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Zardoya González, María Concepción (Spanish author)
...with the Fall of Man, also using Cain and Abel motifs to symbolize the country’s Civil War. Slightly younger, María Concepción Zardoya González, who wrote under the name Concha Zardoya, published 25 poetry collections between 1946 and 1987. She was born in Chile of Spanish parents and lived in Spain in the 1930s; she later spent three decades in the United States......
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Zareh (Persian prince)
...throne, Balāsh was threatened by the dominance of invading Hephthalites, a nomadic eastern tribe. Supported by Zarmihr, a feudal chief, Balāsh suppressed an uprising by his rebel brother Zareh. Later, however, he was abandoned by Zarmihr, and shortly afterward he was deposed and blinded. The crown was given to a son of Fīrūz, Kavadh I....
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Zareh (king of Sophene)
one of the satraps (governors) of the Seleucid king Antiochus III, who is credited, with Artaxias, as a founder of ancient Armenia....
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Zaremba, Stanisław (Polish mathematician)
...relation (the resulting Coriolis and centrifugal effects are quite negligible at the scale of molecular interactions). Important contributions on this issue were made by the applied mathematicians Stanisław Zaremba and Gustav Andreas Johannes Jaumann in the first decade of the 1900s; they showed how to make tensorial definitions of stress rate that were invariant to superposed spin and.....
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Zaret, Hy (American lyricist)
American lyricist who collaborated with composer Alex North to create the song “Unchained Melody” (1955), which became one of the most enduring and most performed songs of all time; it was covered by more than 300 artists, notably Lena Horne, Elvis Presley, Joni Mitchell, and the Righteous Brothers, whose 1965 rendition became a pop music classic. Zaret’s other hits included t...
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Zaria (Nigeria)
city, Kaduna State, north-central Nigeria, on the Kubanni River (a tributary of the Kaduna). Headquarters of the Zaria Local Government Council and the traditional Zaria emirate, it is served by road and rail and by an airport just to the northwest....
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Zaria (historical kingdom and province, Nigeria)
historic kingdom, traditional emirate, and local government council in Kaduna State, northern Nigeria, with its headquarters at Zaria city. The kingdom is traditionally said to date from the 11th century, when King Gunguma founded it as one of the original Hausa Bakwai (Seven True Hausa States). As the southernmost state of the seven, it had the function of capturing slaves for ...
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Zariadres (king of Sophene)
one of the satraps (governors) of the Seleucid king Antiochus III, who is credited, with Artaxias, as a founder of ancient Armenia....
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Zariaspa (ancient country, Central Asia)
ancient country lying between the mountains of the Hindu Kush and the Amu Darya (ancient Oxus River) in what is now part of Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. Bactria was especially important between about 600 bc and about ad 600, serving for much of that time as a meeting place not only for overland trade between East and West but also for the crosscurrents of re...
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Zariski, Oscar (American mathematician)
A further twist to the development came with the work of the American mathematician Oscar Zariski, who had studied with the Italian school of algebraic geometers but came to feel that their method of working was imprecise. He worked out a detailed program whereby every kind of geometric configuration could be redescribed in algebraic terms. His work succeeded in producing a rigorous theory,......
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Zaritsky, Hyman Harry (American lyricist)
American lyricist who collaborated with composer Alex North to create the song “Unchained Melody” (1955), which became one of the most enduring and most performed songs of all time; it was covered by more than 300 artists, notably Lena Horne, Elvis Presley, Joni Mitchell, and the Righteous Brothers, whose 1965 rendition became a pop music classic. Zaret’s other hits included t...
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Zarkrzewska, Marie (American physician)
The American children’s play movement began in Boston in 1885 with the development of children’s sand gardens modeled on German designs. German-born Marie Zarkrzewska was one of the earliest female physicians in the United States. While in Berlin, Zarkrzewska had noted the simple piles of sand boarded by wooden planks that provided a safe, enclosed space for several children to engag...
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Zarlino, Gioseffo (Italian composer)
Venetian composer and writer on music, the most celebrated music theorist of the mid-16th century....
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Zarma (people)
a people of westernmost Niger and adjacent areas of Burkina Faso and Nigeria. The Zarma speak a dialect of Songhai, a branch of the Nilo-Saharan language family, and are considered to be a branch of the Songhai people....
