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.
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 ...
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. Kamet Peak (25,446 feet [7,756 m]) is the highest point, and the most ...
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).
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 ...
generally, in the Muslim world, a monastic complex, usually the centre or a settlement of a Sufi (mystical) brotherhood. In some Arabic countries the term zawiyah is also used for any small, private oratory not paid for by community funds.
town, situated on the Mediterranean coast about 30 miles (50 km) west of Tripoli, northwestern Libya. Lying on Al-Jifarah plain, it is near the site of an important oil field and has the country's first oil refinery. Agriculture is prominent ...
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 Rawayfi ibn Thabit (a Companion of the ...
a sect of Shi'ite Muslims owing allegiance to Zayd ibn 'Ali, grandson of Husayn ibn 'Ali. Doctrinally the Zaydiyah are closer to the majority Sunnites than are the other Shi'ites. Early in the 10th century the Zaydiyah became dominant in ...
freshwater body in eastern Kazakstan, 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 ...
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 ...
largest and most populous island of Denmark, between the Kattegat and the Baltic Sea, separated from Sweden by The Sound (Oresund) and from Funen (Fyn) island by the Great Belt. Zealand is divided into seven major administrative units: the municipalities ...
member of a Jewish sect noted for its uncompromising opposition to pagan Rome and the polytheism it professed. The Zealots were an aggressive political party whose concern for the national and religious life of the Jewish people led them to ...
the greatest playwright and theorist of the Japanese no theatre. He and his father, Kan'ami (1333-84), were the creators of the no drama in its present form.
any of three species of strikingly black-and-white-striped mammals of the horse family Equidae and genus Equus: Burchell's zebra, or bonte quagga (E. quagga; see ), found in rich grasslands over much of eastern and southern Africa; Grevy's zebra (E. grevyi), ...
any member of either of two unrelated groups of fishes, the freshwater species in the genus Brachydanio (family Cyprinidae; order Cypriniformes) and the saltwater species in the genus Pterois (family Scorpaenidae; order Scorpaeniformes). The zebra danio (B. rerio), a popular ...
(Iphiclides marcellus, Graphium marcellus, or Papilio marcellus), large, familiar North American swallowtail butterfly of the family Papilionidae (order Lepidoptera), similar to the related European scarce swallowtail (I. podalirius). Wing patterns of both species are reminiscent of a zebra's stripes, with ...
genus of trailing herbaceous plants in the spiderwort family (Commelinaceae) native to Mexico and Guatemala but widely grown as indoor foliage plants in baskets.
(1606-07), armed uprising of Polish nobles led by Mikolaj Zebrzydowski against their king Sigismund III (ruled 1587-1632). Despite its failure to overthrow the king, the rebellion firmly established the dominance of the Roman Catholic gentry over the monarch in the ...
one of the 12 tribes of Israel that in biblical times constituted the people of Israel who later became the Jewish people. The tribe was named for the sixth son born of Jacob and his first wife, Leah. After the ...
the 11th of 12 Old Testament books that bear the names of the Minor Prophets, collected in the Jewish canon in one book, The Twelve. Only chapters 1-8 contain the prophecies of Zechariah; chapters 9-14 must be attributed to at ...
port, West Flanders province, northwestern Belgium. It lies along the North Sea, 10 miles (16 km) north of Brugge (Bruges), for which it is the port. It is an artificial port that was built because the marine channel to Brugge ...
maritime provincie, southwestern Netherlands. It occupies the delta lands of the Scheldt (Schelde) and Maas (Meuse) rivers. The provincie comprises Zeeuwsch-Vlaanderen, a strip of the Flanders mainland between the Westerschelde (Western Scheldt) and Belgium, plus six former islands: Schouwen en ...
in physics and astronomy, the splitting of a spectral line into two or more components of slightly different frequency when the light source is placed in a magnetic field. It was first observed in 1896 by the Dutch physicist Pieter ...
Italian director, designer, and producer of opera, theatre, motion pictures, and television, particularly noted for the authentic details and grand scale of his opera productions and for his film adaptations of Shakespeare.
Bezirk (district) of Berlin, Ger., in the southwestern corner of the city. It is a prosperous residential district. The Free University (1948), parts of the Berlin Technical University, several branches of the Max Planck Institute, and the Dahlem art museums ...
gemeente (commune), Utrecht provincie, central Netherlands. Since 1746 it has been the headquarters of the Dutch Province of the Moravian Church, a Protestant refugee group from Herrnhut (Saxony), which bought the 17th-century Zeist castle. Zeist is mainly a residential and ...
(German: "The Times"), weekly newspaper published in Hamburg, a review of the week in politics and public affairs as they affect Europe and especially Germany. Die Zeit includes a weekly newsmagazine that gives extended treatment to major economic, political, and ...
Nicaraguan politician and dictator from 1893 to 1910, noted for his hostility toward the United States and for his effort to unify Central America in 1907. During his rule he all but monopolized his country's economic resources.
city, Tatarstan, western Russia. It is a port on the Volga River. The milling of grain from the surrounding agricultural area and woodworking based on the forests to the north are the city's main economic activities. Food processing and the ...
genus of about five species of trees and shrubs in the elm family (Ulmaceae) native to Asia. The Japanese zelkova, or keaki (Z. serrata), up to 30 m (100 feet) tall and with sharply toothed deep green leaves, is an ...
the Earth Mother of Baltic religion. Zemes mate represents the female aspect of nature and the source of all life-human, animal, and plant. Interacting with Dievs (the sky), Zemes mate stimulates and protects the power of life. Libations of beer ...
first Russian political party to openly advocate a policy of revolution; it had been preceded only by conspiratorial groups. Founded in 1876, the party two years later took its name from an earlier (1861-64) secret society. A product of the ...
("assembly of the land"), in 16th- and 17th-century Russia, an advisory assembly convened by the tsar or the highest civil authority in power whenever necessary. It was generally composed of representatives from the ecclesiastical and monastic authorities, the boyar council, ...
organ of rural self-government in the Russian Empire and Ukraine; established in 1864 to provide social and economic services, it became a significant liberal influence within imperial Russia. Zemstvos existed on two levels, the uyezd (canton) and ...
