THE EARTH AND ITS INHABITANTS.
EUROPE.
BY
ÉLISÉE RECLUS.
EDITED BY
E. G. RAVENSTEIN, F.R.G.S., F.S.S., ETC.
VOL. I.
GREECE, TURKEY IN EUROPE, RUMANIA, SERVIA, MONTENEGRO,
ITALY, SPAIN, AND PORTUGAL.
[Illustration]
_ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS AND MAPS._
NEW YORK:
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,
1, 3, AND 5 BOND STREET.
1883.
[Illustration]
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS . . . 1
EUROPE.
I. GEOGRAPHICAL IMPORTANCE . . . 5
II. EXTENT AND BOUNDARIES . . . 6
III. NATURAL DIVISIONS AND MOUNTAINS . . . 9
IV. THE MARITIME REGIONS . . . 13
V. CLIMATE . . . 16
VI. INHABITANTS . . . 18
THE MEDITERRANEAN.
I. HYDROLOGY . . . 23
II. ANIMAL LIFE, FISHERIES, AND SALT-PANS . . . 28
III. COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION . . . 31
GREECE.
I. GENERAL ASPECTS . . . 36
II. CONTINENTAL GREECE . . . 45
III. THE MOREA, OR PELOPONNESUS . . . 56
IV. THE ISLANDS OF THE ÆGEAN SEA . . . 69
V. THE IONIAN ISLES . . . 75
VI. THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF GREECE . . . 80
VII. GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL DIVISIONS . . . 85
TURKEY IN EUROPE.
I. GENERAL ASPECTS . . . 87
II. CRETE AND THE ISLANDS OF THE ARCHIPELAGO . . . 90
III. TURKEY OF THE GREEKS (THRACIA, MACEDONIA, AND THESSALY) . . . 98
IV. ALBANIA AND EPIRUS . . . 115
V. THE ILLYRIAN ALPS, BOSNIA, AND HERZEGOVINA . . . 126
VI. BULGARIA . . . 131
VII. PRESENT POSITION AND PROSPECTS OF TURKEY . . . 145
VIII. GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION . . . 150
TREATIES OF SAN STEFANO AND BERLIN . . . 153
RUMANIA . . . 155
SERVIA AND MONTENEGRO.
I. SERVIA . . . 172
II. MONTENEGRO . . . 179
ITALY.
I. GENERAL ASPECTS . . . 183
II. THE BASIN OF THE PO: PIEMONT, LOMBARDY, VENETIA, AND EMILIA
. . . 189
III. LIGURIA AND THE RIVIERA OF GENOA . . . 230
IV. TUSCANY . . . 239
V. THE ROMAN APENNINES, THE VALLEY OF THE TIBER, THE MARCHES, AND THE
ABRUZZOS . . . 257
VI. SOUTHERN ITALY: NAPLES . . . 286
VII. SICILY . . . 309
The Æolian or Liparic Islands . . . 331
The Ægadian Islands . . . 334
Malta and Gozzo . . . 335
VIII. SARDINIA . . . 338
IX. THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF ITALY . . . 352
X. GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION . . . 358
CORSICA . . . 363
SPAIN.
I. GENERAL ASPECTS . . . 370
II. THE CASTILES, LEON, AND ESTREMADURA . . . 377
III. ANDALUSIA . . . 394
IV. THE MEDITERRANEAN SLOPE: MURCIA AND VALENCIA . . . 414
V. THE BALEARIC ISLANDS . . . 423
VI. THE VALLEY OF THE EBRO: ARAGON AND CATALONIA . . . 427
VII. BASQUE PROVINCES, NAVARRA, AND LOGROÑO . . . 439
VIII. SANTANDER, THE ASTURIAS, AND GALICIA . . . 448
IX. THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF SPAIN . . . 460
X. GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION . . . 465
PORTUGAL.
I. GENERAL ASPECTS . . . 469
II. NORTHERN PORTUGAL: THE VALLEYS OF THE MINHO, DOURO, AND MONDEGO
. . . 473
III. THE VALLEY OF THE TAGUS . . . 482
IV. SOUTHERN PORTUGAL: ALENTEJO AND ALGARVE . . . 490
V. THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF PORTUGAL . . . 496
VI. GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION . . . 498
INDEX . . . 501
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
MAPS PRINTED IN COLOURS.
1. Ethnographical Map of Europe . . . 18
2. Turkey-in-Europe and Greece . . . 85
3. The Bosphorus and Constantinople . . . 98
4. Ethnographical Map of Turkey . . . 148
5. Italy . . . 183
6. The Delta of the Po . . . 210
7. The Bay of Naples . . . 288
8. Spain and Portugal . . . 365
PLATES.
Peasants from the Environs of Athens . . . _To face page_ . . . 53
Constantinople and the Golden Horn, from the Heights of Eyub . . . 99
Albanians . . . 118
Wealthy Arnauts . . . 124
Turkish Muleteers in the Herzegovina . . . 127
Tirnova . . . 133
Bulgarians . . . 138
Mussulman of Adrianople, and Mussulman Lady of Prisrend . . . 147
Wallachians (Valakhs) . . . 162
Belgrade . . . 174
The Pennine Alps, as seen from the Becca di Nona (Pic Carrel), 10,380
feet . . . 195
Venice . . . 207
The Palace at Ferrara . . . 228
Verona . . . 229
Peasants of the Abruzzos . . . 258
Naples . . . 300
Capri, seen from Massa Lubrense . . . 302
Amalfi . . . 304
La Valetta, Malta . . . 337
Peasants of Toledo, Castile . . . 390
Roman Bridge at Alcántara . . . 391
Gorge de los Gaitanes, Defile of Guadalhorce . . . 399
Peasants of Córdova, Andalusia . . . 406
Gibraltar, as seen from the “Lines” . . . 414
Peasants of La Huerta, and Cigarrera of Valencia . . . 419
Women of Ibiza, Balearic Isles . . . 425
Monserrat, Catalonia . . . 431
Barcelona, seen from the Castle of Monjuich . . . 437
Gorges of Pancorbo . . . 440
Los Pasages . . . 447
Oporto . . . 478
Lisbon . . . 484
ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT.
