Madura
Madura names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Madura an island of the Dutch East Indies
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
an island of the Dutch East Indies, separated by a narrow strait from the N. E. of Java; area 1,- 764 square miles. It is mostly barren, but possesses numerous forests and salt marshes. Along with about 80 smaller islands, lying mostly to the E., it forms a Dutch residency; area, 2,040 square miles. The people, of Malay descent, resemble the Javanese, but are stronger, more enduring, and more enterprising; they make the best native soldiers in the Dutch colonial army. Pop. about 1,900,000. MÆANDER (mē-an'dur), a river in Asia Minor, 200 miles long, which flows W. S. W. from Mount Aulocrene, in Phrygia, to the Ægean Sea, near Miletus. The proverbial windings of the Mæander made its name a synonym for a tortuous course. MÆCENAS, CAIUS CILNIUS (mēse'nas), a Roman administrator, born about 65 B. C. For the three years 18-15 B. C., he was invested with the government of Italy, and he was always sent to Rome on any emergency, either with the Senate or the people, in case he was absent with Augustus. His chief fame was gained as a patron of learning. Vergil, Horace, and Propertius are best known to us as the guests of his hospitable mansion on the Esquiline Hill. Some poetical fragments of his remain to this day. He died in 8 B. C. lake of Sweden, runing inland from the
Madura a maritime district of India
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a maritime district of India, in the S. of of the presidency of Madras, bounded on the E. by the Gulf of Manaar, which separates Hindustan from Ceylon; area 8,401 square miles; pop. about 2,200,000. Chief town dency; pop. about 150,000. For nearly 2,300 years Madura was the political and religious capital of the extreme S. part of India. Its Pandyan kings are mentioned by the ancient Greek geographers. In the 17th century the Nayak rulers, chiefly Tirumala (1623-1659), built here a magnificent pagoda to Sundareswara (Siva), with a hall having 1,000 (997) pillars, a fine palace, now ruined, a summer palace for the god, and a great ea tank. The Jesuits have been active in Madura since the time of Tirumala.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Both places have changed name and flag since Collier's wrote in 1921. The island "of the Dutch East Indies" has been Indonesian since the transfer of sovereignty in 1949, and since June 2009 it has been joined to Java by the Suramadu Bridge, over five kilometres long and Indonesia's longest; its population is now around four million rather than the 1.9 million reported. The Indian district in "the presidency of Madras" is now Madurai district in Tamil Nadu, the state having been renamed in 1969, and the great pagoda to Sundareswara is known worldwide as the Meenakshi Amman Temple, drawing millions of pilgrims and tourists a year. The temple's thousand-pillar hall and the Nayak palace of Tirumala still stand, the palace restored rather than left "now ruined."
Written for this edition, 2026.