=CHINA=, or more accurately the Chinese Republic, is an extensive
dominion of Eastern Asia of which China proper constitutes the principal
portion. For centuries this dominion has been known as the Chinese
Empire, and it is still frequently referred to as such, although the
form of government is now republican. China includes a number of
dependencies or subject territories, viz.: Manchuria, Mongolia, Tibet,
East Turkestan, and the small territories between Mongolia and Tibet.
By its natives China is never so called, but usually by the Chinese
words for “The Middle State,” or “The Republic of the Middle Flower.”
The name China (_Chi-na_, land of Chin) comes to us from India through
Buddhism. Various old names are Serica and Cathay, and in the Bible
“Land of Sinim.”
China and its dependent territories have an area of 4,300,000 square
miles. The population of the whole is variously estimated at from
300,000,000 to 440,000,000. The great bulk of this falls to the
provinces of China proper: the population of all the dependencies
(Manchuria, Tibet, Mongolia, East Turkestan), making but some 16,000,000
or 25,000,000 of the total.
=Surface.=--Occupying all the central and eastern portion of the
continent of Asia, the limits are for the most part very distinctly
marked out by great natural features. The boundary with Russian Siberia
on the north runs along the Amur River and the crests of the Sayan and
Altai Mountains; towards western Turkestan the alpine heights of the
Thian Shan and the Pamir form the limit; the snow clad Himalaya range
separates China from the hot plains of India in the south, and the
mountains of Yunnan continue the natural frontier eastward again to the
coasts of the Pacific.
Within these wide exterior limits China includes a number of regions,
some of which are strongly contrasted with one another in their natural
features and in the character of their population. Along the eastern or
maritime border, where the rivers flowing down from the mountain region
of the interior have spread out in wide alluvial plains next the sea,
lie China proper and Manchuria, filled with a teeming population of busy
agriculturists and townsfolk. Within, on the high plateau of Central
Asia, the region of bare steppes and deserts, and the mountain skirts
round it, are the countries of Mongolia, Eastern Turkestan, and Tibet,
thinly peopled for the most part by nomadic pastoral tribes.
CHINA PROPER may be described as sloping from the mountainous regions of
Tibet and Nepal toward the shores of the Pacific on the east and south.
The most extensive mountain range in it is the Nan Ling or Southern
Range, a far extending spur of the Himalayas. Commencing in Yunnan, it
bounds Kwangsi, Kwangtung, and Fukien, on the north, and, passing
through Chekiang, enters the sea at Ningpo.
[Illustration: =HUNCHBACK BRIDGE, NEAR PEKING, CHINA=]
North of this long range, and west of the one hundred and thirteenth
meridian, on to the borders of Tibet, the country is mountainous, while
to the east and from the great wall on the north to the Po-yang Lake in
the south, there is the Great Plain, comprising the greater part of the
provinces of Chihli, Shantung, Honan, Anhui, and Kiangsu. The Great
Plain extends on both sides of the lower Hoang-ho, between the great
cities of Peking and Nanking, over an area more than three times as
extensive as England. Sedulously irrigated or drained, and cultivated in
every corner, this great plain supports the densest agricultural
population in the world.
[Illustration: =BRIDGE AT YUEN-MING-YUEN, CHINA=]
In the provinces west from Chihli--Shansi, Shensi and Kansu--the soil is
formed of what are called the loess beds, which are extremely fertile,
the fields composed of it hardly requiring any other manure than a
sprinkling of its own fresh loam. The husbandman in this way obtains an
assured harvest two and even three times a year. This fertility,
provided there be a sufficient rainfall, seems inexhaustible.
=Seas, Rivers and Canals.=--The semi-mediterranean seas and gulfs of the
Pacific along the coasts of China are distinguished by separate names.
In the north, between the Korean peninsula and the mainland of China, is
the Hoang Hai or Yellow Sea, three hundred miles wide, named from the
lemon color of its waters, filled with the alluvium brought down to it
by the Hoang-ho, and so shallow that its muddy bed is frequently
furrowed by passing vessels. Within or northward lie the Bay of Korea
and the Gulfs of Pechihli and Liaotung, the two last separated almost
entirely from the outer China Sea by the projecting promontories of
Shantung and Liaotung. South of the Yellow Sea, between the mainland and
southern Japan, with the chain of the Luchu Islands and Formosa, extends
the wider Tunghai or Eastern Sea; and from this the Fukien Channel,
between Formosa and the coast of China, one hundred miles wide, leads
into the great mediterranean called the Nanhai or South Sea of China,
which is almost completely shut in by Borneo and the Philippine Islands.
The coasts of the Yellow Sea bordering on the great plain are low and
flat; southward thence to the Island of Hainan the shores of China rise
steep, and are dotted round with rocky islets.
[Illustration: =GREAT CHINESE WALL,=
erected to protect the ancient empire from the inroads of nomadic
Tartars about 214 B.C. The main substance of the wall is earth or
rubbish, retained on each side by a strong casing of stone and brick,
and terraced by a platform of square tiles. The thickness of the wall at
the base is often as much as twenty-five feet. (See full description
below.)]
The rivers of China--called for the most part _ho_ in the north, and
_chiang_ (_kiang_) in the south, are one of its most distinguishing
features.
Two of them stand out conspicuous among the great rivers of the world:
the Ho, Hoang-ho, or Yellow River, and the Chiang, or Yang-tze-kiang.
They rise not far from each other among the mountains of Tibet. The Ho
pursues a tortuous course seaward through North China; the Chiang or
Yang-tze through Central China. The terrible calamities caused by the
inundations of the Hoang-ho have procured for it the name of “China’s
Sorrow.” The Ho is not much under the Chiang in length--somewhat over
three thousand miles.
Besides these may be noted the Pei-ho, which gathers the waters of the
northern portion of the great plain, and forms a highway of
communication between the capital city of Peking and the port of
Tien-tsin, thirty-five miles above its mouth; the Min, the river of the
province of Fukien, by which the Bohea teas are brought down to the port
of Fu-chou; and the Si-kiang, the largest river of southern China, one
of the delta branches of which forms the Chu-kiang, or river of the
great port of Canton.
The three largest lakes of China lie immediately south of the course of
the Yang-tze. The Tung-ting-hu, seventy miles long, and the Poyang-hu,
nearly as large, are expansions of the mouths of the chief southern
tributaries of the Yang-tze in Central China; the third, the Tai-hu,
lies south of the estuary.