EUROPE.
1. The Natural Boundary of Europe . . . 7
2. The Relief of Europe . . . 8
3. Development of Coast-lines relatively to Area . . . 14
4. The Isothermal Zone of Europe . . . 17
THE MEDITERRANEAN.
5. The Depth of the Mediterranean . . . 24
6. The Strait of Gibraltar . . . 26
7. Principal Fisheries of the Mediterranean . . . 30
8. Steamer Routes and Telegraphs . . . 34
GREECE.
9. MAINOTE AND SPARTAN . . . 42
10. Foreign Elements in the Population of Greece . . . 44
11. MOUNT PARNASSUS AND DELPHI . . . 46
12. Lower Acarnania . . . 49
13. Thermopylæ . . . 50
14. Lake Copais . . . 52
15. THE ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS . . . 54
16. Athens and its Long Walls . . . 55
17. Ancient Athens . . . 56
18. MOUNT TAYGETUS . . . 58
19. Lakes Phenea and Stymphalus . . . 60
20. The Plateau of Mantinea . . . 62
21. Bifurcation of the Gastuni . . . 63
22. The Valley of the Eurotas . . . 67
23. Euripus and Chalcis . . . 70
24. Nea Kaimeni . . . 72
25. CORFU . . . 76
26. The Channel of Santa Maura . . . 77
27. Argostoli . . . 79
TURKEY IN EUROPE.
28. THE GORGE OF HAGIO RUMELI . . . 91
29. Crete, or Candia . . . 93
30. The Ægean Sea . . . 95
31. Geological Map of the Peninsula of Constantinople . . . 99
32. The Hellespont, or Dardanelles . . . 105
33. Mount Athos . . . 108
34. MOUNT OLYMPUS . . . 110
35. Mount Olympus and the Valley of Tempe . . . 111
36. Southern Epirus . . . 117
37. Subterranean Beds of the Affluents of the Narenta . . . 128
38. Mount Vitosh . . . 132
39. Delta of the Danube . . . 137
40. Comparative Discharge of the Mouths of the Danube . . . 138
41. Commercial Highways converging upon Constantinople . . . 150
42. The Turkish Empire . . . 151
RUMANIA.
43. The Rumanians . . . 156
44. The Rivers Shil and Olto . . . 158
45. The Danube and Yalomitza . . . 161
46. Ethnological Map of Moldavian Bessarabia . . . 164
47. BUCHAREST . . . 169
SERVIA AND MONTENEGRO.
48. Confluence of the Danube and Save . . . 174
49. Montenegro and the Lake of Skodra . . . 180
ITALY.
50. Rome and the Roman Empire . . . 186
51. MONTE VISO . . . 189
52. Grand Paradis . . . 191
53. Plain of Débris between the Alps and Apennines . . . 192
54. Slope of the Valley of the Po . . . 193
55. Mud Volcanoes of the Northern Apennines . . . 194
56. Ancient Glaciers of the Alps . . . 195
57. Serra of Ivrea and Ancient Glacier Lakes of the Dora . . . 196
58. Ancient Lakes of Verbano . . . 197
59. Lake Como . . . 198
60–62. Sections of Lake Como . . . 199
63. VILLA SERBELLONI . . . 201
64. Beech and Pine Woods of Ravenna . . . 203
65. Shingle Beds of the Tagliamento, &c. . . . 205
66. Old Bed of the Piave . . . 206
67. Lagoons of Venice . . . 207
68. Colonies of the Roman Veterans . . . 209
69. The Po between Piacenza and Cremona . . . 211
70. German Communes of Northern Italy . . . 216
71. MONTE ROSA . . . 217
72. The Lagoons of Comacchio . . . 220
73. The Fisheries of Comacchio . . . 221
74. Mouth of the Adige Valley . . . 223
75. The Passages over the Alps . . . 224
76. The Lakes and Canals of Mantua . . . 227
77. Palmanova . . . 229
78. Junction of the Alps and Apennines . . . 231
79. Genoa and its Suburbs . . . 234
80. GENOA . . . 235
81. The Gulf of Spezia . . . 237
82. THE GOLFOLINO OF THE ARNO . . . 240
83. Defiles of the Arno . . . 241
84. Monte Argentaro . . . 243
85. Val di Chiana . . . 244
86. The Lake of Bientina . . . 245
87. The Malarial Regions . . . 247
88. FLORENCE . . . 252
89. The Harbour of Leghorn . . . 255
90. The Lake of Bolsena . . . 260
91. La Montagna d’Albano . . . 261
92. Ancient Lake of Fucino . . . 263
93. Lake of Trasimeno . . . 264
94. CAMPAGNA OF ROME . . . 265
95. Pontine Marshes . . . 267
96. Ancient Lakes of the Tiber and Topino . . . 269
97. CASCADES OF TERNI . . . 270
98. The Delta of the Tiber . . . 271
99. PEASANTS OF THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA . . . 272
100. ROME . . . 276
101. The Hills of Rome . . . 278
102. Civita Vecchia . . . 281
103. Valleys of Erosion on the Western Slope of the Apennines . . . 283
104. Rimini and San Marino . . . 285
105. Monte Gargano . . . 287
106. Ashes of the Campania . . . 289
107. ERUPTION OF MOUNT VESUVIUS . . . 292
108. Educational Map of Italy . . . 297
109. Pompeii . . . 301
110. The Marshes of Salpi . . . 305
111. Harbour of Brindisi in 1871 . . . 307
112. Harbour of Taranto . . . 308
113. Strait of Messina . . . 310
114. Profile of Mount Etna . . . 311
115. Lava Stream of Catania . . . 313
116. Subsidiary Cones of Mount Etna . . . 314
117. The Maccalubas and Girgenti . . . 317
118. PALERMO AND MONTE PELLEGRINO . . . 324
119. Trapani and Marsala . . . 326
120. Syracuse . . . 328
121. TEMPLE OF CONCORD AT GIRGENTI . . . 329
122. The Central Portion of the Æolian Islands . . . 332
123. The Mediterranean to the South of Sicily . . . 334
124. The Port of Malta . . . 336
125. The Sea to the South of Sardinia . . . 339
126. Strait of Bonifacio . . . 340
127. La Giara . . . 345
128. District of Iglesias . . . 348
129. CAGLIARI . . . 350
130. Port of Terranova . . . 351
131. Navigation of Italy . . . 355
132. Commercial Routes of Italy . . . 356
133. Submarine Plateau between Corsica and Tuscany . . . 364
134. Profile of the Road from Ajaccio to Bastia . . . 365
135. BASTIA . . . 368
SPAIN.