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Zarma language
...into adjacent countries. At least six varieties are usually distinguished, although the question of how many distinct Songhai languages should be recognized is undecided. With two million speakers, Zarma ranks among the major languages of Africa in terms of number of speakers. The other five major Songhai languages together have more than one million speakers: Western Songhai (with Djenne......
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Zarmhir (Persian leader)
...succeeding his brother Fīrūz I. Soon after he ascended the throne, Balāsh was threatened by the dominance of invading Hephthalites, a nomadic eastern tribe. Supported by Zarmihr, a feudal chief, Balāsh suppressed an uprising by his rebel brother Zareh. Later, however, he was abandoned by Zarmihr, and shortly afterward he was deposed and blinded. The crown was......
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Zarpanit (goddess)
...a ziggurat with a shrine of Marduk on the top. In the Esagila the poem Enuma elish was recited every year at the New Year festival. The goddess named most often as the consort of Marduk was Zarpanitu....
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Zarqāʾ, Al- (Jordan)
one of the largest cities in Jordan, located 12 miles (19 km) northeast of Amman....
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Zarqallu, az- (Spanish astronomer)
...Islam made it the pocket watch of the medievals. In its original form it required a different plate of horizon coordinates for each latitude, but in the 11th century the Spanish Muslim astronomer al-Zarqallu invented a single plate that worked for all latitudes. Slightly earlier, astronomers in the East had experimented with plane projections of the sphere, and al-Bīrūnī......
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Zarqāwī, Abū Muṣʿab al- (Jordanian militant)
Jordanian-born Iraqi militant (b. Oct. 20/30, 1966, Al-Zarqa, Jordan—d. June 7, 2006, Baʿqubah, Iraq), as the self-styled leader in Iraq of the Islamic militant group al-Qaeda, was thought by many to have been the mastermind behind numerous terrorist acts, including the murder in 2002 of a U.S. diplomat in Jordan, the 2003 bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad, and the beheading ...
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Zartosht (Iranian prophet)
Iranian religious reformer and founder of Zoroastrianism, or Parsiism, as it is known in India. (See Zoroastrianism; Parsi.)...
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Żary (Poland)
...director of the Leipzig Opera, for which he also composed. Telemann’s next positions were at two princely courts: first as kapellmeister (conductor of the court orchestra) in Sorau (now Żary, Pol.; 1705–08), then as concertmaster (first violinist) and later kapellmeister in Eisenach (1708–12). By playing, conducting, studying, and composing he gained the music...
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Zarya (Russian space module)
...the first element of its multinational project, which had come to be called the International Space Station (ISS). Launched by Russia atop a Proton rocket in late 1998, the initial module, called Zarya, was designed to provide attitude control and solar power arrays for the nascent station. Shortly afterward, space shuttle astronauts ferried up and attached the first U.S.-built element, named.....
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Zarzian tool industry (archaeology)
...cultural and typological discontinuity, perhaps caused by the maximum cold of the last phase of the Würm glaciation, the Baradostian was replaced by a local Upper Paleolithic industry called the Zarzian. This tool tradition, probably dating to the period 12,000 to 10,000 bc, marks the end of the Iranian Paleolithic sequence....
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zarzuela (Spanish musical play)
Spanish musical play consisting of spoken passages, songs, choruses, and dances. It originated in the 17th century as an aristocratic entertainment dealing with mythological or heroic subject matter. The first performances were at the royal residence of La Zarzuela, near Madrid. Writers of zarzuelas included the playwrights Lope de Vega (1562–1635) and Pedro Calderón de la Barca (16...
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Zarzuela race track (race track, Madrid, Spain)
...in 1927. His first concrete-shell structure, a covered market in Algeciras (1933), was followed two years later by two of his most admired shell structures, both in Madrid: the grandstand at the Zarzuela racecourse and the sports hall. The shell roof of the racecourse cantilevers out some 43 feet (13 metres). Double cylindrical shells characterize the sports hall....