CANALS.--Greatest of all the public works in China is the Grand Canal,
which traverses the great plain for a distance of seven hundred miles,
passing from Tientsin, on the Pei-ho, in the north, across the course of
the Hoang-ho to the lower course of the Yang-tze, connecting a system of
water communications which extends from the capital to the chief parts
of the empire. It is but the greatest sample of the system of canals,
great and small, which form a network over all parts of the lowlands of
China. Steam communication, however, all along the eastern seaboard from
Canton to Tientsin has now very much superseded its use.
The glory of making this canal is due to Kublai, the first sovereign of
the Yüan dynasty.
[Illustration: =PAGODA, NEAR PEKING, CHINA=
The Pagoda, or “idol temple,” in China, usually distinguishes the
Buddhist from the Confucian temple. It is a tapering tower, always with
an odd number of stories. First-class pagodas have seven, nine, or
thirteen stories, minor ones have three or five. The most famous was the
Porcelain Tower of Nanking, erected in the beginning of the fifteenth
century; only nine of the proposed thirteen stories, cased in white
porcelain, were completed, and the height never exceeded about two
hundred and sixty feet. It was destroyed by the Taipings in 1856.]
After the Grand Canal, as a gigantic achievement, comes the Great Wall,
on the north side next Mongolia. Not so useful as the canal, and having
failed to answer the purpose for which it was intended--to be a defense
against the incursions of the northern tribes, there it still stands,
the most remarkable artificial bulwark in the world.
It was in 214 B. C. that Shih Hwang Ti determined to erect a grand
barrier all along the north of his vast empire. The wall commences at
the Shanhai Pass and extends westward continuously almost into the heart
of the continent for a distance of one thousand five hundred miles, over
mountain and valley, and across rivers and ravines. It is a rampart of
earth, ten to thirty feet high, broad enough at the top to admit of
several horsemen passing abreast, and was formerly cased on the sides
and top with bricks and stones, and was flanked by numerous projections
or towers, gates being left at intervals for the passage of travelers
and the collection of customs. Now it has fallen in many places, and its
gates are negligently guarded, and northward of Peking the growing
Chinese population has spread and settled the country to a considerable
distance beyond its barrier.
=Climate.=--The climatic conditions naturally vary considerably over so
large a stretch of country. In the lofty Tibetan plateau and the less
elevated plains of Mongolia, the climate is exceedingly dry, and is
marked by great extremes of hot and cold. The basins of the two great
rivers, being nearer the Pacific, are moister and more equable. In this
part of China proper the dry season lasts from November to February, the
remaining months, particularly May, being extremely wet. The rainfall is
of a copious tropical nature.
Generally speaking, China is a cold country in comparison with other
regions in the same latitude. From July to September, however, the
weather is intensely hot, and the heat is accompanied by typhoons, which
are much dreaded for their violent and devastating effects.
=Production and Industry.=--Agricultural pursuits occupy the majority of
the people, the chief products being tea, silk, indigo, cotton, cereals,
rice, and sugar. Agriculture is held in higher estimation here than in
any other land in the world. The land is freehold, and is held by
families in small holdings.
There is much coal in all the provinces, and iron ore is also plentiful
in Shansi. Copper ore is plentiful in Yunnan. Southern Yunnan also
furnishes a variety of precious stones--rubies, amethysts, sapphires,
topazes, opals, besides malachite, and the steatite or soapstone, in
which the Chinese carve figures of all sorts.
The much prized Yu, or _jade_, brought formerly from Turkestan, comes
now from the Hoang-ho valley; lapis lazuli (for the preparation of
ultramarine) is found in the mountains of Che-kiang, in the east coast
region. Large beds of porcelain clay occur in this province also, and in
its neighboring one of Kiang-si.
About one-fourth of the world’s supply of new silk comes from China.
Cotton and wool mills, flour and rice mills are important industries.
Before European manufactures had reached their higher development, fine
“Nankeen” calico was largely imported from China to Europe. “China
ware,” or porcelain, was first made by the Chinese, and so ignorant were
the early Portuguese traders of its value, that they called it
“porcellana,” believing it perhaps to be made of shells; the secret of
its manufacture was not discovered till the beginning of the eighteenth
century. In the province of Kiang-si, not far from Yao-chou, there are
porcelain factories which were founded by an emperor in 1004 A. D.
The Chinese also excel in carpentry; paper making from the bamboo was
invented among them as early as the second century B. C. They are highly
skilled in the use of metals; bronze vases exist which date from 1760 B.
C., and the great bells on the towers of Peking, cast during the Ming
dynasty, are still perfect; the sonorous gong metal alloy is as yet a
Chinese secret; in their delicate embroideries, carvings in ivory,
engravings on wood and stone, lacquered wares, and rich silks and
satins, they show astonishing handicraft.
[Illustration: =VIEW OF THE ROCK-HEWN TEMPLES AT LUNG-MEN=
Here, as early as the seventh century, Chinese artists sculptured
religious figures in the recesses of precipitous cliffs--similar to
those of Upper Egypt--and turned them into hundreds of quarried temples.
The huge Buddha and attendant figures in the central recess can be
clearly seen. Many smaller figures and decorations in other recesses can
also be discerned.]
=People, Religion and Education.=--The Chinese, as we have seen in the
Book of Races, belong to the Mongolian race. They are stout and muscular
as compared with other eastern peoples, temperate, industrious,
cheerful, and easily contented; but they are addicted to gambling.
The dress of the poor is very much alike in both sexes; and though it is
regulated for all classes by sumptuary laws, it is varied among the
wealthy by the richness of the materials and the various ornamentation.
The three chief religions of China are Confucianism, Tâoism, and
Buddhism. It is difficult to estimate the comparative number of their
adherents. To claim a majority for those of any one of them is very
absurd. As a matter of fact, Confucianism represents the intelligence
and morality of China; Tâoism its superstitions; and Buddhism is
ritualism and idolatry, while yet it acknowledges no God.
Besides these three national systems, Mohammedanism has numerous
adherents in the northern and western provinces.
There are temples of Confucius in every great town, and twice a year, in
spring and autumn, sacrifices of animals, fruit, and wine are offered in
honor of the sage.
The majority of the Tâoists, or followers of Laotse, imitate the
Buddhists in their monastic life, and many of them live as hermits in
the mountain caves of the upper Yang-tze, or in the most romantic spots
of the mountains of China.
The Grand Lama of Tibet is the pope of the Buddhist Church, but the
priests in China have no political power, and are viewed with contempt
by the literary and governing classes. In Peking, however, several large
monasteries of Tibetan and Mongolian Buddhists are supported at the
expense of the government.
The native Roman Catholics of China are said to number more than a
million, but Protestants are very few.