136. Table-lands of Iberian Peninsula . . . 371
137. Dehesas near Madrid . . . 375
138. Density of Population . . . 376
139. Profile of Railway from Bayonne to Cádiz . . . 379
140. Sierras de Grédos and de Gata . . . 380
141. DEFILE OF THE TAJO . . . 382
142. Steppes of New Castile . . . 384
143. Salamanca . . . 388
144. THE ALCAZAR OF SEGOVIA . . . 389
145. TOLEDO . . . 390
146. Madrid and its Environs . . . 392
147. Aranjuez . . . 394
148. Basins of the Guadiana and Guadalquivir . . . 395
149. THE PASS OF DESPEÑAPERROS . . . 396
150. THE SIERRA NEVADA . . . 397
151. The Mouth of the Guadalquivir . . . 399
152. The Steppes of Ecija . . . 402
153. Zones of Vegetation on the Coast of Andalusia . . . 403
154. The Mines of Huelva . . . 406
155. THE ALHAMBRA . . . 408
156. Cádiz and its Roadstead . . . 411
157. Gibraltar . . . 413
158. Steppes of Múrcia . . . 416
159. THE PALM GROVE OF ELCHE . . . 418
160. The Palm Grove of Elche and the Huertas of Orihuela . . . 419
161. RUINS OF THE DYKE ABOVE LORCA . . . 420
162. PEASANTS OF MURCIA . . . 421
163. The Harbour of Cartagena . . . 423
164. The Gráo de Valencia . . . 424
165. The Balearic Islands . . . 426
166. VIEW OF IBIZA . . . 427
167. The Pytiuses . . . 428
168. Port Mahon . . . 430
169. The Delta of the Ebro . . . 435
170. The Steppes of Aragon . . . 436
171. The Environs of Barcelona . . . 440
172. The Sand-banks of Mataró . . . 441
173. Andorra . . . 443
174. Jaizquibel . . . 445
175. Azcoitia and Azpeitia . . . 447
176. The Environs of Bilbao . . . 449
177. St. Sebastian . . . 450
178. ST. SEBASTIAN . . . 451
179. Guetaria . . . 452
180. Guernica . . . 453
181. Pass of Reinosa . . . 454
182. Peñas de Europa . . . 456
183. Rias of La Coruña and Ferrol . . . 458
184. Santoña and Santander . . . 460
185. Oviedo and Gijon . . . 462
186. TOWER OF HERCULES . . . 463
187. Ria de Vigo . . . 464
188. Railroads of the Iberian Peninsula . . . 465
189. Foreign Commerce of the Iberian Peninsula . . . 466
190. Diagram exhibiting the Extent of the Castilian Language . . . 467
PORTUGAL.
191. Rainfall of the Iberian Peninsula . . . 470
192. PORTUGUESE TYPES (Peasants) . . . 472
193. The Valley of the Limia, or Lima . . . 475
194. Dunes of Avéiro . . . 476
195. Oporto and the Paiz do Vinho . . . 478
196. São João da Foz and the Mouth of the Dóuro . . . 480
197. COIMBRA . . . 482
198. The Estuary of the Tejo (Tagus) . . . 483
199. Peniche and the Berlingas . . . 485
200. Mouth of the Tejo . . . 486
201. Zones of Vegetation in Portugal . . . 488
202. CASTLE OF PENHA DE CINTRA . . . 489
203. MONASTERY OF THE KNIGHTS OF CHRIST AT THOMAR . . . 491
204. Estuary of the Sado . . . 492
205. Serra de Monchique and Promontory of Sagres . . . 493
206. Geology of Algarve . . . 494
207. Faro and Tavira . . . 496
208. Geographical Extent of the Portuguese Language . . . 497
209. Telegraph from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro . . . 498
[Illustration]
{1}
[Illustration]
THE EARTH AND ITS INHABITANTS.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.[1]
Our earth is but as an atom in space, a star amongst stars. Yet, to us
who inhabit it, it is still without bounds, as it was in the time of
our barbarian ancestors. Nor can we foresee the period when the whole
of its surface will be known to us. We have been taught by astronomers
and geodesists that our planet is a sphere flattened at the poles, and
physical geographers and meteorologists have applied their powers of
inductive reasoning to establish theories on the direction of the winds
and ocean currents within the polar regions. But hitherto no explorer
has succeeded in reaching the extremities of our earth, and no one can
tell whether land or sea extends beyond those icy barriers which have
frustrated our most determined efforts. Thanks to the struggles of
indomitable seamen, the pride of our race, the area of the mysterious
regions around the north pole has been reduced to something like the
hundredth part of the earth’s surface, but in the south there still
remains an unknown region of such vast extent, that the moon, were she
to drop upon our planet, might disappear within it without coming into
contact with any part of the earth’s surface already known to us.