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Zāskār Range (mountains, Asia)
group of Himalayan mountains in northern India and western Tibet (China), extending southeastward for 400 miles (640 km) from the Suru River to the upper Karnali River. Kāmet Peak (25,446 feet [7,756 m]) is the highest point, and the most important passes are Shipki, Lipulek, and Mana....
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Zaslavskaya, Tatyana (Russian scholar)
...system, only to make it more efficient. The leading role of the party and the central direction of the economy were to stay. Under Andropov he had attended seminars by such radical scholars as Tatyana Zaslavskaya and Abel Aganbegyan. He accepted Zaslavskaya’s main point that the “command-administrative system” was dragging the country down and would ruin it if not dismantle...
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zasu (Shinto religion)
...fees, the za enjoyed official recognition and exemptions from tolls, transit duties, and market taxes. Many za were begun and maintained under the patronage of nobles or of the zasu (head priests) of Shintō shrines or Buddhist temples. More than 80 guilds situated in the Nara region specialized in the manufacture or conveyance of paper, sake, salt, vegetable oil,......
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Zasulich, Vera Ivanovna (Russian revolutionary)
Russian revolutionary who shot and wounded General Fyodor F. Trepov, the governor of St. Petersburg, and who was acquitted by the jury in a much-publicized trial (1878)....
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Zaszumi las (work by Zapolska)
...of bitterness toward middle-class values, morality, and hypocrisy. Of her several novels written over a period of 20 years, only two have survived in terms of modern readability. Zaszumi las (1899; “The Forest Will Murmur”) is a roman à clef about Polish revolutionaries in Paris. Sezonowa miłość (1905; “Love ...
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Zaʿtar, Tall al- (refugee camp, Lebanon)
former Palestinian refugee camp, Jabal Lubnān muḥāfaẓah (governorate), central Lebanon, north of Beirut, near Nabʿa. The camp was the last large Muslim outpost in the midst of the predominantly Christian inhabited area of north Lebanon and had a population estimated at 15,000 in the mid-1970s. During the ...
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Zatishye (Russia)
city, Moscow oblast (province), western Russia. It lies 36 miles (58 km) east of Moscow city. The name, meaning “electric steel,” derives from the high-quality-steel industry established there soon after the October Revolution in 1917. During World War II, parts of the heavy-machine-building industry were relocated there from Ukraine, and ...
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Zatoka Gdańska (gulf, Baltic Sea)
southern inlet of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Poland on the west, south, and southeast and by Kaliningrad oblast (province) of Russia on the east. The gulf extends 40 miles (64 km) from north to south and 60 miles (97 km) from east to west and reaches its maximum depth, more than 371 feet (113 m), in its northern section....
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Zátopek, Emil (Czech athlete)
Czech athlete who is considered one of the greatest long-distance runners in the history of the sport. He won the gold medal in the 10,000-metre race at the 1948 Olympics in London and three gold medals at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, Finland: in the 5,000- and 10,000-metre races and in the marathon. During his career he set 18 world records, holding the 10,000-metre record from 1949 to 195...
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“Zauberberg, Der” (work by Mann)
...and “Von deutscher Republik” (“The German Republic”) show his somewhat hesitant espousal of democratic principles. His new position was clarified in the novel The Magic Mountain. Its theme grows out of an earlier motif: a young engineer, Hans Castorp, visiting a cousin in a sanatorium in Davos, abandons practical life to submit to the rich seductions......
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Zauberer (Baltic religion)
...with the important occasions of human life, such as birth, marriage, and death. In the syncretistic amalgam of Christianity and the religion of the Balts, those persons were called sorcerers (Zauberer) and, according to church records, were treated by the Balts with the same reverence as bishops were treated by Christians....
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Zauberer vom Rom, Der (work by Gutzkow)
His final well-known work, Der Zauberer von Rom (1858–61; “The Magician of Rome”), is a powerful study of Roman Catholic life in southern Germany....
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“Zauberflöte, Die” (opera by Mozart)
...of Mozart’s, Emanuel Schikaneder, had in 1789 set up a company to perform singspiels in a suburban theatre, and in 1791 he engaged Mozart to compose a score to his Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute); Mozart worked on it during the spring and early summer. Then he received another commission, anonymously delivered, for a requiem, to be composed under conditions of secr...
