with him.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Demagogue

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​DEMAGOGUE (Gr. δημαγωγός, from ἄγειν, to lead, and δῆμος, the people), a leader of the popular as opposed to any other party. Being particularly used with an invidious sense of a mob leader or orator, one who for his own political ends panders to the passions and prejudices of the people, the word has come to mean an unprincipled agitator.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Demantoid

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​DEMANTOID, the name given by Nils Gustaf Nordenskiöld to a green garnet, found in the Urals and used as a gem stone. As it possesses high refractive and dispersive power, it presents when properly cut great brilliancy and “fire,” and the name has reference to its diamond-like appearance. It is sometimes known as “Uralian emerald,” a rather unfortunate name inasmuch as true emerald is found in the Urals, whilst it not infrequently passes in trade as olivine. Demantoid is regarded as a lime-iron garnet, coloured probably by a small proportion of chromium. The colour varies in different specimens from a vivid green to a dull yellowish-green, or even to a brown. The specific gravity of an emerald-green demantoid was found to be 3.849, and that of a greenish-yellow specimen 3.854 (A. H. Church). The hardness is only 6.5, or lower even than that of quartz—a character rather adverse to the use of demantoid as a gem. This mineral was originally discovered as pebbles in the gold-washings at Nizhne Tagilsk in the Ural Mountains, and was afterwards found in the stream called Bobrovka, in the Sysertsk district on the western slope of the Urals. It occurs not only as pebbles but in the form of granular nodules in a serpentine rock, and occasionally, though very rarely, shows traces of crystal faces. (F. W. R.*)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Demesne

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​DEMESNE (Demeine, Demain, Domain, &c.), that portion of the lands of a manor not granted out in freehold tenancy, but (a) retained by the lord of the manor for his own use and occupation or (b) let out as tenemental land to his retainers or “villani.” This demesne land, originally held at the will of the lord, in course of time came to acquire fixity of tenure, and developed into the modern copyhold (see Manor). It is from demesne as used in sense (a) that the modern restricted use of the word comes, i.e. land immediately surrounding the mansion or dwelling-house, the park or chase. Demesne of the crown, or royal demesne, was that part of the crown lands not granted out to feudal tenants, but which remained under the management of stewards appointed by the crown. These crown lands, since the accession of George III., have been appropriated by parliament, the sovereign receiving in return a fixed annual sum (see Civil List). Ancient demesne signified lands or manors vested in the king at the time of the Norman Conquest. There were special privileges surrounding tenancies of these lands, such as freedom from tolls and duties, exemption from danegeld and amercement, from sitting on juries, &c. Hence, the phrase “ancient demesne” came to be applied to the tenure by which the lands were held. Land held in ancient demesne is sometimes also called customary freehold. (See Copyhold.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Delta

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​DELTA (from the shape of the Gr. letter Δ, delta, originally used of the mouth of the Nile), a tract of land enclosed by the diverging branches of a river’s mouth and the seacoast, and traversed by other branches of the stream. This triangular tract is formed from the fine silt brought down in suspension by a muddy river and deposited when the river reaches the sea. When tidal currents are feeble, the delta frequently advances some distance seawards, forming a local prolongation of the coast.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Demades

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​DEMADES (c. 380–318 B.C.), Athenian orator and demagogue. He was originally of humble position, and was employed at one time as a common sailor, but he rose partly by his eloquence and partly by his unscrupulous character to a prominent position at Athens. He espoused the cause of Philip in the war against Olynthus, and was thus brought into bitter and life-long enmity with Demosthenes, whom he at first supported. He fought against the Macedonians in the battle of Chaeroneia, and was taken prisoner. Having made a favourable impression upon Philip, he was released together with his fellow-captives, and was instrumental in bringing about a treaty of peace between Macedonia and Athens. He continued to be a favourite of Alexander, and, prompted by a bribe, saved Demosthenes and the other obnoxious Athenian orators from his vengeance. It was also chiefly owing to him that Alexander, after the destruction of Thebes, treated Athens so leniently. His conduct in supporting the Macedonian cause, yet receiving any bribes that were offered by the opposite party, caused him to be heavily fined more than once; and he was finally deprived of his civil rights. He was reinstated (322) on the approach of Antipater, to whom he was sent as ambassador. Before setting out he persuaded the citizens to pass sentence of death upon Demosthenes and his followers, who had fled from Athens. The result of his embassy was the conclusion of a peace greatly to the disadvantage of the Athenians. In 318 (or earlier), having been detected in an intrigue with Perdiccas, Antipater’s opponent, he was put to death by Antipater at Pella, when entrusted with another mission by the Athenians. Demades was avaricious and unscrupulous; but he was a highly gifted and practised orator.
A fragment of a speech (Περὶ δωδεκαετίας), bearing his name, in which he defends his conduct, is to be found in C. Müller’s Oratores Attici, ii. 438, but its genuineness is exceedingly doubtful.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Demaratus