And the polar regions, which present so many natural obstacles to
our explorers, are not the only portions of the earth not yet known
to men of science. It may be humiliating to our pride as men, but we
feel constrained to admit that among the countries not yet known to
us there are some, accessible enough as far as natural obstacles are
concerned, but closed against us by our fellow-men ! There are peoples
in this world, dwelling in towns, obeying laws, and having customs
comparatively polished, but who choose to live in seclusion, and are
as little known to us as if they were the inhabitants of some other
planet. Their frontiers are closed by war and its horrors, by the
practice of slavery, by religious {2} fanaticism, and even commercial
jealousy. We have heard of some of these peoples by vague report,
but there are others concerning whom we absolutely know nothing. And
thus it happens that in this age of steam, of the printing press, of
incessant and feverish activity, we still know nothing, or very little,
of the centre of Africa, of a portion of Australia, of the interior of
that fine and no doubt most fertile island of New Guinea, and of vast
table-lands in the centre of Asia. Nay, even the country which most men
of learning love to look upon as the cradle of our Aryan ancestors is
known to us but very imperfectly.
As regards most countries which have been visited by travellers, and
figure more or less correctly upon our maps, a great amount of further
research is required before our knowledge of their geography can be
called complete. Years will pass ere the erroneous and contradictory
statements of our explorers concerning them have been set right. A
prodigious amount of labour must be performed before their climate,
their hydrography, their plants and animals, can be thoroughly known
to us. Minute and systematic researches have to be conducted to
elucidate the slow changes in the aspects and physical phenomena
of many countries. The greatest caution will have to be exercised
in distinguishing between changes due to the spontaneous action of
natural causes and those brought about by the hand of man. And all this
knowledge we must acquire before we can boast that we know the earth,
and all about it !
Nor is this all. By a natural bent of our mind, all our studies are
carried on with reference to Man as the centre of all things. A
knowledge of our planet is, therefore, imperfect as long as it is not
joined to a knowledge of the various races of man which inhabit it. The
earth which man treads is but imperfectly known, man himself even less
so. The first origin of races is shrouded in absolute darkness, and the
most learned disagree with reference to the descent, the amalgamation,
the original seats, and migratory stages of most peoples and tribes.
What do men owe to their surroundings? What to the original seats of
their ancestors, to inborn instincts of race, to a blending with alien
races, or to influences and traditions brought to bear upon them from
beyond? We hardly know, and as yet only a few rays of light begin to
penetrate this darkness. Unfortunately our erroneous views on many of
these questions are not due solely to ignorance. Contending passions
and instinctive national hatreds too frequently obscure our judgment,
and we see man as he is not. The far-off savages assume the shape
of dim phantoms, and our near neighbours and rivals in the arts of
civilisation appear repulsive and deformed of feature. If we would see
them as they really are, we must get rid of all our prejudices, and of
those feelings of contempt, hatred, and passion which still set nation
against nation. Our forefathers, in their wisdom, said that the most
difficult thing of all was to know one’s self. Surely a comprehensive
study of mankind is more difficult still.
We are thus not in a position at present to furnish a complete account
of the earth and its inhabitants. The accomplishment of this task
we must leave to the future, when fellow-workers from all quarters
of the globe will meet to write the grand book embodying the sum of
human knowledge. For the present an {3} individual author must rest
content with giving a succinct account of the Earth, in which the space
occupied by each country shall be proportionate to its importance, and
to the knowledge we possess with respect to it.
It is natural, perhaps, that each nation should imagine that in such a
description it ought to be accorded the foremost place. Every barbarous
tribe, however small, imagines itself to occupy the very centre of the
earth, and to be the most perfect representative of the human race.
Its language never fails to bear witness to this naïve illusion, born
of the very narrowness of its horizon. The river which irrigates its
fields is called the “Father of Waters,” the mountain which shelters
its camp the “Navel,” or “Centre of the Earth;” and the names by which
primitive races designate their neighbours are terms of contempt,
for they look down upon them as their inferiors. To them they are
“mute,” “deaf,” “unclean,” “imbecile,” “monstrous,” or “demoniac.”
The Chinese, one of the most remarkable peoples in some respects, and
certainly the most important of all as far as mere numbers go, are not
content with having bestowed upon their country the epithet of “Flower
of the Centre,” but are so fully convinced of its superiority as to
have fallen into the mistake (very excusable under the circumstances)
of deeming themselves to be the “Sons of Heaven.” As to the nations
thinly scattered around the borders of their “Celestial Empire,” they
know them merely as “dogs,” “swine,” “demons,” and “savages.” Or, more
disdainful still, they designate them by the four cardinal points of
the compass, and speak of the “unclean” tribes of the west, the north,
the east, and the south.
If in our description of the Earth we accord the first place to
civilised Europe, it is not because of a prejudice similar to that of
the Chinese. No ! this place belongs to Europe as a matter of right.