In 1906, after the Russo-Japanese war, a new system of compulsory
primary education was established. The curriculum is largely based upon
the Japanese. Modern sciences, history, geography, and foreign languages
are taught. Special schools have been established (technical,
agricultural, normal, language, etc.). Thousands of temples have been
converted to educational purposes. Old style examination halls have
been pulled down, and colleges built on the sites. The educational
facilities are, however, very inadequate. Girls’ schools, formerly
non-existent, are still very few in number. The only government medical
school is an army one, but the government has recognized the Union
Medical College, opened in Peking by the Protestant missions there. Many
Chinese students have proceeded to Japan, America, and Europe to study
there. The government is using the money returned by the American
government from the Boxer indemnity to send students to America.
[Illustration: =ROYAL OBSERVATORY, PEKING, CHINA=
The Chinese were among the very earliest observers of the heavens,
though the Hindus, Chinese, Chaldeans, and Egyptians each claim the
honor of having been the first students of astronomy. The Chinese have
astronomical annals claiming to go back two thousand eight hundred and
fifty-seven years B. C. These record little but the appearance of comets
and solar eclipses. Professional astronomers were compelled to predict
every eclipse under pain of death. The popular idea was that an eclipse
was a monster having evil designs on the sun, and it was customary to
make a great noise, by shouting, etc., in order to frighten it away. At
an early period the Chinese appear to have been acquainted with the
luni-solar Metonic cycle of nineteen years, and they had also divided
the year into three hundred and sixty-five and one-fourth days. To the
burning of all scientific books by one of their princes
(Tsin-Chi-Hong-Ti), 221 B. C., the Chinese attribute the loss of many
theories and methods previously in use.]
There is a university in Peking and a number of colleges under foreign
management. In 1911 there were five hundred and forty-five foreigners
employed in educational work.
=Government.=--Until February 12, 1912, China was a monarchy, in
practice almost absolute. Since that day it has been a republic under a
president who holds office for a term of five years. Many changes were
made at the time of the revolution. A cabinet was substituted for the
old grand council, grand secretariat, and government council; the
cabinet being composed of a prime minister, two associate ministers, the
various ministers of state, and the heads of various boards. A privy
council was also formed. Administration is carried on by the following
ministries: (1) Of Foreign Affairs; (2) Interior; (3) Finance; (4)
Education; (5) War; (6) Marine; (7) Justice; (8) Agriculture, Works, and
Commerce; (9) Posts and Communications; (10) Colonies. There are also a
large number of minor boards and offices, divided into twenty-two
provinces for local administration.
=Cities.=--There were in 1910 about twenty-three towns with populations
exceeding 50,000, but all figures are based upon estimates.
Peking 1,000,000
Canton 1,250,000
Hankow 900,000
Tientsin 850,000
Shanghai 700,000
Fuchow 650,000
Chungking 600,000
Suchow 500,000
Ningpo 450,000
Hangchow 400,000
Nanking 300,000
Changsha 250,000
Chinkiang 200,000
Antung 150,000
Wuhu 130,000
Amoy 120,000
Wenchow 100,000
Swatow 90,000
Chefoo 90,000
Shasi 85,000
Ichang 70,000
Kongmun 60,000
Wuchow 60,000
Niuchwang 50,000
=Peking, or Pei-Ching= (“Northern Capital”) is situated in a sandy
plain, and is surrounded by walls with sixteen gates, each surmounted by
towers one hundred feet high; and it consists, in fact, of two
cities--the inner and the outer--known also as the Manchu or Tartar and
the Chinese, the northern and the southern.
The walls of the Manchu city average fifty feet in height, and are fully
sixty feet wide at the bottom; those of the Chinese city (rectangular
in plan) are thirty feet high and twenty-five feet wide. The circuit of
the two cities measures twenty-one miles, including an area of nearly
twenty-six square miles.
The Manchu or Inner City is divided into three portions; and at the
heart of it are two enclosures, into the innermost of which entrance is
forbidden to all except such as have official claims to admission. It is
called the “Purple Forbidden City,” is very nearly two and one-quarter
miles in circuit, and in it are the palaces of the former emperors and
other members of the imperial family.
The T’âi Ho, or “Hall of Grand Harmony,” is built of marble on a terrace
twenty feet high, and rising itself an additional one hundred and ten
feet; its principal apartment is two hundred feet long and ninety feet
wide. Surrounding the Forbidden City is the “August City,” about six
miles in circuit, and encompassed by a wall twenty feet high. In the
western part of the “August City” is the “Western Park” with a large
artificial lake, a summer-house, gardens, the copper statue of Buddha
(sixty feet high), and the temple of “Great Happiness.”
In the General City are the principal offices of the government, the
observatory, the Provincial Hall for literary examinations, the Colonial
Office, and the “National Academy.” In the northeastern corner is the
Russian mission, and west from it the “Palace of Everlasting Harmony,” a
grand monastery for over a thousand Mongol and Tibetan monks. A little
farther west stands, amidst cypresses, the temple of Confucius. To the
“Temple of Emperors and Kings,” near the south wall, the emperors went
to worship the spirits of nearly two hundred predecessors. The great
Tutelary Temple of the capital is grimy, and full of fortune-tellers.
All the foreign legations and Christian missions are within the Inner
City. The new Roman Catholic Cathedral is conspicuous.
The Chinese or Outer City is very sparsely populated; much of the ground
is under cultivation or wooded.
The “Altar to Heaven,” with its adjunct, the “Altar of Prayer for
Grain,” and the “Altar of Agriculture,” are both near the southern wall.
The “Altar to Heaven” stands on a splendid triple circular terrace of
white marble, richly carved, in a grove of fine trees. The “Altar of
Prayer for Grain,” was burned down in 1889.
The principal streets of the Chinese City are more than one hundred feet
wide, but the side streets are mere lanes. The streets are seldom paved
and are deep either in mud or in dust. In the smaller streets the houses
are miserable shanties; in the main streets both private houses and
shops are one-story brick edifices, the shops gay with paint and
gilding.
There are three Catholic cemeteries (Portuguese, French, and native) and
a Russian one; and there are mission buildings, Russian and others, and
hospitals.
=History.=--Chinese historical documents begin with the reigns of Yâo
and Shun. In 403 B. C. we find only seven great states, all sooner or
later claiming to be “the kingdom,” and contending for the supremacy,
till Ts’in (Ch’in) put down all the others, and in 221 B. C. its king
assumed the title of Hwang Tî, or emperor. From that year dates the
imperial form of the Chinese government, which thus existed for more
than two thousand one hundred years.
