Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 06.djvu/328

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MOHAMMED I. 268 MOHEGAN established the new faith. Othman re- signed next (644-655). Then the Arabs elected Ali, Mohammed's son-in-law. Ali was assassinated in 661, Hassan and Hosein, his sons, soon after perishing In 710 Tarik landed in Spain, the straits where he had passed and the adjacent rock being ever afterward called Gi- braltar (q. v.). In 732 Charles Marte (=the Hammer) defeated the Arab Ab- derrahman at Poitiers, saving western Europe. The Saracen capitals had been successively at Medina, at Cafa, at Da- mascus, and at Bagdad. About the mid- dle of the 8th century, the Saracen em- pire in the East began to be broken down by the Turks, then a savage Tartar tribe, who afterward embraced Mohammedan- ism, and in 1453 took Constantinople, terminating the Greek or Eastern em- p-"re. Since the 16th century their power has been less dreaded. Their faith is called Islam (=surrender of the will to God). Five duties are incumbent on the faithful Mohammedan: A confession of faith that there is but one God, and that Mohammed is his prophet, prayer, fast- ing, almsgiving, and a pilgrimage to Mecca. Friday is their Sabbath and day of special worship. In Turkey, Syria, Palestine, Arabia, Persia, Asia Minor, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Turkestan, In- dia, and Malay Peninsula it is estimated that 57,000,000 adhere to the faith. In China 25,000,000, and throughout the world 175,000,000. There are a few scattered followers in the United States, MOHAMMED I., Emperor of the Turks, succeeded his brother Mousa in 1413; he re-established the glory of the Ottoman empire, and fixed the seat of government at Adrianople, where he died in 1421. MOHAMMED II., born in 1430, suc- ceeded to the throne in 1451; he was the first who received the title of Grand Seignior. He died after a long and vic- torious career A. D. 1481. MOHAMMED III., succeeded his fa- ther Amurath III. in 1595, He entered Hungary, and gained a victory over the Archduke Maximilian, He finally had to sue for peace to the Christian princes whose States he had ravaged. He died in 1603. MOHAMMED IV., born in 1642, be- came emperor in 1648. In 1672, the Sul- tan marched against Poland; but he made peace on condition of an annual tribute being paid. John Sobieski, irri- tated at this ignominious treaty, raised an army, and defeated the Turks near Choczim, on which a new treaty, favor- able to Poland, was signed in 1676. In 1683 the Turks laid siege to Vienna, on which Sobieski marched to its relief, and routed the besiegers. The Janissaries deposed Mohammed IV. and sent him to prison, where he died in 1691. MOHAMMED V., Sultan of Turkey; born 1844; died July 3, 1918. He was the son of Sultan Abdul Medjid and a di- rect descendant of the House of Othman. He succeeded his brother, the notorious Abdul Hamid, when the latter was de- posed by the Young Turk Revolution, 1909. During his early manhood, until he ascended the throne, he was virtually a prisoner and remained intellectually starved. On coming into power, he had neither the knowledge nor the initiative to shape a policy of his own, and so fell under the influence of the body of ad- visers who surrounded him. He re- mained a mere puppet and had no share in the responsibility for enlisting Turkey on the side of Germany in the war. He was succeeded by his brother. Mo- hammed VI. MOHAMMED VI., Sultan of Turkey; he was born in Constantinople in 1861. Son of Abdul Medjid. He succeeded his brother, Mohammed V., on the latter's death, on July 3, 1918. MOHAMMERAH (mo-ham'me-ra) (Muhammrah), a town of Khuzistan, Persia, near the Turkish frontier. It stands on the lower Karun, where the latter connects by the Haffar canal with the Shat-el-Arab. Pop, 15,000. MOHAVE (mo-ha'va) DESERT, a basin, with little water or vegetation, chiefly S, E, of California, and extending into Arizona, The Mohave river rises in the San Bernardino range, and finally disappears in the Mohave Sink, MOHAWK, a river in New York, the principal tributary of the Hudson ; length about 135 miles, MOHAWKS, a tribe of North Amer- ican Indians, belonging to the confed- eracy of the Five (afterward Six) Na- tions (see Iroquois). They originally inhabited the valley of the Mohawk river. About 1,200 are domiciled on Grand river and Bay of Quinte, eastern end of Lake Ontario. MOHEGAN, or MONHEGAN IN- DIANS (-he'gan), a tribe of the Algon- quin family who formerly lived on the Thames river in Connecticut. They were at one time united with the Pequots and after the death of Sassacus, the Pequot leader, the remainder of the tribe came under the Mohegan chief. After the death of King Philip in 1676, the Mohe-