Europe as yet is the only continent the whole of whose surface has been
scientifically explored. It possesses a map approximately correct, and
its material resources are almost fully known to us. Its population
is not as dense as that of India or of China, but it nevertheless
contains about one-fourth of the total population of the globe; and
its inhabitants, whatever their failings and vices, or their state of
barbarism in some respects, still impel the rest of mankind as regards
material and mental progress. Europe, for twenty-five centuries,
has been the focus whence radiated Arts, Sciences, and Thought. Nor
have those hardy colonists who carried their European languages and
customs beyond the sea succeeded hitherto in giving to the New World
an importance equal to that of “little” Europe, in spite of the virgin
soil and vast area which gave them scope for unlimited expansion.
Our American rivals may be more active and enterprising than we
are—they certainly are not cumbered to the same extent by the
traditions and inheritances of feudal times—but they are as yet not
sufficiently numerous to compete with us as regards the totality of
work done. They have scarcely been able hitherto to ascertain the
material resources of the country in which they have made their home.
“Old Europe,” where every clod of earth has its history, where every
man is the heir of a hundred successive generations, therefore still
maintains the first place, and a comparative study of nations justifies
us in the belief that its moral {4} ascendancy and industrial
preponderance will remain with it for many years to come. At the same
time, we must not shut our eyes to the fact that equality will obtain
in the end, not only between America and Europe, but also between
these two and the other quarters of the world. The intermingling of
nations, migrations which have assumed prodigious proportions, and
the increasing facilities of intercourse must in the end lead to an
equilibrium of population being established throughout the world.
Then will each country add its proper share to the wealth of mankind,
and what we call civilisation will have “its centre everywhere, its
periphery nowhere.”
The central geographical position of Europe has undoubtedly exercised
a most favourable influence upon the progress of the nations
inhabiting it. The superiority of the Europeans is certainly not
due to the inherent virtues of the races from which they sprang, as
is vainly imagined by some, for in other parts of the ancient world
these same races have exhibited far less creative genius. To the
happy conditions of soil, climate, configuration, and geographical
position the inhabitants of Europe owe the honour of having been the
first to obtain a knowledge of the earth in its entirety, and to have
remained for so long a period at the head of mankind. Historical
geographers are, therefore, right when they insist upon the influence
which the configuration of a country exercises upon the nations
who inhabit it. The extent of table-lands, the heights of mountain
ranges, the direction and volume of rivers, the vicinity of the ocean,
the indentation of the coast-line, the temperature of the air, the
abundance or rarity of rain, and the correlations between soil, air,
and water—all these are pregnant with effects, and explain much of
the character and mode of life of primitive nations. They account for
most of the contrasts existing between nations subject to different
conditions, and point out the natural highways of the globe which
nations are constrained to follow in their migrations or warlike
expeditions.
At the same time, we must bear in mind that the influence exercised
upon the history of mankind by the general configuration of land and
sea, or any special features of the former, is subject to change, and
depends essentially upon the stage of culture at which nations have
arrived. Geography, strictly speaking, confines itself to a description
of the earth’s surface, and exhibits the various nations in a passive
attitude as it were, whilst Historical Geography and statistics show
man engaged in the struggle for existence, and striving to obtain the
mastery over his surroundings. A river, which to an uncultured tribe
would constitute an insurmountable barrier, becomes a commercial
high-road to a tribe further advanced in culture, and in process of
time it may be converted into a mere canal of irrigation, the course
of which is regulated by man. A mountain range frequented by shepherds
and huntsmen, and forming a barrier between nations, may attract, in a
more civilised epoch, the miner and the manufacturer, and in course of
time will even cease to be an obstacle, as roads will traverse it in
all directions. Many a creek of the sea, which afforded shelter of yore
to the small vessels of our ancestors, is deserted now, whilst the open
bays, which vessels dreaded formerly, have been protected by enormous
breakwaters, and have become the resort of our largest ships. {5}
Innumerable changes such as these have been effected by man in all
parts of the world, and they have revolutionised the correlations
existing between man and the land he lives in. The configuration and
height of mountains and table-lands, the indentation of the coasts,
the disposition of islands and archipelagos, and the extent of the
ocean—these all lose their relative influence upon the history of
nations in proportion as the latter emancipate themselves and become
free agents. Though subject to the condition of his dwelling-place, man
may modify it to suit his own purpose; he may overcome nature as it
were, and convert the energies of the earth into domesticated forces.
As an instance we may point to the elevated table-lands of Central
Asia, which now separate the countries and peninsulas surrounding them,
but which, when they shall have become the seats of human industry,
will convert Asia into a real geographical unit, which at present
it is only in appearance. Massy and ponderous Africa, monotonous
Australia, and Southern America with its forests and waterfalls, will
be put on something like an equality with Europe, whenever roads of
commerce shall cross them in all directions, bridging their rivers,
and traversing their deserts and mountain ranges. The advantages, on
the other hand, which Europe derives from its backbone of mountains,
its radiating rivers, the contours of its coasts, and its generally
well-balanced outline are not as great now as they were when man was
dependent exclusively upon the resources furnished by nature.
This gradual change in the historical importance of the configuration
of the land is a fact of capital importance which must be borne in mind
if we would understand the general geography of Europe. In studying
SPACE we must take account of another element of equal value—TIME.
[Illustration]
{5}
[Illustration]
EUROPE.
I.—GEOGRAPHICAL IMPORTANCE.
In the geography of the world the first place is claimed for Europe,
not because of a prejudice like that of the Chinese, but as a matter of
right. Europe as yet is the only continent the whole of whose surface
has been scientifically explored. It possesses a map approximately
correct, and its material resources are almost fully known to us.
Its population is not as dense as that of India or of China, but it
nevertheless contains about one-fourth of the total population of the
globe; and its inhabitants, whatever their failings and vices, or their
state of barbarism in some respects, still impel the rest of mankind
as regards material and mental progress. Europe, for twenty-five
centuries, has been the focus whence radiated Arts, Sciences, and
Thought. Nor have those hardy colonists who carried their European
languages and customs beyond the sea succeeded hitherto in giving to
the New World an importance equal to that of “little” Europe, in spite
of the virgin soil and vast area which gave them scope for unlimited
expansion.