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Zauberformel (Swiss government)
In 1959 the so-called Zauberformel (“magic formula”) for the Federal Council was established, under which it was composed of two liberals, two conservatives, two Social Democrats, and one member of the peasant-based Swiss People’s Party. This formula, which persisted until 2003, permitted the government to sidestep party rivalries to dist...
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Zauditu (regent of Ethiopia)
...his close association with Islam made him unpopular with the majority Christian population of Ethiopia. Tafari became the rallying point of the Christian resistance, and he deposed Lij Yasu in 1916. Zauditu, Menilek II’s daughter, thereupon became empress in 1917, and Ras Tafari was named regent and heir apparent to the throne....
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Zauffely, Johann Joseph (English painter)
German-born portrait painter who in late 18th-century England made his reputation with paintings depicting episodes from contemporary theatre and with portraits and conversation pieces (i.e., paintings of groups of people in their customary surroundings)....
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Zauphaly, Johann Joseph (English painter)
German-born portrait painter who in late 18th-century England made his reputation with paintings depicting episodes from contemporary theatre and with portraits and conversation pieces (i.e., paintings of groups of people in their customary surroundings)....
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zautar (Iranian priest)
It is likely that from a very early period a priest, the zautar (Vedic hotar), was required to properly carry out the yasna. The zautar might be assisted by a number of other ritual specialists. With the priest or priests acting on behalf of the sacrificer, the god or gods were invoked through the intermediary of Fire. The sacred drink was prepared and the victim led......
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Zavadsky, Yury Alexandrovich (Soviet actor)
Soviet actor, director, and teacher whose eclectic vision ranged from foreign classics to modern heroic drama....
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Zavagli Ricciardelli delle Camminate, Renato (Italian artist)
Italian-born graphic designer and illustrator (b. Feb. 4, 1909, Rimini, Italy—d. March 31, 2004, Rome, Italy), created stylish graphics and elegant, sophisticated ads for high-fashion houses and magazines. With his works that suggested an inspired melding of Japanese drawing and Toulouse-Lautrec posters, Gruau, who was self-taught, formed a bridge between the celebrated French poster tradit...
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Zavattini, Cesare (Italian writer)
Italian screenwriter, poet, painter, and novelist, known as a leading exponent of Italian Neorealism....
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Zaviš of Falkenstein (Bohemian politician)
...at the court of his cousin Otto IV of Brandenburg who served as regent for Wenceslas until 1283. When Wenceslas then returned to Prague, he found that his country was dominated by the ambitious Zaviš of Falkenstein, his mother’s lover and later her husband. Wenceslas arrested Zaviš in 1289, destroyed the dissident faction, and executed his rival in 1290. Thereafter he gover...
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“Zavist” (work by Olesha)
Olesha gained renown first as a poet. His fame as a prose writer came after the publication of his novel Zavist (serialized 1927, published in book form 1928; Envy), the central theme of which is the fate of the intelligentsia in Russia’s postrevolutionary society. Olesha’s obvious enthusiasm for the new state of affairs did not hinder him from s...
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Zavoysky, Yevgeny Konstantinovich (Soviet physicist)
Soviet physicist who discovered electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), also known as electron spin resonance (ESR)....
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Zawawi, Qais ibn ʿAbd al-Munim az- (Omani politician)
Omani politician who was an effective and influential minister of state for foreign affairs, 1973-82, and deputy prime minister for financial and economic affairs, 1982-95 (b. Aug. 27, 1935--d. Sept. 11, 1995)....
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Zawditu (regent of Ethiopia)
...his close association with Islam made him unpopular with the majority Christian population of Ethiopia. Tafari became the rallying point of the Christian resistance, and he deposed Lij Yasu in 1916. Zauditu, Menilek II’s daughter, thereupon became empress in 1917, and Ras Tafari was named regent and heir apparent to the throne....
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Zawi Chemi–Shanidar (archaeological site, Asia)
Representative of the first settlements on the borders of Mesopotamia are the adjacent sites of Zawi Chemi Shanidar and Shanidar itself, which lie northwest of Rawāndūz. They date from the transition from the 10th to the 9th millennium bc and are classified as prepottery. The finds included querns (primitive mills) for grinding grain (whether wild or cultivated is not k...
