of her territory. In 1861, under the presidency of Juarez (q. v.), the country was again involved in war with the allied troops of England, France and Spain, partly as the result of some of the internal changes made by Juarez, such as the separation of church and state and the confiscation of church property, and partly because of acts of injustice to foreigners during this period of disorder. The difficulties were regulated by a treaty, to which the French commander, however, did not agree. Spain and England withdrew their forces, but France declared war, and entered the City of Mexico in 1863. The crown was offered to Archduke Maximilian of Austria, who was declared emperor. After the withdrawal of the French troops from the country, owing to the remonstrance of the United States based on the principle of the Monroe doctrine, the republican troops under Juarez defeated the army of the emperor, who was taken and shot in 1867. Juarez remained president until his death in 1872, when Tejada succeeded; and in 1876, after another revolution, Porfirio Diaz, the ablest of Mexican rulers, became president. He was re-elected continuously, his eighth term beginning Dec. 1, 1910. Early in 1911 a revolution resulted in the resignation of Diaz (q. v.) and the election of Francisco Madero, who, in turn, was deposed, and General Victoriana Huerta, one of the leaders in both revolutions, made provisional president. Madero was shot dead in the streets of Mexico on the night of February 22, 1913, while being transferred from one prison to another.
The people of Mexico, numbering in 1911 15,063,207, are over one-third Indians, embracing 35 tribes, living in communities in villages; the Mestizos, the half-breeds, with a mixture of Spanish and Indian blood, who form about one half the population; and the higher class, which is largely Spanish.
Mexico, Gulf of, a basin of the Atlantic Ocean, shut in by the peninsulas of Yucatan and Florida, lies south of the United States and east of Mexico. It covers 16,200 square miles—more than one fifth of the area of the United States. It is 1,100 miles long, though Yucatan and Florida are within 500 miles of each other. The coasts are low and sandy, with few good harbors, the best being New Orleans, Pensacola and Havana. Cuba is in the middle of the entrance to the gulf, dividing it into two straits, that of Florida, which connects it with the Atlantic and that of Yucatan, opening into the Caribbean. The largest river flowing into it is the Mississippi. The gulf-stream enters the gulf by the Yucatan Channel, flows round it and passes out by the Florida Strait. The gulf is visited by severe winds called northers. See Gulf-Stream.
Meyerbeer (mī′ẽr-bār), Giacomo, a musical composer, was born at Berlin, Prussia, Sept. 5, 1791. His name was Jakob Beer, to which he added the name of Meyer, a benefactor of his, and gave the whole name an Italian form. At the age of seven he played Mozart's music on the piano in public. His earlier works were unsuccessful and he proceeded to Italy for further study. He got hold at once of Rossini's style, which was just then popular, and brought out three operas, for the last of which he was crowned with laurel on the stage at Venice in 1824. In 1831 he produced Robert le Diable in an entirely new style, which cast even Rossini into the shade. After the success which followed the production of The Huguenots he was appointed chapel-master at Berlin. His Prophet appeared in 1849. In the comic opera, to which he now turned his attention, he wrote The Star of the North and Dinorah. His last work, L'Africaine, was not made public until a year after his death. He published many miscellaneous compositions, a Stabat, a Te Deum, some cantatas and songs. His operas are popular and frequently produced, especially at the Paris Opera. He died at Paris on May 2, 1864.
Miami (mī̇-äm′ĭ), a river in the western part of Ohio, flows south for 150 miles and empties into the Ohio 20 miles west of Cincinnati. Miami Canal runs beside it for 70 miles, and together they furnish extensive water-power for manufactures. It is sometimes called the Great Miami to distinguish it from the Little Miami, which runs for 100 miles in the same direction, and flows into the Ohio, six miles east of Cincinnati.
Miamis (mī̇-äm′ēz), an Indian tribe found in the 17th century by the French near Green Bay and on the Fox and St. Joseph's Rivers. They were related to the Illinois tribe and belonged to the Algonquin family. In 1721 they were found on the Miami, the Wabash and the Ohio. In the French and English wars they sided sometimes with one party and sometimes with the other, but during the Revolution went with the English. They were hostile to the settlers; and in 1790 General Harmar was sent against them. Under their chief, Little Turtle, they defeated General St. Clair, but after a defeat by Wayne they made peace in 1794. In 1809 they yielded their lands, from the Wabash to the Ohio state-line, and after another struggle with the United States troops made peace in 1815. They gave up all their lands in 1838 and 1840, and were finally removed to Kansas in 1846 and from there, in 1873, to the Quapaw reservation in Indian Territory. They numbered, when moved, only 150, having dwindled to that from a tribe of 8,000 warriors.
Mi′ca, from a Latin word meaning to glitter, is a group of minerals which are noted as being easily divided into sheets. These sheets can be made so thin that it