“Old Europe,” where every clod of earth has its history, where every
man is the heir of a hundred successive generations, therefore still
maintains the first place, and a comparative study of nations justifies
us in the belief that its moral ascendancy and industrial preponderance
will remain with it for many years to come. At the same time, we must
not shut our eyes to the fact that equality will obtain in the end, not
only between America and Europe, but also between these two and the
other quarters of the world. The intermingling of nations, migrations
which have assumed prodigious proportions, and the increasing
facilities of intercourse, must in the end lead to an equilibrium of
population throughout the world. Then will each country add its proper
share to the wealth of mankind, and what we call civilisation will have
“its centre everywhere, its periphery nowhere.”
The central geographical position of Europe has undoubtedly exercised a
most favourable influence upon the progress of the nations inhabiting
it. The superiority of the Europeans is certainly not due to the
inherent virtues of the races from which they sprang, as is vainly
imagined by some, for in other parts of {6} the ancient world
these same races have exhibited far less creative genius. To the
happy conditions of soil, climate, configuration, and geographical
position, the inhabitants of Europe owe the honour of having been
the first to obtain a knowledge of the earth in its entirety, and to
have remained for so long a period at the head of mankind. Historical
geographers are, therefore, right when they insist upon the influence
which the configuration of a country exercises upon the nations
who inhabit it. The extent of table-lands, the heights of mountain
ranges, the direction and volume of rivers, the vicinity of the ocean,
the indentation of the coast-line, the temperature of the air, the
abundance or rarity of rain, and the correlations between soil, air,
and water—all these are pregnant with effects, and explain much of
the character and mode of life of primitive nations. They account for
most of the contrasts existing between nations subject to different
conditions, and point out the natural highways of the globe which
nations are constrained to follow in their migrations or warlike
expeditions.
II.—EXTENT AND BOUNDARIES.
The dwellers on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea must
have learnt, in the course of their first warlike and commercial
expeditions, to distinguish between the great continents; for within
the nucleus of the ancient world Africa is attached to Asia by a narrow
band of arid sand, and Europe separated from Asia Minor by seas and
channels difficult to navigate on account of dangerous currents. The
division of the known world into three distinct parts could not fail
to impress itself upon the minds of those infant nations; and when
the Greeks had attained a state of maturity, and historical records
took the place of myths and oral traditions, the name of Europe had
probably been transmitted through a long series of generations.
Herodotus naïvely admits that no mortal could ever hope to find out
the true meaning of this name, bequeathed to us by our forefathers;
but this has not deterred our modern men of learning from attempting
to explain it. Some amongst them consider that it was applied at first
to Thrace with its “large plains,” and subsequently extended to the
whole of Europe; others derive it from one of the surnames of Zeus
with the “large eyes,” the ancient god of the Sun, specially charged
with the protection of the continent. Some etymologists believe that
Europe was designated thus by the Phœnicians, as being the country of
“white men.” We consider it, however, to be far more probable that its
name originally meant simply “the West,” as contrasted with Asia, “the
East,” or “country of the rising sun.” It is thus that Italy first, and
then Spain, bore the name of Hesperia; that Western Africa received
the name of El Maghreb from the Mohammedans, and the plains beyond the
Mississippi became known in our own times as the “Far West.”
But, whatever may be the original meaning of its name, Europe, in all
the myths of the ancients, is described as a Daughter of Asia. The
Phœnicians were the first to explore the shores of Europe, and to bring
its inhabitants into contact with those of the East. When the Daughter
had become the superior of her {7} Mother in civilisation, and Greek
voyagers were following up the explorations begun by the mariners
of Tyre, all the known countries to the north of the Mediterranean
were looked upon as dependencies of Europe, and that name, which was
originally confined to the Thraco-Hellenic peninsula, was made to
include, in course of time, Italy, Spain, the countries of the Gauls,
and the hyperborean regions beyond the Alps and the Danube. Strabo,
to whom were known already the most varied and fruitful portions
of Europe, extends it eastward as far as the Palus Mæotis and the
Tanais.[2]
[Illustration: Fig. 1.—THE NATURAL BOUNDARY OF EUROPE.
Scale 1 : 21,800,000.
Erhard.
The zone of depression extending from the Black Sea to the Gulf of Obi
is shaded. The darker shading to the north of the Caspian shows the
area depressed below the level of the Mediterranean.]
{8}
Since that epoch the limits between Europe and Asia have been shifted
by geographers still further to the east. They are, however, more or
less conventional, for Europe, though bounded on three sides by the
ocean, is in reality but a peninsula of Asia. At the same time, the
contrasts between these two parts of the world fully justify scientific
men in dividing them into two continental masses. But where is the
true line of separation between them? Map-makers generally adopt the
political boundaries which it has pleased the Russian Government to
draw between its vast European and Asiatic territories, and others
adopt the summits of the Ural Mountains and of the Caucasus as the
boundary between the two continents; and although, at the first glance,
this delineation appears more reasonable than the former, it is in
reality no less absurd. The two slopes of a mountain chain can never be
assigned to different formations, and they are generally inhabited by
men of the same race. The true line of separation between Europe and
Asia does not consist of mountains at all, but, on the contrary, of a
series of depressions, in former times covered by a channel of the sea
which united the Mediterranean with the Arctic Ocean. The steppes of
the Manych, between the Black Sea and the Caspian, and to the north of
the Caucasus, are still covered in part with salt swamps. The Caspian
itself, as well as Lake Aral and the other lakes which we meet with
in the direction of the Gulf of Obi, are the remains of this ancient
arm of the sea, and the intermediate regions still bear the traces of
having been an ancient sea-bed.
