city, central Kazakstan, on a reservoir of the Kara-Kengir River. The city was created in 1938 in connection with the exploitation of the rich local copper deposits. In 1973 a large mining and metallurgical complex was constructed to the southeast ...
first secretary of the ruling Bulgarian Communist Party's Central Committee (1954-89) and president of Bulgaria (1971-89). His 35 years as Bulgaria's ruler made him the longest-serving leader in any of the Soviet-bloc nations of eastern Europe.
town, Balochistan province, western Pakistan. The town lies on an open plain just east of the Zhob River. Originally called Apozai (the name is still used locally), it was renamed Fort Sandeman for Sir Robert Sandeman in 1889 and was ...
one of four Confucian texts that, when published together in 1190 by the Neo-Confucian philosopher Zhu Xi, became the famous Sishu ("Four Books"). Zhu chose Zhongyong for its metaphysical interest, which had already attracted the attention of Buddhists and earlier ...
leading figure in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and premier (1949-76) and foreign minister (1949-58) of the People's Republic of China, who played a major role in the Chinese Revolution and later in the conduct of China's foreign relations. He ...
Chinese essayist, critic, and literary scholar who translated fiction and myths from many languages into vernacular Chinese. He was the most important Chinese essayist of the 1920s and 1930s.
archaeological site near the village of Zhoukoudian, Beijing municipality, China, 26 miles (42 km) southwest of the central city. The site, including some four residential areas, has yielded the largest known collection of fossils of the extinct hominin
one of three ancient ritual texts listed among the Nine, Twelve, and Thirteen Classics of Confucianism. Though tradition ascribed the text to the political figure Zhougong (flourished 12th century BC), the work is considered by modern scholars to have been ...
Chinese mathematician who stood at the pinnacle of traditional Chinese mathematics. Zhu is also known for having unified the southern and northern Chinese mathematical traditions.
the most significant of China's early interpreters of Daoism, whose work (Zhuangzi) is considered one of the definitive texts of Daoism and is thought to be more comprehensive than the Daodejing, which is attributed to Laozi, the first philosopher of ...
oblast (province), western Ukraine. Its northern half lies in the swampy, forested Pripet Marshes; part of the swamp has been reclaimed. The southern half lies on the Volyn-Podilsk Upland, which is greatly dissected by deep river valleys and gullies resulting ...
city and administrative centre of Zhytomyr oblast (province), western Ukraine. It lies along the Teteriv River where it runs between high, rocky banks. Zhytomyr is believed to date from the 9th century, but the first record is from 1240, when ...
politician who served as prime minister of Bangladesh from 1991 to 1996 and from 2001. The first woman to serve as prime minister of Bangladesh, she governed during a period of natural disasters, economic distress, and civil unrest.
any of an important class of mixtures of chemical compounds remarkable for their ability to effect the polymerization of olefins (hydrocarbons containing a double carbon-carbon bond) to polymers of high molecular weights and highly ordered (stereoregular) structures.
city, one of two capitals (with Gorzow Wielkopolski) of Lubuskie wojewodztwo (province), west-central Poland. It is an important industrial (textile and metal production) and cultural centre, having for centuries nurtured the theatre arts and a lively folk ...
pyramidal, stepped temple tower that is an architectural and religious structure characteristic of the major cities of Mesopotamia (now in Iraq) from approximately 2200 until 500 BC. The ziggurat was always built with a core of mud brick and an ...
river-port town, southwestern Senegal, lying along the Casamance River. Ziguinchor has long been known and visited by European mariners. In 1457 the Venetian navigator Alvise Ca' da Mosto (Cadamosto), envoy of the Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator, reconnoitred the harbour. ...
town, Tokat il (province), east-central Turkey. Lying in a fertile plain crossed by the Yesil River, the town is at the foot of a hill crowned by a ruined citadel. Zela, the ancient temple state of Pontus, ...
town, north-central Slovakia. It lies along the Vah River at its confluence with the Kysuca and Rajcianka rivers. Originally an early 13th-century Slavic trading settlement, Zilina became a free royal town in 1312. It has an arcaded marketplace and medieval ...
landlocked country of southern Africa. It shares a 125-mile (200-kilometre) border on the south with the Republic of South Africa and is bounded on the southwest and west by Botswana, on the north by Zambia, and on the northeast and ...
German foreign secretary during part of World War I (1916-17), the author of a sensational proposal to Mexico to enter into an alliance against the United States.
Bavarian Baroque architect and stuccoist whose church at Wies (now in Baden-Wurttemberg) is considered one of the finest accomplishments of Baroque architecture.
chemical element, low-melting metal of Group IIb (zinc group) of the periodic table, essential to life, and one of the most widely used metals. Zinc was known in Roman times only in combination with copper as the alloy brass. The ...
any of the three metals that comprise Group IIb of the periodic table of elements-namely, zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd), and mercury (Hg). (See .) They have properties in common, but they also differ in significant respects. All three are metals ...
archaeological site in the foothills of the Anti-Taurus Mountains, south-central Turkey. Samal was one of the Late Hittite city-states that perpetuated the more or less Semitized southern Anatolian culture for centuries after the downfall of the Hittite empire (c. 1190 ...
mineral consisting of zinc oxide (ZnO), usually found in platy or granular masses. Its blood-red colour and orange-yellow streak are characteristic, as is also its common association with black franklinite and white calcite. Notable specimens have been found at Franklin ...
American playwright and novelist whose largely autobiographical work features poignant, alienated characters who deal with life's difficulties in pragmatic and straightforward ways.
city, south-central Niger. The country's second largest city, it was the capital of a Muslim dynasty established in the 18th century, which freed itself from the sovereignty of Bornu in the mid-19th century. The city was occupied by French troops ...
American biologist who discovered the occurrence of genetic transduction-the carrying of hereditary material from one strain of microorganisms to another by a filterable agent such as a bacteriophage, or bacterial virus-in species of the Salmonella bacteria.
largest family of the order Zingiberales, containing about 53 genera and more than 1,200 species. These aromatic herbs grow chiefly in moist, swampy areas of the tropics and subtropics.
subclass of monocotyledonous flowering plants. Its members are herbaceous and may be either terrestrial or epiphytic (i.e., supported by other plants and having aerial roots exposed to the humid atmosphere).
Swiss immunologist and pathologist who, along with Peter C. Doherty of Australia, received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1996 for their discovery of how the immune system distinguishes virus-infected cells from normal cells.