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Zawia (Libya)
town, situated on the Mediterranean coast about 30 miles (50 km) west of Tripoli, northwestern Libya. Lying on Al-Jifārah plain, it is near the site of an important oil field and has the country’s first oil refinery. Agriculture is prominent in the area because of the ample groundwater resources. The main crops are potatoes, onions, and tomatoes; livestock are also...
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Zawinul, Joe (Austrian musician)
Austrian jazz musician who was a leading composer and keyboardist in jazz-rock fusion music, most famously in the combo Weather Report, which he and soprano saxophonist Wayne Shorter led (1970–85). Zawinul was a successful jazz pianist in Europe before moving (1959) to the U.S. He became noted during his years (1961–70) playing in Cannonball Adderley’s bluesy hard-bop Quintet,...
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Zawinul, Josef Erich (Austrian musician)
Austrian jazz musician who was a leading composer and keyboardist in jazz-rock fusion music, most famously in the combo Weather Report, which he and soprano saxophonist Wayne Shorter led (1970–85). Zawinul was a successful jazz pianist in Europe before moving (1959) to the U.S. He became noted during his years (1961–70) playing in Cannonball Adderley’s bluesy hard-bop Quintet,...
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zāwiyah (Islam)
generally, in the Muslim world, a monastic complex, usually the centre or a settlement of a Ṣūfī (mystical) brotherhood. In some Arabic countries the term zāwiyah is also used for any small, private oratory not paid for by community funds....
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Zāwiyah, Al- (Libya)
town, situated on the Mediterranean coast about 30 miles (50 km) west of Tripoli, northwestern Libya. Lying on Al-Jifārah plain, it is near the site of an important oil field and has the country’s first oil refinery. Agriculture is prominent in the area because of the ample groundwater resources. The main crops are potatoes, onions, and tomatoes; livestock are also...
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Zāwiyat al-Bayḍāʾ (Libya)
town, northeastern Libya. It is a new town lying on a high ridge 20 miles (32 km) from the Mediterranean Sea. Built in the late 1950s on the site of the tomb of Rawayfī ibn Thābit (a Companion of the Prophet Muḥammad), it was planned as the future national capital. Although Zāwiyat al-Bayḍāʾ contains a parliament building, ministerial offices, a bra...
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Zāwiyat el-Bēḍā (Libya)
town, northeastern Libya. It is a new town lying on a high ridge 20 miles (32 km) from the Mediterranean Sea. Built in the late 1950s on the site of the tomb of Rawayfī ibn Thābit (a Companion of the Prophet Muḥammad), it was planned as the future national capital. Although Zāwiyat al-Bayḍāʾ contains a parliament building, ministerial offices, a bra...
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Zawr Escarpment, Al- (Kuwait)
...low hills and shallow depressions. The elevations range from sea level in the east to 951 feet (290 metres) above sea level at Al-Shiqāyā peak, in the western corner of the country. The Al-Zawr Escarpment, one of the main topographic features, borders the northwestern shore of Kuwait Bay and rises to a maximum elevation of 475 feet (145 metres). Elsewhere in coastal areas, large.....
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Zāyandeh River (river, Iran)
The Zāyandeh River, the lifeline of Eṣfahān province, also originates in the Zagros Mountains, flowing southeastward to Gāv Khūnī Marsh (Gāvkhāneh Lake), a swamp northwest of the city of Yazd. The completion of the Kūhrang Dam in 1971 diverted water from the upper Kārūn through a tunnel 2 miles (3 km) long into the......
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Zayas y Sotomayor, María de (Spanish novelist)
the most important of the minor 17th-century Spanish novelists and one of the first women to publish prose fiction in the Castilian dialect....
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Zayd ibn al-Ḥārith (companion of Prophet Muhammad)
...then to a few friends, and finally, three years after the advent of the revelation, to the public at large. The first to accept Muhammad’s call to become Muslims were Khadījah; ʿAlī; Zayd ibn al-Ḥārith, who was like a son to the Prophet; and Abū Bakr, a venerable member of the Meccan community who was a close friend of the Prophet. This small gro...
