inhabitants devote themselves especially to rice-culture, though tobacco, Indian corn, sugar-cane, fruit and vegetables are also raised. A statue of the Virgin Mary here is visited annually (especially during May) by thousands from Pangasinán and adjoining provinces. The inhabitants are mostly Ilocanos. Manaoag includes the town proper and eighteen barrios.
MANÁOS, a city and port of Brazil and capital of the state of Amazonas, on the left bank of the Rio Negro 12 m. above its junction with the Solimões, or Amazon, and 908 m. (Wappäus) above the mouth of the latter, in lat. 3° 8′ 4″ S., long. 60° W. Pop. (1908), about 40,000, including a large percentage of Indians, negroes and mixed-bloods; the city is growing rapidly. Manáos stands on a slight eminence overlooking the river, 106 ft. above sea-level, traversed by several “igarapés” (canoe paths) or side channels, and beautified by the luxuriant vegetation of the Amazon valley. The climate is agreeable and healthful, the average temperature for the year (1902) being 84°, the number of rainy days 130, and the total rainfall 66.4 in. Up to the beginning of the 20th century the only noteworthy public edifices were the church of N.S. da Conceição, the St Sebastião asylum and, possibly, a Misericordia hospital; but a government building, a custom-house, a municipal hall, courts of justice, a marketplace and a handsome theatre were subsequently erected, and a modern water-supply system, electric light and electric tramways were provided. The “igarapés” are spanned by a number of bridges. Higher education is provided by a lyceum or high school, besides which there is a noteworthy school (bearing the name of Benjamin Constant) for poor orphan girls. Manáos has a famous botanical garden, an interesting museum, a public library, and a meteorological observatory. The port of Manáos, which is the commercial centre of the whole upper Amazon region, was nothing but a river anchorage before 1902. In that year a foreign corporation began improvements, which include a stone river-wall or quay, storehouses for merchandise, and floating wharves or landing stages connected with the quay by floating bridges or roadways. The floating wharves and bridges are made necessary by the rise and fall of the river, the difference between the maximum and minimum levels being about 33 ft.
The principal exports are rubber, nuts, cacao, dried fish, hides and piassava fibre. The markets of Manáos receive their supplies of beef from the national stock ranges on the Rio Branco, and it is from this region that hides and horns are received for export. The shipping movement of the port has become large and important, the total arrivals in 1907, including small trading boats, being 1589, of which 133 were ocean-going steamers from Europe and the United States, 75 from south Brazilian ports, and 227 river steamers from Pará. This rapid growth in its direct trade is due to a provincial law of 1878 which authorized an abatement of 3% in the export duties on direct shipments, and a state law of 1900 which made it compulsory to land and ship all products of the state from the Manáos custom-house.
The first European settlement on the site of Manáos was made in 1660, when a small fort was built here by Francisco da Motta Falcão, and was named São José de Rio Negro. The mission and village which followed was called Villa de Barra, or Barra do Rio Negro (the name “Barra” being derived from the “bar” in the current of the river, occasioned by the setback caused by its encounter with the Amazon). It succeeded Barcellos as the capital of the old capitania of Rio Negro in 1809, and became the capital of Amazonas when that province was created in 1850, its name being then changed to Manáos, the name of the principal tribe of Indians living on the Rio Negro at the time of its discovery. In 1892 Manáos became the see of the new bishopric of Amazonas.
MANASSAS, a district of Prince William county, Virginia, and a town of the district, about 30 m. W.S.W. of Washington, D.C. Pop. (1910) of the district, 3381; of the town, 1217. The village of Manassas (in the town), known also as Manassas Junction, is served by the Chesapeake & Ohio and the Southern railways. North of the junction is Bull Run, a small stream which empties into the Occoquan, an arm of the Potomac. In this neighbourhood two important battles of the American Civil War, the first and second battles of Bull Run, were fought on the 21st of July 1861 and on the 29th–30th of August 1862 respectively; by Southern historians these battles are called the battles of Manassas. At Manassas is the Manassas Industrial School for Coloured Youth (non-sectarian; privately supported), which was founded in 1892 and opened in 1894; in 1908–1909 it had nine teachers (all negroes) and 121 pupils, all in elementary grades.
