Mahmud
or MOHAMMED I., Sultan of Turkey, son of Mustapha II.; born in Constantinople in 1696. After the 1730, he was raised, by the aid of the deposition of his his uncle, uncle, Achmet II., in janissaries, to the vacant throne, on the condition that he should continue the war begun against the ruler of Persia, Nadir Shah. After a disastrous campaign a peace was concluded in 1736. Meanwhile, in 1734, the Russians had commenced hostilities against the Ottoman empire and obtained several successes; their Austrian allies at the same time invading the Turkish province of Wallachia. The latter, however, being badly defeated by the Moslems at Krotska, on the Danube, in 1739, were forced to make peace and also surrender Belgrade. The Russians also effected a treaty, but one more advantageous, they retaining their MAHONY hostilities broke out between Persia and Turkey, in which the latter power was the sufferer. Mahmud died in 1754.
MAHMUD II., Sultan of Turkey; born July 20, 1785. He succeeded his brother Mustapha IV. in 1808, and shortly afterward, during an insurrection among the janissaries, caused the former monarch and his infant to be put to death. The janissaries, however, getting the upper hand, obliged Mahmud to submit to their demands. He continued to carry on the war with Russia and Serbia till 1812, when a treaty of peace was effected, by which the Pruth was made the boundary of the two empires. This able ruler next successively crushed the Arabian Wahabees, and the revolt of ALI PASHA in 1822. A rebellion of his Greek subjects, in 1821, was put down with such relentless severity that Great Britain, France, and Russia found it their duty to interfere, when, mediation proving unavailing, their united squadrons annihilated the Turkish fleet at Navarino in 1827. In 1832 Mahmud, endeavoring to drive the rebellious MEHE- MET ALI (q. v.) out of Syria, was defeated by Ibrahim Pasha, son of the latter. In 1839 a second attempt to reduce his formidable vassal again subjected the Turkish arms to defeat by Ibrahim He died July 1, 1839.
MAHOGANY (from mahogoni, its Central American name), the timber of Swietenia mahogoni. It is close-grained and hard, susceptible of a fine polish, and is largely used for the manufacture of household furniture. It is fragrant and aromatic, and is considered febrifugal. Mahogany is said to have been first brought to England by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1595, but not to have come into general use till about 1720.