[Illustration: Fig. 2.—THE RELIEF OF EUROPE.
According to Houzeau, Berghaus, Kiepert, Olsen, and others. Scale
1 : 60,000,000.]
There can be no doubt that vast changes have taken place in the
configuration {9} of Europe, not only during more ancient geological
periods, but also within comparatively recent times. We have already
seen that a vast arm of the sea formerly separated Europe from Asia; it
is equally certain that there was a time when it was joined to Anatolia
by an isthmus, which has since been converted into the Bosphorus of
Constantinople; Spain was joined to Africa until the waters of the
Atlantic invaded the Mediterranean; Sicily was probably connected
with Mauritania; and the British Islands once formed a portion of the
mainland. The erosion of the sea, as well as upheavals and subsidences
of land, has effected, and still effect, changes in the contours of
our coasts. Numerous soundings in the seas washing Western Europe have
revealed the existence of a submarine plateau, which, from a geological
point of view, must be looked upon as forming an integral portion of
our continent. Bounded by abyssal depths of thousands of fathoms, and
submerged one hundred fathoms at most below the waters of the ocean,
this pedestal of France and the British Islands must be looked upon
as the foundation of an ancient continent, destroyed by the incessant
action of the waves. If the shallow portions of the ocean, as well as
those of the Mediterranean Sea, were to be added to Europe, its area
would be increased to the extent of one-fourth, but it would lose, at
the same time, that wealth in peninsulas which has secured to Europe
its historical superiority over the other continents.
If we supposed Europe to subside to the extent of one hundred fathoms,
its area would be reduced to the compass of one-half. The ocean would
again cover her low plains, most of which are ancient sea-beds, and
there would remain above the waters merely a skeleton of plateaux and
mountain ranges, far more extensively indented by bays and fringed by
peninsulas than are the coasts existing at the present time. The whole
of Western and Southern Europe would be converted into a huge island,
separated by a wide arm of the sea from the plains of interior Russia.
From an historical as well as a geological point of view, this huge
island is the true Europe. Russia is not only half Asiatic on account
of its extremes of temperature, and the aspect of its monotonous
plains and interminable steppes, but is likewise intimately linked
with Asia as regards its inhabitants and its historical development.
Russia can hardly be said to have belonged to Europe for more than a
hundred years. It was in maritime and mountainous Europe, with its
islands, peninsulas, and valleys, its varied features and unexpected
contrasts, that modern civilisation arose, the result of innumerable
local civilisations, happily united into a single current. And, as the
rivers descending from the mountains cover the plains at their foot
with fertile soil, so has the progress accomplished in this centre of
enlightenment gradually spread over the other continents to the very
extremities of the earth.
III.—NATURAL DIVISIONS AND MOUNTAINS.
The Europe alluded to includes France, Germany, England, and the three
Mediterranean peninsulas, and constitutes several natural divisions.
The British Islands form one of these. The Iberian peninsula is
separated scarcely less {10} distinctly from the remainder of Europe,
for between it and France rises a most formidable range of mountains,
the most difficult to cross in all Europe; and immediately to the north
of it a depression, nowhere exceeding a height of 650 feet, extends
from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean. The geographical unity
of Europe is represented to the full extent only in the system of the
Alps, and in the mountains of France, Germany, Italy, and the Balkan
peninsula which are connected with it. It is there we must seek the
framework of continental Europe.
The Alps, whose ancient Celtic name probably refers to the whiteness
of their snowy summits, stretch in an immense curve, more than 600
miles in length, from the shores of the Mediterranean to the plains
of the Danube. They consist in reality of more than thirty mountain
masses, representing as many geological groups, and joined to each
other by elevated passes; but their rocks, whether they be granite,
slate, sandstone, or limestone, form one continuous rampart rising
above the plains. In former ages the Alps were higher than they are
now. This is proved by an examination of their detritus and of the
strata disintegrated by natural agencies. But, whatever the extent of
detrition, they still rise in hundreds of summits beyond the line of
perennial snow, and vast rivers of ice descend from them into every
upland valley. Looked at from the plains of Piedmont and Lombardy,
these glaciers and snow-fields present the appearance of sparkling
diadems encircling the mountain summits.
In the eastern portion of the Alpine system—that is to say, between
the Mediterranean and Mont Blanc, the culminating point of Europe—the
average height of the mountain groups gradually increases from 6,500
to more than 13,000 feet. To the east of Mont Blanc the Alps change
in direction, and, beyond the vast citadels represented by Monte Rosa
and the Bernese Oberland, they gradually decrease in height. To the
east of Switzerland no summit exceeds a height of 13,000 feet, but
this loss in elevation is fully made up by increase of breadth. And
whilst the general direction of the principal axis of the Alps remains
north-easterly, very considerable mountain chains, far exceeding the
central mass in breadth, are thrown off towards the north, the east,
and the south-east. A line drawn across the true Alps from Vienna has a
length of no less than 250 miles.
In thus spreading out, the Alps lose their character and aspect. We
no longer meet with grand mountain masses, glaciers, and snow-fields.
