Zürich, Lake of, Ger. Zürichsee, narrow, elongated lake, 34 sq mi (88 sq km), 25 mi (40 km) long, N Switzerland. It has a maximum depth of c.470 ft (140 m). The lake is connected to the Lake of Wallenstadt (Walensee) by the Linth Canal and also receives water from the Linth River. It is drained by the Limmat River. The gently sloping shores of the lake are covered with vineyards, orchards, and woods; houses and villas dot the slopes. A causeway crosses the lake between Rapperswil and Hurden. The city of Zürich is located at the northern end of the lake.

Zürich, canton (1993 pop. 1,158,100), 668 sq mi (1,730 sq km), N Switzerland. The most populous Swiss canton, Zürich is bounded in part by the Lake of Zürich in the south and Germany in the north. It is a fertile agricultural region with orchards, meadows, and forests. Among the rivers that flow through the canton are the Rhine and the Thur. Machinery and other metal goods as well as textiles are manufactured. Its inhabitants are chiefly German-speaking and Protestant. In the canton there are numerous towns and a few industrial cities, notably Winterthur and the capital, Zürich (1993 pop. 345,200). The largest Swiss city, Zürich is the country's commercial and economic center as well as the intellectual center of German-speaking Switzerland. Its chief manufacture is machinery, and the city supports a healthy tourist trade. It is the hub of a printing and publishing industry, and its international banking and financial institutions are renowned. Zürich hosts many annual international congresses; its airport is the busiest in Switzerland. Occupied as early as the Neolithic period by lake dwellers, the site of Zürich was settled by the Helvetii. It was conquered (58 B.C.) by the Romans, and after the 5th cent. passed successively to the Alemanni, the Franks, and to Swabia. It became a free imperial city after 1218, accepted a corporative constitution in 1336, and joined the Swiss Confederation in 1351. Its claim to the Toggenburg led to a ruinous war (1436-50) with the other confederates. In the 16th cent. Zürich, under the influence of Ulrich Zwingli, became the leading power of the Swiss Reformation and once more provoked a civil war. The Roman Catholic victory at Kappel (1531) ended Zürich's political leadership. In 1799 the city was the scene of two battles of the French Revolutionary Wars (see Helvetic Republic). Zürich developed as a cultural and scientific center in the 18th and 19th cent. It has the largest Swiss university (founded 1833), a world-famous polytechnic school (est. mid-19th cent.), and many museums. The Romanesque Grossmünster (11th-13th cent.), where Zwingli preached, the Fraumünster (12th and 15th cent.), the 17th-century town hall, and numerous old residences contrast harmoniously with many fine modern structures. The educational reformer Heinrich Pestalozzi was born in the city, and James Joyce is buried there. The city is beautifully situated on the Limmat and Sihl rivers and at the northern end of the Lake of Zürich.

Rich, Penelope, Lady, 1562-1607, the "Stella" of Sir Philip Sidney's Astrophel and Stella (1591). Daughter of Walter Devereux, first earl of Essex, she married (1581) Lord Rich (later earl of Warwick); after a divorce she married (1605) the earl of Devonshire.

Rich, John, 1692-1761, English actor-manager. Rich introduced pantomime to England, himself playing (1717-60) the role of Harlequin in annual performances. His successful production of John Gay's Beggar's Opera (1728) enabled him to build Covent Garden Theatre, which he opened in 1732.

Rich, Edmund: see Edmund, Saint.

Rich, Barnabe, 1540-1620, English author and soldier. He wrote several collections of prose fiction based on Italian novellas, including The Strange and the Wonderful Adventures of Don Simonides (1581). His "Apolonius and Silla," in Riche, His Farewell to the Military Profession (1581), was one of Shakespeare's sources for the plot of Twelfth Night.

Rich, Adrienne, 1929-, American poet, b. Baltimore, grad. Radcliffe, 1951. Since the 1970s her volumes of exquisitely wrought verse have increasingly reflected feminist and lesbian themes. Among her volumes of poetry are A Change of World (1951), Diving into the Wreck (1973), The Dream of a Common Language (1978), A Wild Patience Has Taken Me This Far (1981), Your Native Land, Your Life (1986), Time's Power (1989), and Dark Fields of the Republic (1996). Her influential volumes of feminist theory and criticism include Of Women Born (1976), On Lies, Secrets, and Silence (1979), and Blood, Bread, and Poetry (1986). Her prose reflections on the function of poetry are contained in What Is Found There: Notebooks on Poetry and Politics (1993).

(born May 16, 1929, Baltimore, Md., U.S.) U.S. poet, scholar, and critic. She was a student at Radcliffe College when her poems were chosen for publication in the Yale Younger Poets series; the resulting volume, A Change of World (1951), reflected her formal mastery. Her subsequent work traces a transformation from well-crafted but imitative poetry to a highly personal and powerful style. Her increasing commitment to the women's movement and a lesbian/feminist aesthetic influenced much of her work. Among her collections are Diving into the Wreck (1973, National Book Award) and The Dream of a Common Language (1978). She also wrote compelling books of nonfiction, including Of Woman Born (1976; National Book Award), On Lies, Secrets, and Silence (1979), and What Is Found There (1993).

Learn more about Rich, Adrienne (Cecile) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born May 16, 1929, Baltimore, Md., U.S.) U.S. poet, scholar, and critic. She was a student at Radcliffe College when her poems were chosen for publication in the Yale Younger Poets series; the resulting volume, A Change of World (1951), reflected her formal mastery. Her subsequent work traces a transformation from well-crafted but imitative poetry to a highly personal and powerful style. Her increasing commitment to the women's movement and a lesbian/feminist aesthetic influenced much of her work. Among her collections are Diving into the Wreck (1973, National Book Award) and The Dream of a Common Language (1978). She also wrote compelling books of nonfiction, including Of Woman Born (1976; National Book Award), On Lies, Secrets, and Silence (1979), and What Is Found There (1993).

Learn more about Rich, Adrienne (Cecile) with a free trial on Britannica.com.