Zia (ur-Rahman), Begum Khaleda orig. Khaleda Majum-
dar (b. Aug. 15, 1945, Dinajpur district, India) Politician who served as prime minister of Bangladesh. In 1959 she married Zia ur-Rahman, a leader in the fight for the independence of Bangladesh, then part of India. Her husband became president of Bangladesh in 1977, and after his assas¬ sination in 1981 she became politically active. In 1984 she assumed the leadership of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Zia was arrested repeat¬ edly during the dictatorship of Hossain Mohammad Ershad in the 1980s, but in 1991 she led the opposition to victory and became prime minister. Her overwhelming reelection victory in February 1996 was tainted by an opposition-led boycott of the voting, and, after a wave of strikes and pro¬ tests, she resigned the following month. In 2001 Zia was again elected prime minister.
Zia-ul-Haq Vze-s-ol-'hakX, Mohammad (b. Aug. 12, 1924, Jullun- dur, Punjab, India—d. Aug. 17, 1988, near Bahawalpur, Pak.) President of Pakistan (1978-88). He served with the British in Southeast Asia at the end of World War II; after Pakistan’s independence, he held various staff and command appointments for 19 years. He became a major general in 1972 and army chief of staff in 1976. The following year he seized power from Zulfikar Au Bhutto, and in 1978 he assumed the presidency. After having the popular Bhutto executed in 1979, he tightened his grip on the government, suspending political parties and declaring martial law, and he worked for the Islamization of Pakistan’s political and cultural life. He died in an airplane crash.
Ziegfeld Vzig-.feld, 'zeg-,feld\, Florenz (b. March 21, 1869, Chicago, Ill., U.S.—d. July 22, 1932, Hollywood, Calif.) U.S. theatrical producer. He worked as a publicist for Sandow the strongman before turning to the¬ atrical management in 1896. His press releases promoting the French beauty Anna Held set a pattern of star-making publicity. In 1907 in New York City he produced the first of his Ziegfeld Follies, revues that com¬ bined seminudity, pageantry, and comedy in a formula that he repeated successfully for 23 years. Under the slogan “Glorifying the American
Girl,” he made the revue an extravagant spectacle and developed stars such as Will Rogers and Fanny Brice. He also produced the hit musical Show Boat (1927).
Ziegler \'tse-gbr\, Karl (b. Nov. 26, 1898, Helsa, near Kassel, Ger.—d. Aug. 12, 1973, Miilheim, W.Ger.) German chemist. He held academic appointments at the Universities of Frankfurt am Main, Heidelberg, and Halle, and in 1943 he became director of the Kaiser Wilhelm (later Max Planck) Institute. He was the first to explain the reactions involved in the synthesis of rubber (c. 1928). His most important work, in the 1950s, led to the discovery that certain catalysts permitted the fast polymerization of ethylene at atmospheric pressure to a linear polymer of high molecular weight having valuable plastic properties. His work formed the basis of nearly all later developments in the production of long-chain polymers of hydrocarbons from such olefins as ethylene and butadiene; the resulting products came into widespread use as plastics, fibres, rubbers, and films. He shared a 1963 Nobel Prize with Giulio Natta (1903-79).
ziggurat Vzi-g9-,rat\ Pyramidal, stepped temple tower characteristic of the major cities of Mesopotamia between 2200 and 500 bc. It was built with a core of mud brick and an exterior covered with baked brick. It had no internal chambers and was usually square or rectangular. Some 25 ziggu- rats are known, located in Sumer, Babylonia, and Assyria. The best-preserved ziggurat is at Ur, and the largest is at Elam. The legendary Tower of Babel has been associated with the ziggurat of the great temple of Marduk in Babylon.
Zimbabwe \zim-'ba-bwa, zim-'ba-bwe\ officially Republic of Zim¬ babwe formerly Rhodesia Landlocked country, southern Africa. Area: 150,872 sq mi (390,757 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 12,161,000. Capitaclass="underline" Harare. The Shona make up about two-thirds of the population; most of the rest are Ndebele, Chewa, and people of European ancestry. Lan¬
guages: English (official); Bantu languages of the Shona and Ndebele are much more widely spoken. Religions: Christianity (other [mostly independent] Christians, Protestant, Roman Catholic), traditional beliefs. Currency: Zimbabwe dollar. A broad ridge running southwest- northeast, reaching elevations of 4,000-5,000 ft (1,200-1,500 m), domi¬ nates Zimbabwe’s landscape. The Zambezi River forms the country’s northwestern boundary and contains Victoria Falls as well as the Kariba Dam (completed 1959); Lake Kariba, created by the dam, covers some 2,000 sq mi (5,200 sq km). The Limpofo and Save river basins are in the southeast. Agricultural products, livestock, and mineral reserves, including gold, are all economically important. Zimbabwe is a republic with one leg¬ islative house; its head of state and government is the president. Remains of Stone Age cultures dating to 500,000 years ago have been found in the
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2110 I Zimbabwe ► Zionism
area. The first Bantu-speaking peoples reached it during the 5th— 1 Oth cen¬ turies ad, driving the San inhabitants into the desert. A second migration of Bantu speakers began c. 1830. During that period the British and Afrikan¬ ers moved up from the south, and the area came under the administration of the British South Africa Company (1889-1923). Called Southern Rhodesia (1911-64), it became a self-governing British colony in 1923. The colony united in 1953 with Nyasaland (Malawi) and Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) to form the Central African Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The federation dissolved in 1963, and Southern Rhodesia reverted to its former colonial status. In 1965 it issued a unilateral declaration of independence considered illegal by the British government, which led to economic sanc¬ tions against it. The country, which proclaimed itself a republic in 1970, called itself Rhodesia from 1964 to 1979. In 1979 it instituted limited majority rule and changed its name to Zimbabwe Rhodesia. It was granted independence by Britain in 1980 and became Zimbabwe. A multiparty sys¬ tem was established in 1990. Since 2000 tension has increased between European farmers and government leaders as the government has pursued a program of confiscating farms.
Zimbabwe Fifteenth-century ruins, see Great Zimbabwe
Zimmermann Vtsi-msr-.manV Arthur (b. Oct. 5, 1864, Marg- grabowa, East Prussia—d. June 6, 1940, Berlin, Ger.) German diplomat. He became foreign minister of Germany in 1916 during World War I. With Germany’s decision to resume unrestricted submarine warfare, he planned to reduce the possible U.S. intervention in Europe by embroiling it in war with Mexico. On Jan. 16, 1917, he sent a coded telegram to the German ambassador in Mexico, proposing a German-Mexican alliance that would allow Mexico to “reconquer her lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.” It was intercepted and decoded by British naval intelligence, then published in the U.S. on March 1, causing public outrage. The “Zim¬ mermann telegram” became a key factor in the U.S. declaration of war against Germany on April 6. Zimmermann was forced to resign in 1917.
zinc Metallic chemical element, chemical symbol Zn, atomic number 30. Zinc is a bluish silver metal, ductile when very pure but brittle otherwise. It forms brass (with copper) and many other alloys. Its major use is in gal¬ vanizing iron, steel, and other metals. Zinc is an essential trace element, particularly in red blood cells; in snails, it corresponds to iron in the blood of vertebrates. Zinc oxide is used as a pigment, ultraviolet light absorber (to prevent sunburn), dietary supplement and seed treatment, and photo¬ conductor. Zinc’s many other compounds (in which it has valence 2 or, rarely, 1) are used in industrial and consumer applications, including as pesticides, pigments, mordants (see dye), fluxes, and wood preservatives.