Towards the north they gradually sink down into the valley of the
Danube; towards the south they branch out into secondary chains,
resting upon the arched plateau of Turkey. But, in spite of the vast
contrasts offered by the true Alps and the mountains of Montenegro,
the Hæmus, the Rhodope, and the Pindus, all these mountain chains
nevertheless belong to the same orographical system. The whole of the
Balkan peninsula must be looked upon as a natural dependency of the
Alps; and the same applies to Italy, for the chain of the Apennines is
nothing but a continuation of the Maritime Alps, and we hardly know
where to draw the line of separation between them. The Carpathians,
too, must be included among the {11} mountain chains forming part of
the system of the Alps. They have been gradually separated from them
through the continuous action of water, but there can be no doubt
that, in former times, the semicircle of mountains known as the Little
Carpathians, the Beskids, the Tatra, the Great Carpathians, and the
Transylvanian Alps was joined, on the one hand, to the Austrian Alps,
and on the other to spurs descending from the Balkan. The Danube has
forced its way through these mountain ramparts, but the passages, or
“gates,” are narrow; they are strewn with rocks, and commanded by what
remains of the ancient partition ranges.
The configuration of the Alps, and of the labyrinthine mountain ranges
branching off from them towards the east, could not fail to exercise a
most powerful influence upon the history of Europe and of the entire
world. The only high-roads known to barbarians are those traced out
by nature herself, and they were consequently able to penetrate into
Europe only by sea, or through the vast plains of the north. Having
penetrated to the westward of the Black Sea, their progress was first
stopped by the lakes and difficult swamps of the Danubian valley; and,
when they had surmounted these obstacles, they found themselves face to
face with a barrier of high mountains, whose intricate wooded valleys
and declivities led up to the inaccessible regions of eternal snow.
The Alps, the Balkan, and all the other advanced chains of the Alpine
system constituted an advanced defensive barrier for Western Europe,
and the conquering nomad tribes who threw themselves against it did so
at the risk of destruction. Accustomed to the boundless horizon of the
steppes, they did not venture to climb these steep hills—they turned
to the northward, where the vast plains of Germania enabled successive
swarms of immigrants to spread over the country with greater ease. And
as to the invaders, whom blind rage of conquest impelled to engage in
the defiles of these mountains, they found themselves caught as in a
trap; and this accounts for the variety of nations, and of fragments of
nations, whose presence has converted the countries of the Danube into
a sort of ethnological chaos. And as the débris carried along by the
current is deposited in the eddy of a river, so were these fragments of
nearly every nation of the East accumulated in motley disorder in this
corner of the Continent.
To the south of this great mountain barrier the migrations between
Europe and Asia could take place only by sea—a high-road open to
those nations alone who were sufficiently advanced in civilisation to
have acquired the art of building ships. Whether pirates, merchants,
or warriors, they had raised themselves long ago above a state of
primitive barbarism, and even their voyages of conquest added something
to the stock of human knowledge. Moreover, owing to the difficulties
of navigation, they migrated only in small bodies. At whatever point
they settled they came into contact with populations of a different
race from their own, and this intercourse gave birth to a number of
local civilisations, each bearing its own stamp, and nowhere did their
influence preponderate. Every island of the Archipelago, and every
valley of ancient Hellas, differed from its neighbours as regards
social condition, dialect, and customs, but they all remained Greek,
in spite of the Phœnician and other influences to which they had been
subjected. It is thus owing to the {12} configuration of the mountain
chains and coast-lines that the civilisation which developed itself
gradually in the Mediterranean countries to the south of the Alps
was, upon the whole, more spontaneous in its nature, and offered more
variety and greater contrasts, than the civilisation of the far less
advanced nations of the north, who were moving from place to place on
vast plains.
The wide range of the Alps and of their advanced chains thus separated
two distinct worlds, in which historical development went on at a
different rate. At the same time, the separation between the two
slopes of the Alpine system was by no means complete. Nowhere in the
Alps do we meet with cold and uninhabited plateaux, as in the Andes
and in Tibet, whose enormous extent forms almost insurmountable
barriers. The Alpine masses are cut up everywhere into mountains and
valleys, and the climate of the latter is sufficiently mild to enable
man to exist in them. The mountaineers, who easily maintained their
independence, owing to the protection extended to them by nature,
first served as intermediaries between the peoples inhabiting the
opposite lowlands. It was they who effected the rare exchanges of
produce which took place between the North and South, and who opened
the first commercial high-roads between the summits of the mountains.
The direction of the valleys and the deeply cut mountain passes even
then indicated the grand routes by which the Alps would be crossed, at
a future period, for the purposes of commerce or of war. That portion
of the Alps which lies between the mountain masses of Savoy and of
the Mediterranean would naturally cease first to form an obstacle to
military expeditions. The Alps there are of great height, it is true,
but they are narrower than anywhere else; besides which, the climate on
the two opposite slopes is similar, and assimilates the mode of life
and the customs of the people dwelling there. Far more formidable, as a
natural barrier, are the Alps to the north-east of Mont Blanc, for they
constitute a climatic boundary.
The other mountain ranges play but a secondary or local part in the
history of Europe, when we compare them with the Alps. Still, the
influence which they have exercised upon the destiny of nations is
no less evident. The table-lands and snow-fields of the Scandinavian
Alps form a wall of separation between Norwegians and Swedes. The
quadrangular mountain fort of Bohemia, in the centre of Europe, which
shelters the Chechians, is almost entirely enclosed by Germans, and
resembles an island fretted by the waves of the ocean. The hills of
Wales and of Scotland have afforded a shelter to the Celtic race
against the encroachments of Anglo-Saxons, Danes, and Normans. The
Bretons, in France, are indebted to their rocks and _landes_ for
the fact of their not having yet become wholly French; whilst the
table-land of Limousin, the hills of Auvergne and the Cevennes
constitute the principal cause of the striking contrast which still
exists between the inhabitants of Northern and of Southern France. The
Pyrenees, next to the Alps, constitute the most formidable obstacle
to the march of nations in Europe; they would have remained an
insurmountable rampart down to our own time, were it not easy to pass
round them by their extremities abutting upon the sea. {13}
IV.—THE MARITIME REGIONS.