The changes of dynasty were many, two or more sometimes ruling together,
each having but a nominal supremacy over the whole nation. The greater
dynasties have been those of Han (206 B. C.-220 A. D.), T’ang
(618-906), Sung (960-1279), Yüan (the Mongol, 1280-1367), the Ming
(1368-1643), and the Ch’ing (Manchû-Tartar, from the Manchû conquest of
China in 1643 to the 1912 revolution).
It was not till after the Cape of Good Hope had been doubled, and the
passage to India discovered by Vasco da Gama in 1497, that intercourse
between any of the European nations and China was possible by sea. It
was in 1516 that the Portuguese first made their appearance at Canton;
and they were followed at intervals of time by the Spaniards, the Dutch,
and the English in 1635. The Chinese received none of them cordially;
and Chinese dislike of them was increased by their mutual jealousies and
collisions with one another. In the meantime trade gradually increased,
and there grew up the importation of opium from India. From the measures
of the Chinese to prevent the import of opium came the first English war
with China in 1840; the result of which was the opening of Canton, Amoy,
Fûchâu, Ningpo, and Shanghâi to commerce, and the cession of Hongkong to
Great Britain. A second war, in 1857, France being allied with Great
Britain, ended in the opening of five more treaty ports. A third war
(1860) and the march on Peking did even more to open China to the world.
After a war in 1884-1885 France secured permanent control of Tongking
and Annam.
In 1894 Japan, reviving old claims on Korea, drove the Chinese out of
Korea, and after victories on land and at sea, captured Port Arthur and
Wei-hai-wei. By the treaty of 1894 Japan secured as indemnity Formosa
and the Liao-tung peninsula; but the protests of Russia, Germany, and
France made Japan resign Liao-tung. Russia obtained a lease of Port
Arthur and Talienwan, with railway and other privileges in Manchuria;
Germany obtained Kiao-chau and concessions in Shantung; and Great
Britain, as an offset, obtained a lease of Wei-hai-wei and sought to
secure trading freedom in the Yang-tze-kiang valley.
Russia’s refusal to evacuate Manchuria and her movements in Korea led to
war with Japan in 1903, the defeat of the Russian armies in Manchuria,
the destruction of the Russian fleet, and the fall of Port Arthur
(1905), China being nominally neutral. By the peace (1905) Japan secured
dominance in Korea, the Russian leases in Liao-tung, and great influence
in southern Manchuria and on China generally.
A series of far-reaching reforms, promoted by a nationalist reform party
in 1898, were summarily cancelled by the dowager empress, who assumed
supreme authority. The reactionary and anti-foreign “Boxer” association
(“The Fist of Righteous Harmony”), encouraged by the court, made
extermination of foreigners its war cry in that year, and besieged the
legislations in Peking. After a two months’ siege by an army of
Japanese, Russians, British, Americans, French, and Germans this
condition was relieved. The constitutional movement began in 1911,
followed by a revolution. The leader of the revolt at Han-kau was the
able general, Li Yuan-hung, but the inspirer of the revolution was Dr.
Sun Yat-sen, at that moment in America.
On October 13 the rebels proclaimed a republic in the province of
Hu-peh, with Li Yuan-hung as president, and notified the foreign consuls
that the property and persons of foreigners would be respected.
On February 12, 1912, the throne issued three edicts, in which it
announced its will to abide by the decision of the National Convention
and accept the republic, entrusting Yuan with the task of bringing about
the new constitution in conjunction with the Nan-king government, and,
after exhorting all to peacefully accept the new order, announced the
abdication of the dynasty.
A constitution of seventy clauses was promulgated; the emperor was to
retain his title and receive a pension, and be accorded the civility due
to a foreign sovereign. On February 27 the Nan-king Assembly endorsed
this decision by electing Yuan president, and he was formally installed
on March 10.
Yuan’s administration was hampered by the movements in Mongolia and
Tibet towards autonomy, movements countenanced by Russia and Great
Britain respectively. Difficulties were also put in the way of China by
the European powers in the matter of a development loan, but President
Yuan, supported by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, seems to have laid securely the
foundations of the largest republic the world has yet seen.
President Yuan Shi-ki was assassinated in 1916, and succeeded by Li
Yuan-hung.
=INDIA,= the Indian Empire of the British crown, is an extensive region
of southern Asia, and next after China the most populous area in the
world. It occupies the central peninsula of southern Asia, and has a
length of some nineteen hundred miles, a breadth of sixteen hundred, and
an area, inclusive of Burma, of 1,766,650 square miles. The natural
boundaries of this vast region are, on the north, the range of the
Himalaya Mountains, which separates it from Tartary, China, and Tibet;
on the west, the mountainous frontiers of Afghanistan and, farther
south, of Persia; on the southwest and south the Arabian Sea and the
Indian Ocean; on the east the hill ranges which border upon Burma and
the Bay of Bengal.
=Surface.=--The region presents a diversified surface and scenery. It
has indeed been called “an epitome of the whole earth,” consisting as it
does of mountains far above the level of perpetual snow, broad and
fertile plains bathed in intense sunshine, arid wastes, and impenetrable
forests.
The most prominent feature in the relief of India is the great range of
snowy peaks named the _Himalaya_, or “abode of snow,” which rises on the
edge of the Tibetan plateau, above the northern plains, stretching out
in a continuous chain for nearly eighteen hundred miles. The mean height
of this portion of the borders of the Tibetan plateau, defined very
clearly by the channels of the Indus and the Bramaputra, is estimated at
thirteen thousand feet; the mean breadth of its base is about one
hundred and fifty miles. Its summits rise to twenty-nine thousand feet,
and most of the difficult passes ascending from the valleys and gorges
of the Indian side are not lower than about sixteen thousand feet.
Southward from the bases of the Himalaya and the Sulaiman mountains the
great plain of northern India spreads out, reaching across the whole
breadth of Hindustan from the Arabian Sea to the Gulf of Bengal.
Southward of the great plain the land begins to rise again. The first
elevations reached in this direction are those of the long range of the
Aravali hills, which extend for four hundred miles from northeast to
southwest, marking the edge of the western section of the great plain.
It is bold and precipitous on that side which falls toward the Indian
desert, but less so on the southeast; its average height is about three
thousand feet, Mount Abu, being the highest point.
Behind the Aravali hills lie the plateaus of Malwa and Bundelkhand,
extending over the country generally termed central India; These are
fertile tablelands of uneven surface elevated from one thousand five
hundred to two thousand feet above the sea level, and traversed by a
number of minor hill ridges.
The greater part of south India is occupied by the wide tableland of the
Deccan. The name _ghat_ was originally applied by the natives to the
passes in the outer slopes of the ranges which run parallel with the two
coasts of the southern portion of the great promontory of India
enclosing the Deccan, and which had to be ascended to reach the high
interior country from the coast; but this name Ghat has been transferred
to these ranges or outer edges of the tableland themselves.
