Zingara
"As he came into the waist the crew thronged about him -- Zingarans, all of them, half naked, their gaudy silk garments splashed with tar, jewels glinting in earrings and dagger-hilts." -- Robert E. Howard: "The Pool of the Black One"
A non-Hyborian (according to Howard) nation situated south of the Bossonian Marches of Aquilonia and Pictland, west of Poitain and Ophir, and north of the panhandle of Argos.
The Black and Thunder Rivers flowed through Zingara and emptied into the Western Ocean along the Zingaran coast. The shallow Alimane River formed the border with Poitain.
Along the Pictish frontier there were thick woodlands and a spur of the Poitainian Mountains. The Rabirian Mountains ran along the Alimane and separated eastern Zingara from the kingdom of Argos. A ghoul-haunted forest, with an ancient, ruined city, divided Zingara from Argos in the south. There were also "fiend-haunted swamps".
The nation was founded by people who were an admixture of Zingg Valley folk (said by Howard to be possibly of Shemite origin), invading Picts, and Hyborian tribes. Most historians place the Zingarans among the Hyborian peoples.
The Zingarans were apparently agricultural, maritime, and pastoral, ruled by petty princelings only nominally subservient to the capital of Kordava. During Conan's time, Zingara was torn by civil war.
Conan commanded a privateer of Zingara for a time, before becoming king of Aquilonia. His royal successors had no trouble annexing the nation, but the proud Zingarans never ceased to rebel. They threw off Aquilonian rule when the Empire was distracted by wars with Nemedia. Later, invading Picts conquered Zingara, only to be displaced in turn by Nordheimr swarming south during the last great glaciation.
- Baracha Strait: The dangerous stretch of water that lies in the Western Ocean between Zingara and the Barachan Isles. (Conan the Valorous)
- Cascan: A Zingaran fishing village built on the side of a hill crest above Thunder River. (Conan the Barbarian #175, "The Scarlet Personage", by James Owsley)
- Castillia: A minor seaport of Zingara. (GURPS Conan)
- Ghouls, Forest of: A haunted woodland in southern Zingara, on the Argossean border. (Hour of the Dragon)
- Guarralid: A duchy in Zingara. (Black Sphinx of Nebthu)
- Hispan: A province in Zingara. (Savage Sword Super Special #1, "Revenge of the Barbarian", by Roy Thomas)
- Icaria: An isolated community in the Rabirian Mountains of Zingara. (Conan and the Amazon)
- Inizio, Trading Post of: Located on Black River where Zingara borders the Pictish Wilderness. Since the owner was part Pict, Pictish warriors never bothered his waystation. (Road of the Kings)
- Jerida: A city in Zingara, home of a sailor, and so placed on the navigable part of the lower Thunder River. (Conan the Buccaneer)
- Karnemet: An untamed Zingaran seaport. (Savage Sword #92, "The Jeweled Bird", by Michael Fleisher)
- King Kalenius, Tomb of: The mausoleum of one of Thuria's greatest kings, found on a submerged peninsula that was once part of Kordava's harbor in Zingara. The thousand columned tomb and its surrounding barrow took thirty years to build, and was one of the wonders of the Thurian world. The "Final Guard", one thousand of Kalenius' finest warriors, transformed into deathless creatures of living stone, guards the tomb. (Road of Kings)
- Kordava: Capital of the kingdom of Zingara, a port on the Western Ocean situated at the mouth of the Black River. It had a renowned school of swordsmanship. The royal palace had a floor of polished crystal. The underground thieves' district in Kordava is called "The Pit". (Pool of the Black One, Road of Kings, Conan the Buccaneer, Treasure of Tranicos)
- Korvela Bay: Situated on the Pictish Coast far to the north of Zingara, site of a fortress built by Count Valenso of Korzetta. Two points of land, the southern shorter than the northern, formed a protected anchorage. (Treasure of Tranicos)
- Korzetta, Castle of: The Zingaran stronghold of exiled Count Valenso, who built a fortress on Korvela Bay. The emblem of Korzetta was a scarlet falcon on a gold field. (Treasure of Tranicos)
- Kova: A city and principality in Zingara. (Drums of Tombalku)
- Pit, The: A city under Kordava in Zingara, it is the infamous thieves-den, where criminals and outlaws hold court. One hundred years before Conan's time, Kordava was leveled by earthquake and fire. Finding it easier to fill in than cart away the ruins of old Kordava, a new city was built atop the ruins of the old. The dregs of Kordavan society burrowed under the city and dug out the old ruins, thus creating the "Pit". (Road of Kings)
- Sadoria: A city-state renowned as the garden spot of western Zingara. (Conan the Barbarian #174, "Children of the Night", by James Owsley)
- Skulls, Place of: A battle site in Zingara across from Poitain. It is a barren plain "a few leagues south of the Alimane". (Black Sphinx of Nebthu)
- Torture Rock: A craggy pinnacle of rock located in the Western Ocean six days' journey from the Zingaran shore. Atop the "Rock" is a Zingaran coastal prison. (Savage Sword #75, "Temple of the Twelve-Eyed Thing", by Michael Fleisher)
- Trallibes, The: Presumed to be islands off the coast of Zingara, where the pirate Strombanni attacked Count Valenso's vessel. (Treasure of Tranicos)
- Twelve-Eyed God, Isle of the: Lies in the Western Ocean, west-southwest of the Zingaran coast. Disloyal Mitraic priests plundered Mitra's Temple in Kordava, and fled to the island with their treasure, using it to fashion the statue of an ancient monster-god. A well populated, unnamed island of no small size lies a days' sail from the Temple of the Twelve-Eyed God. (Savage Sword #75, "Temple of the Twelve-Eyed Thing", by Michael Fleisher)
- Valbroso, Castle of: A Zingaran fortress standing on the deserted short route from Poitain to Messantia. (Hour of the Dragon)
- Yorkin: A hamlet of Zingara. (Marvel Feature Red Sonja #5, "Bear God Walks", by Bruce Jones)
- Zingg Valley: A fertile area between the lower Black and Thunder Rivers, protected by mountains, first home of the ancestral Zingarans. (Hyborian Age I)
References: Hyborian Age I-II, Queen of the Black Coast, City of Skulls, Hawks Over Shem, Road of Kings, Witch Shall Be Born, Black Colossus, Beyond Black River, Hour of the Dragon, Red Nails, Treasure of Tranicos, Scarlet Citadel, Conan the Buccaneer, Conan of the Isles.
- Population: 2,300,000
- Capital: Kordava (pop. 280,000 -- sits at the mouth of the Black River, and has one of the finest harbors on the Western Ocean)
- Ruler: King Ferdrugo
- Major cities: Jerida (pop. 50,000)
- Resources: Shipping, sugar, wine, leather manufacture, and tin
- Imports: Trade goods from the entire Thurian continent
- Allies: The Zingarians' haughty manner and domination of the sea have made them few friends, although their privateer captains have made all the coastal nations respectful
- Enemies: Argos
- Tech level: Dark ages
- Religion: Mitra (halfhearted), Ishtar, Bel (minor cults)