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Zayd ibn ʿAlī (Muslim leader)
...of the Umayyad period died down, but a counterculture developed in the form of several diverse groups promoting Shīʿite candidates to leadership. One such group, the Zaydiyyah (named for Zayd ibn ʿAlī, a grandson of al-Ḥusayn), formulated its principles in the 9th century. The Zaydīs (members of the Zaydiyyah) demanded, sometimes with sword in hand, tha...
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Zayd ibn Thābit (Muslim scholar)
...at hand, including the bodies of believers, the shoulder bones of camels, tablets, and palm fronds, some of which have survived to this day. During the caliphate of Abū Bakr (632–634), Zayd ibn Thābit, who had recorded some of the Qurʾān during Muhammad’s lifetime, was asked to compile a written version of the whole text. The completed text was passed t...
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Zaydān, Jurgī (Lebanese writer)
...that was to be followed by writers of Arabic fiction for many subsequent decades. Premodern history also came to be frequently invoked in the Arabic novel. This trend found a notable exponent in Jurjī Zaydān, who used the pages of his own journal, Al-Hilāl, to publish a series of novels that educated and entertained generations of readers by.....
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Zaydān, Jurjī (Lebanese writer)
...that was to be followed by writers of Arabic fiction for many subsequent decades. Premodern history also came to be frequently invoked in the Arabic novel. This trend found a notable exponent in Jurjī Zaydān, who used the pages of his own journal, Al-Hilāl, to publish a series of novels that educated and entertained generations of readers by.....
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Zaydis (Islamic sect)
a sect of Shīʿite Muslims owing allegiance to Zayd ibn ʿAlī, grandson of Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī. Doctrinally the Zaydīyah are closer to the majority Sunnites than are the other Shīʿites. Early in the 10th century the Zaydīyah became dominant in Yemen, and thereafter Zaydī im...
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Zaydīyah (Islamic sect)
a sect of Shīʿite Muslims owing allegiance to Zayd ibn ʿAlī, grandson of Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī. Doctrinally the Zaydīyah are closer to the majority Sunnites than are the other Shīʿites. Early in the 10th century the Zaydīyah became dominant in Yemen, and thereafter Zaydī im...
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Zaydiyyah (Islamic sect)
a sect of Shīʿite Muslims owing allegiance to Zayd ibn ʿAlī, grandson of Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī. Doctrinally the Zaydīyah are closer to the majority Sunnites than are the other Shīʿites. Early in the 10th century the Zaydīyah became dominant in Yemen, and thereafter Zaydī im...
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Zayn-ul-ʿĀbidīn (Indian ruler)
...love lyrics. Despite these outstanding poets in Kashmiri, the great literary language of Kashmir in the medieval period was Persian, which was encouraged by many rulers of the country, such as Zayn-ul-ʿĀbidīn, in whose 15th-century court were many scholars and poets writing in both the Kashmiri and Persian languages....
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“Zaynab” (novel by Haikal)
...subregion, the chronology was not. Thus, an important moment in the Egyptian tradition was the initially anonymous publication in 1913 of a novel, Zaynab (Eng. trans. Mohammed Hussein Haikal’s Zainab), by “a peasant Egyptian.” It presents the reader with a thoroughly nostalgic picture of the Egyptian countryside, which serves as the bac...
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Zaynab (daughter of ‘Alī)
...he (the Prophet) had been ordered by God to give his daughter Fāṭimah to ʿAlī in marriage. This union affected the entire history of Islam, for from it were born a daughter, Zaynab—who played a major role during the Umayyad period in claiming the rights of the family of the Prophet after her brother Ḥusayn was killed in Iraq—and two sons,......
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Zaysan, Lake (lake, Kazakstan)
freshwater body in eastern Kazakhstan, in a hollow between the Altai and Tarbagatay mountains at an elevation of 1,266 feet (386 m). Formed by the Irtysh (Ertis) River, which enters the lake in the east, it was originally 60 miles (100 km) long, 20 miles (32 km) wide, and 26 feet (8 m) deep, with a surface area of about 718 square miles (about 1,860 square km). Its level has been raised 20 feet (6...