The western Ghats, about eight hundred miles in length, clothed with
magnificent teak forests, form by far the boldest and most continuous
escarpment of the Deccan plateau, ascending abruptly from a low base,
generally at a distance of about thirty miles from the sea.
The eastern Ghats differ from the western in being much lower, in rising
at a much greater distance from the coast of the Bay of Bengal, and with
a gentle slope, giving access by wide openings to the interior. Their
average height is about fifteen hundred feet, the highest point, near
Madras, only about three thousand feet above the sea. The Deccan plateau
between these supporting buttresses has thus a gradual eastward slope,
and is characterized by undulating treeless plains, ridges and isolated
flat-topped hills capped with basalt. Large portions of it are also
covered with jungle, often overgrowing the ruins of former towns and
temples, but there is no extent of forest.
Between the eastern Ghats and the sea lies the extensive maritime plain
generally named the Karnatic, reaching back from the Coromandel coast
for about fifty miles. The soil of this plain proves abundantly fertile
when it is watered, but there are few streams, and a supply of water for
irrigation has to be stored in reservoirs.
=Rivers.=--The river system of India consists of three great rivers: the
Indus, the Ganges, the Bramaputra.
The Indus rises on the northern slopes of the Himalayas, sweeps round
and enters at the western extremity of the range, and waters the
Punjab.
The Ganges is formed by the amalgamation of the streams which drain the
southernmost slopes of the Himalayas.
The Bramaputra rises also within easy distance of the Indus in the
northern slopes of the Himalayas, flows east for some considerable
distance, and then enters India at the extreme eastern point of the
Himalayas. It is therefore to be noticed that the river system, of such
vast importance to the people of India, is the drainage of both the
northern and the southern slopes of the Himalayas.
The Ganges is the sacred river of the Hindus, rises in a snow-field of
the southern face of the Himalayas at an elevation of nearly fourteen
thousand feet above the sea, rushing down as a torrent to the highest
accessible point on its banks (ten thousand three hundred feet), where
the temple of Gangotri is built. To the Hindu a bath or a drink of the
sacred water at this point has wonderful atoning virtues, and those who
cannot themselves make the pilgrimage hither are supplied with flasks of
the holy element bottled by the priests of Gangotri. At Allahabad the
Jumna, which has followed a parallel course from the mountains, adds its
strength; thence, by Benares and Patna, it passes eastward to weave its
many mouths with those of the Bramaputra, and to wage a battle twice
daily with the inflowing tide among the malarious islands of the
Sundarbans. One of the westerly delta branches, the Hugli, on which
Calcutta stands, is the most frequented highway to the sea.
=Climate.=--The whole country has three well-marked seasons--the cool,
the hot, and the rainy. The cool months are November, December, January,
and a part of February; the dry hot weather precedes, and the moist hot
weather follows the periodical rains. The rainy season falls in the
middle of summer and is called monsoon. It is the occasional failure of
the monsoons that causes the periodical famines to which the country is
liable.
The central tableland is cool, comparatively, but the alternations of
heat and cold differ greatly elsewhere.
In the northwest there is burning heat with hot winds in summer, and
frost at night in winter.
In the south the heat is more tempered, but the winter is cool only, and
not cold.
The fall of rain varies greatly in different parts of the country. In
the northeastern and other outlying parts it exceeds seventy-five
inches. In the Deccan, in the upper basins of the Ganges and the Indus,
it is thirty, and in the lower regions of the Indus less than fifteen
inches. The remainder of India is placed between the extremes
represented by these damp and dry belts.
=Production and Industry.=--The large majority of the population of
India are engaged in agricultural pursuits, nearly 200,000,000 being
either engaged in tilling the soil or dependent upon those so engaged.
Great irrigation works have been carried out, the area irrigated being
42,486,724 acres.
The principal crops cultivated are rice, wheat, millet, pulse, and other
food grains, oil-seeds, tea, cotton, sugar-cane, tobacco, and indigo.
Tea is grown largely under European supervision in the Eastern
Himalayas, and already surpasses the China teas. Coffee is grown in the
south, but with checkered success. Among the dyes, indigo and lac (red)
are noteworthy. The indigenous flowers are not rich, the water lilies
being the best; the flowering shrubs are very fine.
Of trees in the plains near the coasts the palm order with its several
varieties strikes the observer. Inland the mango fruit-tree and the
orange, the umbrageous banyan, the sacred peepul, and the bamboo are
features in the landscape. In the hills the teak and other useful timber
trees are obtained. In the Himalayas are the cedar, the pine, the fir,
the juniper.
The cultivation of opium is a government monopoly and heavy duties are
levied on the exports of opium, a duty being also paid to the Indian
treasury.
Almost all the metals and minerals are represented in India, but of the
useful metals, excepting iron, the quantity is not known to be large.
Coal exists in many parts, especially in the northeast--at Bardwan, near
Calcutta, and in Assam. Gold is found in Mysore, and in the sands of
many streams; copper near Delhi and elsewhere; salt is obtained in large
quantity from the mines in the northwest of the Punjab, and by
evaporation from the coast lagoons all round India, and from salt lakes
in Rajputana. Most of the precious gems, including diamonds, rubies,
sapphires, and emeralds, are found, some abundantly, some rarely, though
the supply of the once famous diamonds of Golconda seems to have ceased.
Metal and textile workers, glass and pottery workers, with their
dependants, number close on twenty millions, and there are large numbers
employed in service.
The textile manufactures of India were famous in long past centuries
throughout the civilized world; such were the gold brocades of Delhi,
brought thence to imperial Rome, the muslins of Dacca, made for the
Mongol court, and the pattern colored cloths of Calicut (calico), the
shawls of Kashmir, and the silks and carpets of Multan. All these
home-made fabrics, however, have declined before the products of the
great factories.
=Peoples.=--The broad division of the peoples of India includes a
northern group of Aryan nations, occupying the great plains and the
northern seaboard on each side, and the non-Aryan inhabitants of the
Deccan plateau in southern India. This division also corresponds to that
of the languages of India, separating those related to the Sanscrit, the
language of the Aryan conquerors of the north, from the Dravidian and
Kolarian of the south. (See Book of Races.)
LANGUAGES.--Though nearly a hundred and fifty languages, derived from
nearly twenty linguistic families, are spoken in India, three
of those families--the Aryo-Indian, the Dravidian, and the
Tibeto-Burman--represent the speech of ninety-seven per cent of the
inhabitants.
Hindustani, a dialect of Hindi, has become the literary language of
Hindustan, and is the _lingua franca_ of India. English is understood by
many.
