Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/819

Rh Z A N Z A R 769 itself took the name of zangucbar, 1 the Balid-ez-Zenj, or &quot;Land of the Zenj &quot; of the Arabs, a term which thus corresponds to the Hindu-bar, or &quot;land of the Hindu,&quot; formerly applied to the west coast of India on the opposite side of the intervening Arabian Sea. By Ibn Batuta and other Arab writers the Zenj people them selves are spoken of in a general way as Mohammedan Negroes ; and they are no doubt still represented by the semi-civilized and highly intelligent Mohammedan Bantus now collectively known as the Swahili or &quot;coast people.&quot; Their empire began to decline soon after the appearance of the Portuguese in the eastern waters towards the close of the 15th century. To them fell in rapid suc cession the great cities of Kilwa with its 300 mosques (1505), Mombasa the &quot;Magnificent &quot; (1505), and soon after Malindi and Magdoshu the &quot; Immense &quot; (Ibn Batuta). On the ruins of the Portuguese power in the 17th century was built up that of the imams of Muscat, who ruled over a great part of south Arabia and the whole of the Zanzibar coast for over a century and a half down to 1856. On the death of the imam, or rather the &quot;sayyid,&quot; Said of Muscat in that year his dominions were divided between his two sons, the African section falling to Majid, who was suc ceeded in 1870 by his younger brother Bargash ibn Said, commonly known as sultan of Zanzibar. He lived long enough to witness the recent dismemberment of his dominions, and in March 1888 left to his son and successor, Sayyid Khalif, a mere fragment of the former powerful Mohammedan empire on the East-African seaboard. The administration of the &quot;ten-mile zone&quot; on the mainland, al though reserved to the sultan by the Anglo-German convention of 1S86, was practically surrendered to the Germans in August 1888 when the German East African Company hoisted their Hag jointly with the sultan s at fourteen ports along this seaboard. See J. L. Krapf, Travels, &c., London, 1S30; Baron von der Decken, Reisen in Ost-Afril. a, Leipsic, 1869 ; Captain 11. P. Burton, The Lake Regions of Central Africa, London, 1800; Keith Johnston and A. H. Keane, Africa (Stanford series), London, 1S7S ; H. M. Stanley, Through the Dark Continent, London, 1 X 78 ; H. H. Johnston, The Kilima-Njaro Expedition, London, 1885; Joseph Thomson, To the Central African Laics, &c., London, 1881. (A. H. K.) ZANZIBAR, capital of the island and state of the same name, is the largest city on the African seaboard next to Alexandria and Tunis. It lies in sheltered waters, from 30 to 40 feet deep, on the west side of the island, in 6 10 S. lat., about 25 miles north-east of Bagamoyo, its port on the mainland. It comprises two distinct quarters, Shangani, the centre of trade and residence of the sultan, and the eastern suburb occupied by the lowest classes (fishermen, porters, slaves, &c.), with a total joint population estimated in 1887 at about 100,000. Viewed from the sea, the place presents a pleasant prospect with its glittering mosques, palace, white houses, barracks, forts, and round towers. But the interior is a labyrinth of narrow filthy streets, winding through a dense mass of hovels, a &quot; cesspool of wickedness Oriental in its appearance, Mohammedan in its religion, Arabian in its morals, ... a fit capital for the Dark Continent.&quot; 2 Nevertheless Zanzibar, which is now regularly visited by several lines of ocean steamers, is the necessary centre of trade for the eastern seaboard, the focus of all exploring and missionary work for the interior, the portal through which civilizing influences have hitherto penetrated into the eastern section of equatorial Africa. The imports, chiefly raw and bleached cottons and European wares, were valued at ,1,220,000 in 1883, the exports at 800,000, of which 215,000 represented ivory, 153,000 caoutchouc, 13,000 sesame seed, 10,600 cloves. In 1885 the port was visited by 124 vessels of 115,500 tons, of which 49 of GO,G74 tons were British. There are several Protestant and Raman Catholic missions stationed in Zan zibar, the health of which has been much improved by a recently constructed aqueduct yielding a good supply of pure water. ZAR A (Slav. Zadcy an Austrian seaport, the capital of Dalmatia, and the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishop and of a Greek bishop, lies on the Adriatic, 130 miles south-east of Trieste, opposite the islands