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Zaytsev, Aleksandr (Soviet athlete)
Soviet figure skater who, with her partners, first Alexey Ulanov and later Aleksandr Zaytsev, won 10 successive world championships (1969–78) and three successive Olympic gold medals....
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Zaytūn (China)
port and city, eastern coastal Fujian sheng (province), China. It is situated on the north bank of the Jin River, at the head of the river’s estuary, facing the Taiwan Strait. Pop. (2002 est.) city, 497,723; (2007 est.) urban agglom., 1,463,000....
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Zaytūnah, Al- (mosque, Tunis, Tunisia)
mosque in Tunis and the seat of an important Muslim university. Dating to the 8th century, the mosque was rebuilt in the 9th century during Aghlabid rule. It subsequently became one of the most important mosques in Tunisia and was the source of the intellectual elite in the early 20th century, in particular the elements of the Desto...
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Zayyānid dynasty (Berber dynasty)
dynasty of Zanātah Berbers (1236–1550), successors to the Almohad empire in northwestern Algeria. In 1236 the Zanātahs, loyal vassals to the Almohads, gained the support of other Berber tribes and nomadic Arabs and set up a kingdom at Tilimsān (Tlemcen), headed by the Zanātah amīr Yaghmurāsan (ruled 1236–83). Yaghmur...
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Zazamys (rodent genus)
...the family Capromyidae of the suborder Hystricognatha within the order Rodentia. Their closest living relatives are the nutria and American spiny rats. The oldest species of hutia (genus Zazamys) is represented by Cuban fossils from the Early Miocene Epoch (23,800,000 to 16,400,000 years ago); remains of the eight genera listed below do not date earlier......
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“Zazdrość i medycyna” (work by Choromański)
...went to Poland in 1924 and began translating Polish poetry into Russian, publishing in Russian émigré periodicals. His novel Zazdrość i medycyna (1933; Jealousy and Medicine), a clinical study of the relationship between medicine and sex, was an instant success. At the outbreak of World War II he fled Poland and lived in South America and......
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zazen (Zen Buddhism)
in Zen Buddhism, seated meditation. The instructions for zazen direct the disciple to sit in a quiet room, breathing rhythmically and easily, with legs fully or half crossed, spine and head erect, hands folded one palm above the other, and eyes open. Logical, analytic thinking should be suspended, as should all desires, attachments, and judgments, leaving t...
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Zazie dans le métro (film by Malle)
...Thief of Paris), a gentleman is driven to become a thief out of hatred of himself and his bourgeois origins. Malle’s other films of the 1960s include the zany comedy Zazie dans le métro (1960) and the musical satire Viva Maria (1965)....
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Zazzau (historical kingdom and province, Nigeria)
historic kingdom, traditional emirate, and local government council in Kaduna State, northern Nigeria, with its headquarters at Zaria city. The kingdom is traditionally said to date from the 11th century, when King Gunguma founded it as one of the original Hausa Bakwai (Seven True Hausa States). As the southernmost state of the seven, it had the function of capturing slaves for ...
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Zazzerino, Il (Italian composer)
Italian composer noted for his contribution to the development of dramatic vocal style in early Baroque opera....
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ZB
British adaptation of a Czech light machine gun. Its name originated as an acronym from Brno, where the Czech gun was made, and Enfield, where the British adaptation was made. Gas-operated and air-cooled, the Bren was first produced in 1937 and became one of the most widely used weapons of its type. It was produced in .303 calibre for British use and was manufactured as a 7.92-millimetre weapon f...
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ZBLAN group (glass)
...telecommunications fibres, owing to their relatively low optical losses. However, they are also extremely difficult to form and have poor chemical durability. The most studied HMFG is the so-called ZBLAN group, containing fluorides of zirconium, barium, lanthanum, aluminum, and sodium....
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Zboriv, Treaty of (Russia-Poland [1649])
...drawn from the Cossack officers, and initiated relations with foreign states. Still prepared to recognize royal sovereignty, however, he entered into negotiations with the Poles. But neither the Treaty of Zboriv (August 1649) nor a less favourable agreement two years later proved acceptable—either to the Polish nobility or to the Cossack rank and file and the radicalized masses on the......