RELIGIONS.--The chief religions are Hinduism (218,000,000 in 1911),
Mohammedans (66,000,000), Buddhists (11,000,000), Animists (10,000,000),
and Christians (4,000,000).
=Government.=--India is a dependency of Great Britain, consisting partly
of territory under the direct administration of British officials, and
partly of native states, all subordinate, in varying degrees of
relationship, to British authority.
The nine great provinces are Madras, Bombay, Bengal, the United
Provinces of Agra and Oudh, the Punjab, Burma, Eastern Bengal and Assam,
the Central Provinces, and the Northwestern Frontier Province.
In accordance with the Royal Titles Act of 1876 the King of Great
Britain and Ireland assumes the additional title of Emperor of India.
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is supreme over India; but all the
statutes relating to India are in the nature of either constitutional
enactments or financial provisions.
In India the supreme authority, both executive and legislative, is
vested in the governor-general in council. The governor-general, or
viceroy, who generally holds office for five years, receives a salary of
eighty-five thousand dollars a year, and has power to overrule his
council in cases of emergency. The council is composed of six ordinary
members, all appointed, like the governor-general himself, by the crown
for a period of five years. Since 1909 one of the members has been a
native of India.
The work of the council is distributed among the departments of finance,
commerce, home and foreign affairs, revenue and agriculture, army,
legislation, education, and public works. The foreign department is
under the special care of the viceroy.
The seat of the supreme government of India is Delhi, with an annual
migration to the hill-station of Simla for the hot season.
=Cities.=--The capital, Delhi, has a population (1911) of 391,828. The
other chief cities are: Calcutta (1,216,514), Bombay (972,930), Madras
(517,335), Hyberabad (499,840), Rangoon (293,316), Lucknow (260,621),
Lahore (228,318), Ahmedabad (215,448), Benares (204,222). In addition
there are twenty cities with populations exceeding 100,000.
=Delhi= (_Del´lee_), since 1912 the capital of the Indian Empire is
located on the right bank of the Jumna, nine hundred and fifty-four
miles northwest of Calcutta. It was the capital of the Afghan or Pathan,
and afterwards of the Mogul, empire. It is the terminus of the East
Indian and Rajputana railways, the former crossing the Jumna by a fine
iron bridge.
Delhi is walled on three sides, has ten gates, and stands on high
ground, the famous palace of Shah Jehan, now the fort, looking out over
the river and a wide stretch of wooded and cultivated country. To the
north, about a mile distant, rises the historic “ridge,” crowned with
memorials of the Indian mutiny, and commanding a fine view of the city,
the domes and minarets of which overtop the encircling groves.
The palace buildings comprise the cathedral-like entrance hall, the
audience hall, and several lesser pavilions, covering in all an area of
one thousand six hundred feet by three thousand two hundred feet,
exclusive of gateways. The beautiful inlaid work and carving of these
buildings are the admiration of the world, and is worthy of its famous
inscription: “If there is a heaven on earth, it is this--it is this!”
In the heart of the city stands the Jama Masjid (“great mosque”), one of
the largest and finest structures of the kind in India, which also owes
its origin to Shah Jehan. Among the notable monuments in the
neighborhood are the imperial tombs, including that of Hamayun, second
of the Mogul dynasty; the old Kala Masjid, or black mosque; and the
thirteenth century Kutab Minar, ten miles to the south, which is two
hundred and thirty-eight feet high, and tapers gracefully from a
diameter of forty-seven feet at the base to nine feet at the summit.
Modern Delhi is noted for its broad main streets, the chief being the
Chandni Chauk, or Silver Street, with its high clock tower, and the
institute and museum.
Delhi has a large trade in wheat and other produce, and its bazaars are
noted for gold and silver work, precious stones, shawls, and costly
fabrics.
=Simla=, since 1864 the summer headquarters of the British government in
India, stands on the slopes (seven thousand feet) of the Himalayas, in a
beautiful situation, one hundred and seventy miles north of Delhi. Its
first house was built in 1819, and it was first visited officially by
the Indian government in 1827. There are two vice-regal residences,
handsome government buildings, and a fine town hall. Population sixteen
thousand in winter, and considerably more in summer.
=Calcutta=, on the left bank of the Hughly, the largest and westernmost
branch of the Ganges delta, is about eighty miles from the sea. The
government buildings, Bishop’s College (now an engineering school), High
Court, town hall, bank, museum, university, St. Paul’s cathedral, and
many other English buildings have earned for it the name “City of
Palaces.” The native quarters, though improved, are still squalid, the
houses of mud or bamboo. An esplanade, numerous quays, an excellent
water-supply, gas, and tramway services, add to the amenities. There are
extensive dockyards, warehouses, ironworks, timber yards, and jute
mills. Extensive railway and steamboat communications make it the chief
emporium of commerce in Asia.
=Bombay= stands on an island, connected with the coast by a causeway,
and has a magnificent harbor and noble docks. It is rapidly surpassing
Calcutta in trade, and is one of the greatest of seaports; its position
promises to make it the most important commercial center in the East, as
it already is in the cotton trade of the world. It swarms with people of
every clime, and its merchandise is mainly in the hands of the Parsees,
the descendants of the ancient fire worshippers. It is the most English
town in India. It came to England from Portugal as dowry with Catherine
of Braganza, wife of Charles II., who leased it to the East India
Company for fifty dollars a year. Its prosperity began when the Civil
war in the United States afforded it an opening for its cotton.
=Benares=, the most sacred city of the Hindus, and an important town in
the Northwest Provinces, is on the Ganges, four hundred and twenty miles
by rail northwest of Calcutta. It presents the amazing array of one
thousand seven hundred temples and mosques with towers and domes and
minarets innumerable. The bank of the river is laid with continuous
flights of steps whence the pilgrims bathe; but the city itself is
narrow, crooked, crowded, and dirty. Many thousands of pilgrims visit it
annually. It is a seat of Hindu learning; there is also a government
college. The river is spanned here by a magnificent railway bridge.
There is a large trade in country produce, English goods, jewelry, and
gems; while its brass work “Benares ware,” is famous.
=Agra=, a city in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, is on the
Jumna, one hundred and thirty-nine miles southeast of Delhi by rail, and
eight hundred and forty-one miles northwest of Calcutta. The ancient
walls embrace an area of eleven square miles, of which about one-half is
now occupied. The houses are mostly built of red sandstone, and, on the
whole, Agra is the handsomest city in upper India.
Some of the public buildings, monuments of the house of Timur, are on a
scale of striking magnificence. Among these are the fortress built by
Akbar, within the walls of which are the palace and audience hall of
Shah Jehan, the Moti Masjid or Pearl Mosque, and the Jama Masjid or
Great Mosque.