of Ugliano and Pasman, from which it is separated by the narrow Channel of Zara. The promontory on which it stands is separated from the mainland by a deep moat, practically making an 1 Mispronounced Zanzibar by the local Banyans and other Indian traders. - Prof. H. Drummond, Trojjical ^(frica, p. 5. island of the site of the city. Down to 1873 Zara was strongly fortified ; but its ramparts have now been con verted into elevated promenades, which command extensive views to seaward and to landward. Of its four old gates one, the Porta Marina, incorporates the relics of a Roman arch, and another, the Porta di Terraferma, was designed by Sanmichele. The general aspect of the town, which is oval in form, is thoroughly Venetian. The main streets, dividing it into four quarters, are straight and wide, but the side-streets are ill-paved and narrow. The chief interest of Zara lies in its churches, the most remarkable of which is the cathedral of St Anastasia, a fine Roman esque basilica, founded by Doge Enrico Dandolo after the capture of the town in 1202 and finished in 1205. The churches of St Chrysogonus and St Simeon are also in the Romanesque style, and St Mary s retains a fine Roman esque campanile of 1105. The old octagonal church of St Donatus, traditionally (but in all probability erroneously) said to have been erected in the 9th century on the site of a temple of Juno, has been converted to secular purposes. Most of the Roman remains were used up in the construc tion of the fortifications. But two squares are embellished with lofty marble columns ; a Roman tower stands on the east side of the town ; and some remains of a Roman aque duct may be seen outside the ramparts. Among the other chief buildings are the Loggia del Comune, rebuilt in 1565, containing a public library of 34,000 volumes ; the old palace of the priors, now the governor s residence ; and the episcopal palace. The harbour, to the north-east of the town, is safe and spacious, and it is annually entered by about 1200 vessels, of 185,000 tons, mainly engaged in the coasting trade. The chief industry is the preparation of maraschino, made from the marasco, or wild cherry, which covers the hills of Dalmatia. About 340,000 bottles of this liqueur are exported annually. Glass-making and fishing are also carried on. The population of the town in 1881 was 11,861, of the commune 24,536. Almost all of these are of Italian descent, and Italian is practic ally the only language spoken in the town. The foundation of Zara is ascribed by tradition to the Liburni. In the early days of the Roman empire it became a flourishing Koman colony under the name of Jadcra, subsequently changed to Diadora. It remained united with the Eastern empire down to about the year 1000, when it sought the Venetian protection. For the next four centuries it was a bone of contention between Venice and Hungary, changing hands repeatedly. It was occupied by the Hungarians at the end of the 12th century, but was re-captured by the Venetians in 1202, with the aid of French crusaders on their way to the Holy Land. In 1409 it was finally purchased from Hungary by the island republic for 100,000 ducats. In 1792 it passed, with Venice, into the possession of Austria. From 1809 to 1813 it belonged to France. About 15 miles to the south-east lies Zara Vecchia, or Old Zara, an insignificant village on the site of Biograd (White Town), formerly the residence of the Croatian kings, but destroyed during the Hungarian-Venetian wars. Comp. Zara, e sitoi Dintorni (Zara, 1878), and Notize Storiche della Citta di Zara (Zara, 1888), both by Angelo Nani. ZARAGOZA, or SARAGOSSA, an inland province of Spain, one of the three into which Aragon is now divided, is bounded on the N.E. and E. by Huesca, Lerida, and Tarragona, on the S. by Teruel and Guadalajara, and on the W. by Soria and Navarre ; the area is 6607 square miles. It belongs wholly to the basin of the Ebro, by which river it is traversed from north-west to south-east. The main valley is bounded on the S.W. by the Sierra de Moncayo, which reaches a maximum elevation the highest in the province of 7700 feet, and is continued in a south easterly direction by the lower sierras of La Virgen and Vicor ; on the north-west are the spurs of the Pyrenees. The principal tributaries of the Ebro within the province are the Jal6n, Huerva, and Aguas on the right and the Arva and Gallcgo on the left ; the Aragon also, which flows principally through Navarre, has part of its course in the XXIV. 97