MON

English Moen island, Storstrm amtskommune (county commune), Denmark. The island has an area of 84 square miles (218 square km) and lies in the Baltic Sea. It is separated from southern Sjlland (Zealand) by the Ulv Strait and from Falster Island by the Grn Strait. It is primarily flat except on the east coast, where white chalk cliffs covered with beech forests rise above 450 feet (137 m) in places. The island's fertile clay loam supports sugar beets and dairying. Of ancient settlement (there are several Stone Age burial chambers), Mn has many old churches (the oldest dating from about 1100) with notable frescoes. Stege, the principal town, was the seat of a royal fortress in the 12th century. There are several manors and parks, the most notable being Liselund (1792), a small chteau in the care of the National Museum. Pop. (1994 est.) 10,352. also spelled Mun, Burmese Talaing people living in the eastern delta region of Myanmar (Burma) and in west-central Thailand, numbering in the late 20th century more than 1.1 million. The Mon have lived in their present area for the last 1,200 years, and it was they who gave Myanmar its writing (Pali) and its religion (Buddhism). The Mon are believed to have spread from western China over the river lowlands from the Irrawaddy River delta south to the Chao Phraya River basin in Thailand. The Mon city of Thaton was conquered by Burmans migrating southward in 1057. The Mon state endured, however, until it was finally subjugated by the Burmans in 1757 (see Mon kingdom). Most Mon are bilingual, speaking Burmese as well as their own language, which is of Austroasiatic stock. The Mon homeland occupies a coastal strip of land bordering the Gulf of Martaban and includes the Bilugyun and Kalegauk islands. The physiography of the area consists of lowlands terminated by the Taungnyo Range in the east. The Sittang River is the region's northwestern boundary, and the rivers Gyaing, Ataran, Salween, and Ye drain the area westward to the Gulf of Martaban. Rice and teak are the most important agricultural products; mangoes and durians are cultivated as well. Tea, sugar, tobacco, rubber, salt, and bamboo products are exported from Moulmein. Other cities and towns in the region include Thaton, Ye, and Martaban. Thaton, the former capital of the Mon kingdom, lost its position as a port because of silting. A Mon village typically consists of rectangular houses with thatch roofs, granaries, and cattle sheds. Most villages have a monastery that also functions as a school, as well as pagodas, an image house where images of the Buddha are kept, and a rest house or meeting house. The family unit is nuclear rather than extended. The Mon religion of Theravada (Hinayana) Buddhism is combined with belief in various spirits. town, northern Nagaland state, northeastern India. The town was occupied by the British in 1889 and designated a subdivisional headquarters; it was the scene of guerrilla activity until the formation of Nagaland state in 1963. The town has many traditional cottage industries and is noted for its weaving. It also trades in bay leaf. A cottage industries training and production centre was established in the town in the mid-1970s. The economy of the surrounding area is based on agriculture. The people practice both shifting and terraced cultivation of rice, millet, corn (maize), pulse (legumes), sugarcane, potatoes, cotton, and vegetables. Poultry and pig raising is also important. Cottage industries include the spinning, weaving, and dyeing of textiles; soapmaking; and candle making. Pop. (1981) town, 6,898; (1991 prelim.) town, 11,137.