capitania of São Paulo, but in 1720 it became a separate government and was brought more directly under the Portuguese crown. The arbitrary restrictions imposed upon the colonists aroused dissatisfaction among them and eventually led to conspiracy in 1789, inspired by a fear that the Portuguese government was about to enforce the collection of its “fifths” of the mining output, which had largely fallen into arrears. Among the conspirators was one José Alves Maciel, who had just returned from France where he had met Thomas Jefferson and had become infected with French revolutionary ideas. A number of residents became involved, among them the poet Thomaz Antonio Gonzaga. Reckless talk in public places led to the arrest of the conspirators. Only one was executed, a poor, uneducated subaltern militia officer Joaquim José da Silva Xavier, nicknamed O Tiradentes (the Tooth-puller), the others being imprisoned or banished. Tiradentes has since been glorified as the pro-martyr of Brazilian independence. In 1822 Minas became a province of the empire created by Dom Pedro I., though a revolutionary outbreak had occurred in Ouro Preto the year before. In 1842 a long series of quarrels in Rio de Janeiro culminated in a revolution in Minas Geraes and São Paulo, which was suppressed at Santa Luzía, Minas Geraes, on the 20th of August of that year. The abolition of slavery in 1888 caused much discontent among the planters and in the following year Minas Geraes promptly adhered to the declaration of the republic in Rio de Janeiro.
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).
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.)
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).
MINDEN, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Westphalia, 44 m. by rail to the W.S.W. of Hanover, on the left
bank of the Weser, which is spanned by two bridges. Pop.
(1905), 25,428. The older parts of the town retain their narrow
and crooked streets. The cathedral tower dating from the 11th
century, illustrates the first step in the growth of the Gothic spire
in Germany. The nave was erected at the end of the 13th
century, and the choir in 1377–1379. Among the chief edifices are
the old church of St Martin; the town hall, with a Gothic façade;
the law courts and the government offices, constructed, like many
of the other buildings, of a peculiar veined brown sandstone found
in the district. The town has a statue of Frederick William I.
the great elector of Brandenburg. Minden contains a gymnasium
and several hospitals, besides other charitable institutions. Its
industries include linen and cotton weaving, dyeing, calico
printing, brewing, ship-building and the manufacture of tobacco,
glass, soap, chocolate, leather, lamps, chicory and chemicals.
There is also some activity in the building of small craft.
Minden (Mindun, Mindo), apparently a trading place of some importance in the time of Charlemagne, was made the seat of a bishop by that monarch, and subsequently became a flourishing member of the Hanseatic League. In the 13th century it was surrounded with walls. Punished by military occupation and a fine for its reception of the Reformation, Minden underwent similar trials in the Thirty Years’ War. In 1648 the bishopric was converted into a secular principality under the elector of Brandenburg. From 1807 to 1814 Minden was included in the kingdom of Westphalia, and in the latter year it passed to Prussia. In 1816 the fortifications, which had been razed by Frederick the Great after the Seven Years’ War, were restored and strengthened, and as a fortress of the second rank it remained the chief military place of Westphalia down to 1873, when the works were finally demolished. About 3 m. to the south of Minden is the so-called “Porta Westfalica,” a narrow defile by which the Weser quits the mountains. The bishopric of Minden embraced an area of about 400 sq. m. and had about 70,000 inhabitants.
The battle of Minden was fought on the 1st of August 1759 between the Anglo-Allied army commanded by duke Ferdinand of Brunswick and the French under Marshal Coutades, the latter being defeated. The most brilliant episode of the battle was the entire defeat of the French cavalry by the British infantry (with whom there were some Hanoverian troops), but Minden, though it is one of the brightest days in the history of the British army, has its dark side also, for the British cavalry commander Lord George Sackville (see Sackville, Viscount) refused to obey the order to advance, several times sent by Duke Ferdinand, and thereby robbed the victory of the decisive results which were to be expected from the success of the infantry. For an account of the battle and of the campaign of which it is the centre, see Seven Years’ War.
See Stoy, Kurzer Abriss der Geschichte Mindens (Minden, 1879); Bölische, Skizzen aus Mindens Vergangenheit (Minden, 1897); Holscher, Beschreibung des vormaligen Bistumes Minden (Münster, 1877).
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