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Zborów, Compact of (Russia-Poland [1649])
...drawn from the Cossack officers, and initiated relations with foreign states. Still prepared to recognize royal sovereignty, however, he entered into negotiations with the Poles. But neither the Treaty of Zboriv (August 1649) nor a less favourable agreement two years later proved acceptable—either to the Polish nobility or to the Cossack rank and file and the radicalized masses on the......
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Zbyněk Zajíc of Hazmburk (Czech archbishop)
...duties at the Bethlehem Chapel, Hus continued to teach in the university faculty of arts and became a candidate for the doctor’s degree in theology. Hus also became the adviser to the young nobleman Zbyněk Zajíc of Hazmburk when Zbyněk was named archbishop of Prague in 1403, a move that helped to give the reform movement a firmer foundation....
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ZCCM (organization, Zambia)
...Africa. In 1973 management contracts under which the day-to-day operations of the mines had been carried out by Anglo American and RST were ended. In 1982 NCCM and RCM were merged into the giant Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Ltd. (ZCCM)....
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Zcerneboch (Slavic religion)
...called by Helmold and in the Knytlinga saga (a Danish legend that recounts the conquest of Arkona through the efforts of King Valdemar I of Denmark against the pagan and pirate Slavs) Zcerneboch (or Chernobog), the Black God, and Tiarnoglofi, the Black Head (Mind or Brain). The Black God survives in numerous Slavic curses and in a White God, whose aid is sought to obtain......
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ZCTU (labour organization, Zimbabwe)
...Nickel Mine in 1974 and was an active member of the Associated Mineworkers Union. In 1988, after working his way through the ranks of the labour organization, he became secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), the national federation of trade unions. In 1997–98 Tsvangirai successfully led a series of strikes against President Mugabe’s taxation policy. He ...
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Žd’ár Heights (mountains, Czech Republic)
...from 2,000 to 2,500 feet (600 to 750 m) in height. There are two highland areas: the Jihlava Heights (Jihlavské vrchy) to the south rise to 2,746 feet (837 m) at Javořice, and the Žd’ár Heights (Žd’árské vrchy) to the north rise to 2,743 feet (836 m) at Devět skal. On the Moravian side, the Drahanská vrchovina group of...
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Žd’árské vrchy (mountains, Czech Republic)
...from 2,000 to 2,500 feet (600 to 750 m) in height. There are two highland areas: the Jihlava Heights (Jihlavské vrchy) to the south rise to 2,746 feet (837 m) at Javořice, and the Žd’ár Heights (Žd’árské vrchy) to the north rise to 2,743 feet (836 m) at Devět skal. On the Moravian side, the Drahanská vrchovina group of...
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Zdarsky, Matthias (Austrian athlete)
ski instructor who was considered the father of Alpine skiing and who was probably the first regular ski instructor in Austria....
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Zdeněk of Šternberk (Bohemian noble)
...But a new pope, Paul II, was elected in 1464 and soon adopted an aggressive policy that encouraged George’s foes, especially the city of Breslau. A group of Catholic noblemen from Bohemia, headed by Zdeněk of Šternberk, formed a hostile league at Zelená Hora (1465) and entered into negotiations with Breslau and other Catholic centres. Shortly before Christmas 1466 th...
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ZDF (German television station)
...combining to form one evening television offering, ARD (Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Öffentlich-Rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten Deutschlands). This is complemented by a second television network, ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen), which is based in Mainz. A third channel is operated by ARD but is organized and broadcast regionally, with special emphasis placed on local and regional events and.....
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“Ze života hmyzu” (work by Čapek)
In another vein, Čapek’s comic fantasy Ze života hmyzu (with Josef, 1921; The Insect Play) satirizes human greed, complacency, and selfishness, emphasizing the relativity of human values and the need to come to terms with life. His faith in democracy made him support his friend Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and write a biography of him. The quest for justi...
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Zea (plant genus)
a genus of four wild Mexican and Mesoamerican species of large grasses of the family Poaceae, order Poales. The two best-known grasses are members of Zea mays, which has four subspecies. In particular, corn, or maize (Z. mays mays), belongs to a worldwide cultigen derived from one of the Mexican teosintes (subspecies parviglumis) in pre-Columbian times more than 5,000 years ag...
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