.mu

.mu is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Mauritius. It is administered by the Mauritius Network Information Centre and registrations are processed via accredited registrars. Some registrars market it as the .music and .museum TLD.

Usage

A number of musical groups have started to use this domain, with .mu being used to indicate music. Some examples are the rock band Athlete, the country band Lonestar, the British progressive rock bands Muse and Pendragon, the New Age musical project Amethystium and the 80s influenced hardcore metal band Blessed By A Broken Heart. In addition, the UK-based record label Planet Mu also uses the .mu domain, with the .mu forming the second half of the label's name. The world's largest direct seller of musical instruments, (Musician's Friend), also uses a .mu URL (frnd.mu) as a link shortener for several of their social media channels, including Twitter. The French webpage for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (Radio-Canada) uses the .mu domain for its Music network's web-only personalised music streams http://www.espace.mu.

Muş

Muş (pronounced [muʃ]; transliterated as Mush, also historically Moush or Moosh; Armenian: Մուշ, Kurdish: Mûş‎) is a town and the provincial capital of Muş Province in Turkey. Population of the municipality of Muş numbers 72,774 (2009 estimate).

History

Ancient and medieval

The date of foundation of Mush is unknown, although a settlement is believed to have been around by the time of Menua, the king of Urartu (c. 800 BC), whose cuneiform inscription was found in the city's vicinity.

During the Middle Ages Mush was the center of the Taron region of Armenia. Its is first mentioned as a city in Armenian manuscripts of the 9th and 10th centuries. In the late 8th century Mush, along with the Taron region, came under control of the Armenian Bagratid (Bagratuni) dynasty, who reconquered it from the Arabs. Mush and the Taron region was captured and annexed to the Byzantine Empire in 969.

After the 11th century the town was ruled by Islamic dynasties such as the Ahlatshahs, Ayyubids, Ilkhanids and Kara Koyunlu. In the 10th-13th centuries Mush developed into a major city with an estimated population of 20 to 25 thousand people. In 1387 the central Asian ruler Timur crossed the area and apparently captured Mush town without a battle. Later the Akkoyunlu ruled the area and in the 16th the Ottomans took control over the town and region in the 16th century from the Safavids. Mush remained part of the Ottoman Empire till the early 20th century and during these times retained a large Armenian population. In 1821 a Persian invasion reached Mush.

Mu (lost continent)

Mu is the name of a suggested lost continent whose concept and name were proposed by 19th-century traveler and writer Augustus Le Plongeon, who claimed that several ancient civilizations, such as those of Egypt and Mesoamerica, were created by refugees from Mu—which he located in the Atlantic Ocean. This concept was popularized and expanded by James Churchward, who asserted that Mu was once located in the Pacific.

The existence of Mu was already being disputed in Le Plongeon's time. Today scientists dismiss the concept of Mu (and of other alleged lost continents such as Lemuria) as physically impossible, arguing that a continent can neither sink nor be destroyed in the short period of time required by this premise. Mu's existence is now considered to have no factual basis.

History of the concept

Augustus Le Plongeon

The mythical idea of Mu first appeared in the works of Augustus Le Plongeon (1825–1908), after his investigations of the Maya ruins in Yucatán. He claimed that he had translated ancient Mayan writings which supposedly showed that the Maya civilization of the Yucatán was older than those of Greece and Egypt, and told the story of an even older continent.