MANASSEH (7th cent. B.C.), son of Hezekiah, and king of Judah (2 Kings xxi. 1–18). His reign of fifty-five years was marked by a reaction against the reforming policy of his father, and his persistent idolatry and bloodshed were subsequently regarded as the cause of the destruction of Jerusalem and of the dispersion of the people (2 Kings xxiii. 26 seq.; Jer. xv. 4). As a vassal of Assyria he was contemporary with Sennacherib, Esar-haddon (681–668 B.C.) and Assur-bani-pal (668–626 B.C.), and his name (Me-na-si-e) appears among the tributaries of the two latter. Little is known of his history. The chronicler, however, relates that the Assyrian army took him in chains to Babylon, and that after his repentance he returned, and distinguished himself by his piety, by building operations in Jerusalem and by military organization (2 Chron. xxxiii. 10 sqq.). The story of his penitence referred to in xxxiii. 22, is untrustworthy, but the historical foundation may have been some share in the revolt of the Babylonian Samas-sum-ukin (648 B.C.), on which occasion he may have been summoned before Assur-bani-pal with other rebels and subsequently reinstated. See further Driver, in Hogarth, Authority and Archaeology, pp. 114 sqq. Manasseh was succeeded by his son Amon, who after a brief reign of two years perished in a conspiracy, his place being taken by Amon’s son (or brother) Josiah (q.v.). A lament formerly ascribed to Manasseh (cf. 2 Chron. xxxiii. 18) is preserved in the Apocrypha (see Manasses, Prayer of; and Apocryphal Literature). On Judg. xviii. 30 (marg.), see Jonathan.
MANASSEH (apparently Hebrew for “he who causes to forget,” but see H. W. Hogg, Encyc. Bib., s.v.); in the Bible, a tribe of Israel, the elder but less important of the “sons” of Joseph. Its seat lay to the north of Ephraim, but its boundaries can scarcely be defined. It merged itself with its “brother” in the south, and with Issachar, Zebulun and other tribes in the north (Josh. xvii. 7 sqq.). From the latter it was separated for a time by a line of Canaanite cities extending from Dor to Bethshean, which apparently were not all subdued till the days of David or Solomon (Judg. i. 27; 1 Sam. xxxi. 10; 1 Kings ix. 15). Besides its western settlement in the fertile glades of northern Samaria, running out into the great plain, there were territories east of the Jordan reckoned to Manasseh. Gilead and Bashan were said to have been taken by Machir, and a number of places of uncertain identification were occupied by Nobah and Jair (Num. xxxii. 41; Judg. x. 3–5). It seems most natural to suppose that these districts were held before the Israelites crossed over to the west (cf. the tradition Num. xxi., Deut. iii.). On the other hand, in Judg. v. 14, Machir may conceivably belong to the west, and it is possible that, according to another tradition, these movements were the result of the complaint of the Joseph tribes that their original territory was too restricted.[1] In the genealogical lists, Machir, perhaps originally an independent branch, is the eldest son of Manasseh (Josh. xvii. 1 b, 2); but according to later schemes he is Manasseh’s only son (Num. xxvi. 28–34). Intermixture with Arameans is indicated in the view that he was the son of Manasseh and an Aramean concubine (1 Chron. vii. 14), and this is supported by the statement that the Arameans of Geshur and Maacah (cf. 2 Sam. x. 6; Gen. xxii. 24) dwelt among the Israelites of eastern Jordan (Josh. xiii. 13). Subsequently, at an unknown period of history, sixty cities were lost (1 Chron. ii. 23). The story of the daughters of the Manassite Zelophehad is of interest for the Hebrew law of inheritance (Num. xxvii. 1–11, xxxvi.).
- ↑ So Budde (Richter u. Samuel), who recovers certain old fragments and arranges Josh. xvii. 14–18 (v. 18 read “hill-country of Gilead”); Num. xxxii. 39, 41 seq.; Josh. xiii. 13.