Still more celebrated is the white marble Taj Mahal, situated without
the city, about a mile to the east of the fort. This extraordinary and
beautiful mausoleum was built by the Emperor Shah Jehan for himself and
his favorite wife, who died in 1629, and is remarkable alike for the
complexity and grace of the general design, and the elaborate perfection
of the workmanship. In the center, on a raised platform, is the
mausoleum, surmounted by a beautiful dome, with smaller domes at each
corner, and four graceful minarets (one hundred and thirty-three feet
high). Of British edifices the principal are the Government House, the
Government College, three missionary colleges, the English church, and
the barracks.
The climate, during the hot and rainy seasons (April to September), is
very trying; but the average health of the city is equal to that of any
other station in the United Provinces.
The principal articles of trade are cotton, tobacco, salt, grain, and
sugar. There are manufactories of shoes, pipe stems, and gold lace, and
of inlaid mosaic work, for which Agra is famous.
=History.=--It is impossible to speak positively as to the aboriginal
prehistoric populations of India; probably the most primitive peoples
now left--the Dravidian hill-tribes--represent waves of invasion from
the north. The history of civilization in India may, however, be traced
from the invasion--probably one thousand years or more B. C.--of the
Aryan race from central Asia, a race of the Indo-Germanic type in
physique and speech. Their language was Sanskrit, their religion and
civilization that of the Vedas, or ancient Hindu scriptures.
Out of the union of the Aryans with the earlier inhabitants the modern
races of India have sprung. Buddhism arose in India with the teaching of
Budda about 500 B. C, and for a while superseded the Vedic faith,
corrupted as it had been by the degraded aboriginal superstitions; and
India was substantially Buddhist till the revival of Hinduism, in its
modern or Brahmanic form (more idolatrous and superstitious than the
ancient faith), in the sixth century A. D.
In 1001 A. D. came the first wave of Mohammedanism, and soon all India
fell under Mohammedan domination, though the bulk of the people clung to
the Hindu religion. By the beginning of the eighteenth century a new
Hindu power, that of the Mahrattas, arose, and seriously weakened the
Moslem emperor, the Grand Mogul. The Dutch, Portuguese, and French, as
well as the British, established themselves in the empire; in the
eighteenth century the French more than rivaled the British in power.
But the power of the British East India Company, originally traders,
became dominant after the battle of Plassey in 1757.
Gradually English power as represented by the company, its diplomatists,
and its soldiers, extended over a great part of India, and the
governors--Clive, Warren Hastings, Wellesley, Amherst, Bentinck,
Dalhousie, Canning--consolidated what was really the empire of Great
Britain in the East. Then in 1857 came the great mutiny, stamped out in
blood, and the government was assumed by the British crown in 1858.
British rule in India has been steadily consolidated, but no great
annexation has since taken place, except that of Upper Burma in 1886.
After the mutiny, India settled down to a period of peace, broken only
by the constant suspicion of Russian intrigue in Afghanistan. This led
in 1878 to the second Afghan war. The Amir was deposed, and his
successor promised to receive a British resident, who was in a short
time murdered, as was also his escort. This resulted in the famous march
of General Roberts from Kabul to Kandahar, and eventually an Amir who
was favorable to the British was set up. This Amir reigned until 1901,
and his successor remained friendly to the British.
Finally, in 1907, a convention between Russia and Britain was signed,
and later an agreement as to the line of delimitation of their
respective spheres of influence in Persia was arrived at in 1912. Quetta
and the southeastern districts of Afghanistan were annexed after the
second Afghan war, and the purchase of the Suez Canal was of great use
in the defense of India. British supremacy over the Afghan tribes was
also recognized.
After his coronation in 1911, George V. of Great Britain visited India
and held a Coronation Durbar at the beginning of 1912 in India itself,
this being the first visit of an English raj to the Indian empire, and
the capital of India was officially proclaimed as Delhi.
=JAPAN=, an island empire off the east coast of Asia, separated from
Siberia by the Sea of Japan. The name Japan is a corruption of
_Zipangu_, itself a corruption of the Chinese pronunciation of the
native name _Nihon_ or _Nippon_ (“Land of the Rising Sun”).
Japan comprises four large islands, Honshu (the Japanese mainland),
Shikoku, Kiushu, and Yezo or Hakkaido; the Luchu Islands, Formosa,
divided from China by the Formosa Channel; and Korea (annexed in 1910
and renamed Chosen). A small group of islands, Bonia, six hundred miles
southeast of Tokio, also belongs to Japan.
The Kwantung province, including Port Arthur and Darien, was leased to
Japan by Russia (with the consent of China) in 1905, while the southern
portion of Sakhalin (ceded to Russia in 1875) became once more Japanese.
The empire includes also nearly four thousand small islands.
The islands comprising the Japanese Empire have been likened to the
British Isles in their position relative to the Continent, the Sea of
Japan and the Strait of Korea resembling the North Sea and Strait of
Dover. In their general extent of surface the comparison also holds
good. The three contiguous islands of Japan proper are, however,
considerably larger than Great Britain, while the northern possession
of Yezo is three thousand square miles larger than Ireland.
The empire with its dependencies comprises an area of 235,886 square
miles, with a population of 67,142,798.
=Surface Characteristics.=--The islands are eminently volcanic, and
eighteen of the summits are still active; the chief of these, Fuji-san,
or Fuji-yama, the loftiest and most sacred mountain of Japan, about
sixty miles from Tokio, has been dormant since 1707. Japan is also
liable to frequent, and occasionally disastrous, earthquakes.
The country is very mountainous, and not more than one-sixth of its area
is available for cultivation. The numerous ranges extend in directions
parallel to the length of the group, giving varied and picturesque
landscapes of hill and valley. Their irregular coast-line is indented
with splendid natural harbors, such as the Bay of Yedo on the southeast
coast; the beautiful “inland sea” of Japan, with its intricate channel
between hundreds of islets, separates the island of Shikoku from the
larger one of Hondo, and the enclosed Suwonada and Bugo Channel, divide
the southwestern island of Kiushu from both of these.
=Lakes and Rivers.=--From the mountainous character of the long narrow
islands the rivers are generally impetuous, and of small economic
importance, except for irrigation. Among the most important may be noted
the Yodo-gawa, which flows from the fiddle-shaped Lake Biwa, the largest
fresh water expanse in Japan, thirty-five miles long, to the “inland
sea;” the broad and rapid Ten-riu-gawa, or “River of the Heavenly
Dragon,” which flows south from the central mountains of Nippon; and the
Tone-gawa, which enters the Pacific, but sends a branch to the Bay of
Yedo, which is crossed within the capital by the Nippon Bassi, or bridge
of Japan, from which, as a starting point, all distances throughout the
kingdom are measured.
