Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/686

* NIZA. 586 NIZHNI-NOVGOKOD. Italian missionary and explorer in the service of .Spain, born at Xiee, whence his name. He became a Franeisonn monk, was sent to America in 1;>31, and went first to Peru, then to (iuatcmala, and tiiially to .Mexico. In lo;!!t. undiT the inimcdiatc diriclidii of Francisco N'asqucz de Coronado, Govcrncjr of 'Xcw Galicia,' he, accompanied by a number of natives and a negro. Estevanico (or .Stephen), who had been with Cabeza de V'aca on his journey across the continent, made an extended journey of ex- ploration into the Xorthwest to investigate the stories told by Cabeza de Vaca. He penetrated into territory now forminj; jiart of Arizona, thus earniiij.' the title 'Discoverer of Arizona,' by which he is sometimes known, and on his re- turn made a report, Desciibrimicnto de las siele ciudadcs, in which he gives the first positive account of the Seven Cities of Cibola. The ex- act route taken by Fray Marcos is not known, but it is fairly certain that he crossed Sonora and Arizona to the region of Zuni, and that the seven cities to which he referred were Zuni pueblos. After his return, Fray ilarcos was made provincial of his Order, and in 1.540- 42 accompanied Coronado in the latter's famous expedition into what is now Arizona and Xew Mexico, as a result of which Fray JIarcos's ac- counts of the great wealth of Cfbola were proved to lie fahMlinis. NIZAMI, n^za'mii ( 1141-1-203). A Persian poet, whose full name was Xizafli ed-Din abu Mohanuncd Hyas. He was one of the canonic seven ei)ic poets of Persia. His place of birth is uncertain: from his early home, Cianjah, he is called (Janjavi. The poet's early years were spent in asceticism, and his first poem, Makh- zJin nl-'asrOr. or 'Treasury of Mysteries,' is didactic in tone and strongly infiucnced by the 8ufi poets, although it shows in the narrative parts traces of the •S'/irt/i-.Ydmn/i of Firdausi. It was written when Xizami was forty. Soon after he wrote Khtisn'i irn Sliirin (1180), which dealt with the love of Khusru I'arwiz and his rival, the architect Karhad, for Shirin, an Armenian princess I possibly an Irene of Hyzantiuni), and the Shah's success. The poem won Xizami high favor at court, which diil not corrupt his inde- pendence. The Din'ni. a collcctinn of ethical poems, dates from 1188. Willi the old theme of Laila and Majnun. a Hedoiiin tale of lovers .separated by family feud, their brief joy on earth and their hapjiy meeting in Paradise, the poet returned to his own ticld of the ro- mantic epic. The Inl:riiid(iriim(ili. an account of the legendary adventures of Alexander the Great, is an attemi>t to rival Firdausi; its latter part is ethical and makes Alexander a searcher for Irulli. In 1107 Xizami wrote his great romance, the Ildft I'nilciir. or "Seven Hcan- ties.' in which seven princesses, the daughters of Rehram Our, each tell a story, Xizami died at fianjah. His five poems called I'niij CInnj. or the 'Five Treasures.' were prototypes of sev- eral quintuples or series of five. The Miikh~iin al'nsnlr was edited by Inland (London, 1844) ; the A'/ii/.vn? in; Shirin was translated by Ham- mer (Leipzig. ISO!)); the l.iiilii tin Mnjniin was edited at T.ucknow in 1888 and translated by Atkinson (London. 18.10); the llaft Paihilr w.q'a edited and translated by Knlmann (Kazan, 1S44) ; the first part of th.-^ [ftl:iiiidnrfnnnh has been edited repeatedly, as at Lahore in 1889, and translated by Clarke (London. 1881), and in part by Kiickert (Xuremberg. 1824) : the second part was edited by Sprenger (Calcutta, 1852-(i"J), Complete editions of Xizami's works have been issued at Bombay in 1834 and 1839, and at Teheran in 184.5. Consult Bacher, yhamis Lcben uiid W'crkc (Leipzig. 1872). NIZAM'S DOMINIONS. A native State of India. Sii' llvi)KH.ii.ii. NIZHNI-NOVGOROD, nyezh'nyi'^ n6v'g6-r6d. A government of Kussia, bounded by the (iovern- ment of Kostroma on the north, Vyatka, Kazan, and Simbirsk on llie east, Penza and Tamliov on the south, and 'ladimir on the west. Area, about 20,000 square miles (Mai): Kussia, F 3). The goveriuneut is divided by the Volga and the Oka into two parts, of which the northern is low, marshy, and covered with thick forests, while the southern is more or less elevated and intersected by many river valleys. The district is watered by the Volga, the Oka, the Vetluga, and a number of smaller rivers, most of them navigable. The climate does not difier essentially i from that of otlier parts of Central Russia. The , mean annual temperature is about 40'. Of min- ' erals Xizlini-Xovgorod has iron, alabaster, and ; various kinds of clay. Agriculture is the founda- i tion of the economic life of the region. Rye and ' oats are the chief agricultural products. The ' forests cover nearly 40 per cent, of the total area. i In the development of the house industry the Government of Nizhni-Xovgorod is inferior only. to few jjarts of Russia. In the northern section wooden articles are the chief manufactures, wiiile , in the southern nart locks, knives, and other > small articles of iron are manufactured. Lc:(ther and leather pnxlucts are manufactured all over ^ the district. Large numbers of the inhabitants i] are also engaged in navigation. The factory sys- | teni is only slightly developed. The census of £ 1895 gives for the Government of Xizhni-Xov- * gorod 301 establishments, employing over 20.000 ^ persons and yielding an output of over .$10,000,- ' 000. The chief products arc fiour, maduncry, jj chemicals, leather, spirits, etc. The comiiii'rce is ."; practically cnnlincd to the capital. Xizhni-Xov- b: gorod. Population, in 1807, 1,(!00.304. including J a considerable ninnber of Monlvins (q.v.) and y| Tatars. | NIZHNI-NOVGOKOD, Capital of the gov- i ernment of the same name, and a great coiiimcr- ■ cial centre of Russia, sitmited at the conlluence . of the Oka with the Volga, 273 miles east of 3 iloscow (Map: Russia, F 3). -It consists of the ■ upper town with the Kremlin, the lower town * along the Oka ;ind the Volga, and the fair- i" grounds with the ;uljnining suburli on Ji sandy tongue formed by the cnnllucnic of the two rivers and connecteil by a liridgc with the town proper. : The upper town, situated on liillv ground, con- tains the [irincipal buildings — the Kremlin, sur- rounded by a wall dating from the sixteenth century and inclnsing two catheilrals, the ancient )i;ilace now occupied by the (Jovernor, the arsenal, and the law ciiurts. The town has about (iO Greek Orthodox churches, a number of moniisleries, a mosqne, ami an Armenian church, .mong the ecclesiastical editii'es arc the church in (be Mon- astery of the . mincialiiin, containing a holy image of great antiquity (033), which attracts many pilgrims, the thirteenth-centiirv Cathedra! of the Archangel, with a fine treasurj', and the I