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​DEMARATUS (Doric Δαμάρατος, Ionic Δημάρητος), king of Sparta of the Eurypontid line, successor of his father Ariston. He is known chiefly for his opposition to his colleague Cleomenes I. (q.v.) in his attempts to make Isagoras tyrant in Athens and afterwards to punish Aegina for medizing. He did his utmost to bring Cleomenes into disfavour at home. Thereupon Cleomenes urged Leotychides, a relative and personal enemy of Demaratus, to claim the throne on the ground that the latter was not really the son of Ariston but of Agetus, his mother’s first husband. The Delphic oracle, under the influence of Cleomenes’ bribes, pronounced in favour of Leotychides, who became king (491 B.C.). Soon afterwards Demaratus fled to Darius, who gave him the cities of Pergamum, Teuthrania and Halisarna, where his descendants were still ruling at the beginning of the 4th century (Xen. Anabasis, ii. 1. 3, vii. 8. 17; Hellenica, iii. 1. 6); to these ​Gambreum should perhaps be added (Athenaeus i. 29 f). He accompanied Xerxes on his expedition to Greece, but the stories told of the warning and advice which on several occasions he addressed to the king are scarcely historical.
See Herodotus v. 75, vi. 50-70, vii.; later writers either reproduce or embellish his narrative (Pausanias iii. 4, 3–5, 7, 7–8; Diodorus xi. 6; Polyaenus ii. 20; Seneca, De beneficiis, vi. 31, 4-12). The story that he took part in the attack on Argos which was repulsed by Telesilla, the poetess, and the Argive women, can hardly be true (Plutarch, Mul. virt. 4; Polyaenus, Strat. viii. 33; G. Busolt, Griechische Geschichte, ii.$^2$ 563, note 4). (M. N. T.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Hadendoa

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​HADENDOA (from Beja Hada, chief, and endowa, people), a nomad tribe of Africans of “Hamitic” origin. They inhabit that part of the eastern Sudan extending from the Abyssinian frontier northward nearly to Suakin. They belong to the Beja people, of which, with the Bisharin and the Ababda, they are the modern representatives. They are a pastoral people, ruled by a hereditary chief who is directly responsible to the (Anglo-Egyptian) Sudan government. Although the official capital of the Hadendoa country is Miktinab, the town of Fillik on an affluent of the Atbara is really their headquarters. A third of the total population is settled in the Suakin country. Osman Digna, one of the best-known chiefs during the Madhia, was a Hadendoa, and the tribe contributed some of the fiercest of the dervish warriors in the wars of 1883–98. So determined were they in their opposition to the Anglo-Egyptian forces that the name Hadendoa grew to be nearly synonymous with “rebel.” But this was the result of Egyptian misgovernment rather than religious enthusiasm; for the Hadendoa are true Beja, and Mahommedans only in name. Their elaborate hairdressing gained them the name of “Fuzzy-wuzzies” among the British troops. They earned an unenviable reputation during the wars by their hideous mutilations of the dead on the battlefields. After the reconquest of the Egyptian Sudan (1896–98) the Hadendoa accepted the new order without demur.
See Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, edited by Count Gleichen (London, 1905); Sir F. R. Wingate, Mahdism and the Egyptian Sudan (London, 1891); G. Sergi, Africa: Anthropology of the Hamitic Race (1897); A. H. Keane, Ethnology of the Egyptian Sudan (1884).