any of about 22 species of herbs and shrubs constituting the genus Zinnia of the family Compositae (Asteraceae), and native primarily to North America. They are perennial where they are native-from the southern United States to Chile, being especially abundant ...
revolutionary who worked closely with Lenin in the Bolshevik Party before the Russian Revolution of 1917 and became a central figure in the Communist Party leadership in the Soviet Union in the 1920s. He later was a victim of Joseph ...
nationalist politician and president (1968-69) of Dahomey, noted for the success of his attempts to solve his country's overwhelming economic and financial problems.
religious and social reformer of the German Pietist movement who, as leader of the Moravian church (Unitas Fratrum), sought to create an ecumenical Protestant movement.
in the Old Testament, the easternmost of the two hills of ancient Jerusalem. It was the site of the Jebusite city captured by David, king of Israel and Judah, in the 10th century BC (2 Samuel 5:6-9) and established by ...
city, Lake county, northeastern Illinois, U.S. It lies along Lake Michigan, near the Wisconsin border. The area was originally inhabited by Potawatomi Indians. Zion was founded in 1900 by John Alexander Dowie, an evangelist originally from Scotland, as the headquarters ...
dramatic landscape of colourful deep canyons, high cliffs, mesas, and forested plateaus in southwestern Utah, U.S. The park lies on the northwestern edge of the Colorado Plateau about 30 miles (50 km) northeast of the city of St. George. Cedar ...
Jewish nationalist movement that has had as its goal the creation and support of a Jewish national state in Palestine, the ancient homeland of the Jews (Hebrew: Eretz Yisra'el, "the Land of Israel"). Though Zionism originated in eastern and central ...
any of several prophet-healing groups in southern Africa; they correspond to the independent churches known as Aladura (q.v.) in Nigeria, "spiritual" in Ghana, and "prophet-healing churches" in most other parts of Africa.
system of zone coding introduced by the U.S. Post Office Department (now the U.S. Postal Service) in 1963 to facilitate the sorting and delivery of mail. After an extensive publicity campaign, the department finally succeeded in eliciting from the public ...
device for binding the edges of an opening such as on a garment or a bag. A zipper consists of two strips of material with metal or plastic teeth along the edges, and a sliding piece that draws the teeth ...
silicate mineral, zirconium silicate, ZrSiO4, the principal source of zirconium. Zircon is widespread as an accessory mineral in acid igneous rocks; it also occurs in metamorphic rocks and, fairly often, in detrital deposits. It occurs in beach sands in many ...
Muslim dynasty of Sanhajah Berbers whose various branches ruled in Ifriqiyah (Tunisia and eastern Algeria) and Granada (972-1152). Rising to prominence in the mountains of Kabylie, Algeria, where they established their first capital, Ashir, the Zirids became allies of the ...
German geologist and pioneer in microscopic petrography, the study of rock minerals by viewing thin slices of rock under a microscope and noting their optical characteristics.
any of several stringed musical instruments. The European zither consists of a flat, shallow sound box across which some 30 or 40 gut or metal strings are stretched. The strings nearest the player run above a fretted fingerboard against which ...
city, Saxony Land (state), eastern Germany. It lies on the Lausitzer Neisse River, near the frontiers of Poland and the Czech Republic, southeast of Dresden. Originating as the Slav settlement of Sitowir, it was mentioned in 1230 ...
(Arabic: "visit"), in Islam, a visit to the tomb of the Prophet Muhammad in the mosque at Medina, Saudi Arabia; also a visit to the tomb of a saint or a holy person. The legitimacy of these latter visits has ...
(Hrabe) military commander and national hero of Bohemia who led the victorious Hussite Protestant armies against the German king Sigismund, foreshadowing the revolution of military tactics two centuries later in his introduction of mobile artillery.
city, Chelyabinsk oblast (province), western Russia. It lies on both banks of the Ay River and on the Ufa-Chelyabinsk trunk railway, where river and rail cut through the Urenga Range of the Ural Mountains. In 1754 the Kosotur Iron and ...
city, Jihomoravsky kraj (region), Czech Republic, on the Drevnice River, near its confluence with the Morava River. Gottwaldov was created in 1948 through a merger of several communities surrounding Zlin, a 14th-century village that had grown rapidly after World War ...
monetary unit of Poland. Each zloty (spelled zloty in Polish) is divided into 100 groszy. The National Bank of Poland has the exclusive right to issue currency in the country. Coins range from 1 groszy to 5 ...
city in western Turkey. The country's third largest city and one of its largest ports, it lies at the head of the sheltered Gulf of Izmir on the deeply indented coast of the Aegean Sea. The modern city, with spacious ...
city, northwestern Turkey. It lies near the head of Izmit Gulf of the Sea of Marmara. The city spreads across several hills and over a narrow plain that contains its commercial and industrial sections. Originally a Megarian city founded in ...
Polish-American sociologist whose theoretical and methodological work helped make sociology a distinct academic discipline. He was a pioneer in the field of empirical investigation and was noted as an authority on Polish peasant culture.
town, northwestern Turkey. It lies on the eastern shore of Lake Iznik. Founded in the 4th century BC by the Macedonian king Antigonus I Monophthalmus, it was an important centre in late Roman and Byzantine times (see Nicaea, councils of; ...
city, Jihomoravsky kraj (region), Czech Republic, on the Dyje River, southwest of Brno, near the Austrian border. It originated in the 11th century as a fortified residence and was the stronghold of the Premyslid princes until the mid-13th century. Many ...
any member of the order Zoanthidea, a group of about 300 species of marine animals of the class Anthozoa (phylum Cnidaria) characterized by a polyp (i.e., a cylindrical stalklike structure with a mouth and tentacles at the upper end and ...
in astronomy and astrology, a belt around the heavens extending 9° on either side of the ecliptic, the plane of the earth's orbit and of the sun's apparent annual path. The orbits of the moon and of the principal planets ...
band of light in the night sky, thought to be sunlight reflected from meteoroids concentrated in the plane of the zodiac, or ecliptic. The light is seen in the west after twilight and in the east before dawn, being easily ...
in Eastern Orthodoxy, a semimonastic Greek association patterned on Western religious orders. Founded in 1907 by Eusebius Matthopoulos, Zoe (Greek: "Life") brought together groups of more than 100 unmarried and highly disciplined members, bound by the monastic vows of poverty, ...
gemeente (commune), Zuid-Holland provincie, western Netherlands. Zoetermeer is located about 10 miles (16 km) north of Rotterdam and is situated on a polder created during the 17th century. Industries in the town produce machinery, tobacco products, and foodstuffs, the latter ...
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).
president of Albania from 1925 to 1928 and king from 1928 to 1939. Though able to manipulate Albania's internal affairs to his own advantage, he came to depend heavily on Benito Mussolini's Italy and was eventually ousted by the Italian ...
silicate mineral, calcium and aluminum silicate, Ca2Al3(SiO4)3OH, characteristic of regional metamorphism and of hydrothermal alteration of igneous rocks. A member of the epidote (q.v.) group of nesosilicates, zoisite occurs as white, green-brown, or gray crystals or masses in crystalline schists, ...
pass across the Himalayas in the Indian-held part of Jammu and Kashmir state, in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. Situated at an elevation of 11,580 feet (3,529 m), Zoji Pass carries the only road leading from the Vale ...
any of seven north Asian species of subterranean rodents. Zokors are molelike animals that have chunky cylindrical bodies with short powerful limbs. Their feet are large and robust, and the long front claws are self-sharpening and very strong. The tiny ...
French novelist, critic, and political activist who was the most prominent French novelist of the late 19th century. He was noted for his theories of naturalism, which underlie his monumental 20-novel series Les Rougon-Macquart, and for his ...
German customs union established in 1834 under Prussian leadership. It created a free-trade area throughout much of Germany and is often seen as an important step in German reunification.
city, southern Malawi. It lies on the lower slopes of Zomba Mountain in the Shire Highlands, 37 miles (60 km) northeast of Blantyre. Established in 1885 as a planters' settlement, from 1891 it was the centre for the administration of ...
isolated mass of syenite (igneous rock composed chiefly of feldspar) rising from the Shire Highlands, southern Malawi. Occupying an area of about 50 square miles (130 square km), it reaches an elevation of 6,846 feet (2,087 m) in Zomba Peak. ...
any of a series of eight unmanned Soviet lunar and interplanetary probes. Zond 1 (launched April 1964) and Zond 2 (November 1964) were aimed at Venus and Mars respectively, but failed to send back data on the planets. Zond 3 ...