=Climate.=--The islands of Japan have a climate that may be compared
with that of South Britain. The extremes, however, are greater, summer
being hotter, and winter colder, than in England, increasing to almost
Siberian rigor in the north. June, July, and August form the Satkasi, or
rainiest period; the autumn succeeding is the pleasantest and most
genial season of the year. Hurricanes, storms, and fogs, are frequent in
the seas round Japan, where warm and cold ocean currents also bring
about great differences of sea temperature.
=Products and Industries.=--The islands have a very beautiful flora,
including many ornamental plants. The great feature of the vegetation is
the intermixture of tropical growths, such as the bamboo, palms,
tree-ferns, and bananas, with those of temperate regions, the pine, oak,
beech, chestnut and maple. Characteristic are the paper mulberry, the
vegetable-wax tree, the camphor and lacquer trees. The cultivated crops
are rice, maize, wheat, barley, tobacco, tea, and cotton.
Japan is also very rich in minerals. Gold, silver, and copper are
especially abundant in the north, and coal and iron beds seem to extend
throughout the group. Petroleum is also being produced in large
quantities, especially in the Province of Echigo.
=People.=--With the exception of the wilds of Yezo, peopled by eighteen
thousand Ainos, the Japanese islands are inhabited by a single race
speaking various dialects of the same tongue. Probably the Japanese are
the issue of the intermarriage of victorious Tartar settlers, who
entered Japan from the Korean peninsula, with Malays in the south and
Ainos in the main island. See Book of Races.
There are two prevailing religions in Japan--Shintoism, the indigenous
faith; and Buddhism, introduced from China in 552 and still the dominant
religion among the people. Francis Xavier introduced Christianity in
1549, and the Roman Catholic Church and the Greek Church both carry on a
flourishing work in Japan. Of the Protestant missions there are also
many actively at work.
In education, as well as in matters of religion, enormous changes and
advances have been made in recent years. Education is in the lower
grades free and compulsory. Secondary schools are state aided, and
prepare for a three years’ course at the universities, which is largely
devoted to the study of European languages. There are high schools for
girls, and the technical and special schools are well attended. There
are three State Universities, at Tokio, Kyoto, and Tohoku.
=Production and Industry.=--Agriculture is the chief occupation of the
Japanese, and they are excellent and careful farmers. In the mechanical
arts also they excel; especially in the use of metals, in the
manufacture of porcelain and glass lacquered wares, and silk fabrics.
The chief manufactures are silk and cotton, cotton yarn, matches, paper,
glass, lacquer ware, porcelain, and bronze, and ship building is an
important industry in the yards.
The chief exports are silk, cotton, yarns, rice, tea, fish, copper,
matches, coal, camphor, straw plaits, porcelain, earthenware,
lacquer-ware, and marine products.
The commercial development of Japan has of late been marvelous. There
were five thousand nine hundred and eighty-five miles of railroad open
in 1914, in addition to eight hundred and thirty-six miles open in
Korea, while the South Manchurian Railway (China) is under Japanese
control.
=Government and Administration.=--The government is an hereditary
monarchy, the succession being now exclusively in the male line. The
Cabinet consists of ten Ministers of State, presided over by a Minister
President.
The Upper House, or House of Peers, consists of about three hundred and
thirty members--male members of the royal house, life peers, peers
elected either for life or for seven years, and other persons nominated
by the emperor. The lower house, or House of Representatives, has three
hundred and sixty-nine members, who serve for four years, elected by
citizens paying taxes of not less than ten yen (five dollars) per annum.
The first general election took place in 1890.
Penal and civil codes have been drafted on a European basis, and with a
commercial code were published in 1890, and came into force in 1893.
=Cities.=--The capital of the Japanese Empire, Tôkiô, formerly called
Yedo, is the residence of the emperor; population, 2,186,079. Other
cities are: Osaka, 1,226,590; Kiôto, the ancient capital, 442,462;
Nagoya, 378,231; Kōbe, 378,197; Yokohama, 394,303; Hiroshima, 142,763;
Nagasaki, 176,480; Kanazawa, 110,994; Kure, 100,679. The chief ports are
Yokohama, Kōbe, Osaka, Nagasaki, and Hakodate.
=Tokio, or Tokei= (“Eastern Capital”), is the chief city of the Japanese
Empire. Until 1868, when the emperor removed his court thither from
Kyōtō, it was known as Yedo (“Estuary Gate”). Its position at the mouth
of the rivers which drain the largest plain of Japan, fits it to be a
national center. The lower portion of the city, which is flat and
intersected by canals, stretches between the two parks of Ueno (north)
and Shiba (south), famous for their shrines. Midway rises the castle or
palace, a fine structure in Japanese style, furnished in European
manner, and lighted with electricity, within a double ring of high walls
and broad moats. In spring-time the city is gay with plum and cherry
blossoms. The immense enclosures, formerly inhabited by the nobles and
their retainers, are gradually disappearing, and handsome modern
buildings in brick for the use of the various government departments are
taking their place. Of the fifteen city divisions the northern, Hongo
and Kanda, are mostly educational, and contain the buildings of the
Imperial University, Law School and other institutions. The student
population is astonishingly large. The seaward districts of Nihonbashi,
Kyobashi, and Asakusa are industrial and commercial, while the
government offices are located in Kojimachi ku.
Yokohama is the port of entry (seventeen miles off), and a great harbor
scheme to cost twenty million dollars was planned in 1911-1912. The city
is subject to disastrous fires; that of April, 1892, burned four
thousand houses in one morning. Tokio has three railway termini and a
system of electric railways. Almost every phase of modern civilization
is to be found within its vast area.
=History.=--Before 500 A. D. Japanese history is mere legend. Buddhism
was introduced from Korea in 552; and in the next century Chinese
civilization strongly influenced Japan. About the end of the twelfth
century, the weakness of the emperor led the military head (Shogun) to
assume a large share of the supreme power, and he handed it on to his
descendants. Hence the statement often made that Japan had a Mikado or
spiritual emperor who reigned but did not govern, and a “Tycoon”
(Shogun) who did govern though he paid homage to the nominal sovereign.
The military caste was now dominant until the reign of Iyeyasu (c.
1600), whose descendants reigned till 1868.
Total exclusion of foreigners was the rule till 1543, when the
Portuguese effected a settlement; but in 1624 all foreigners were
expelled and Christianity interdicted. The policy of isolation was
rigidly pursued from 1638 till 1853, when Commodore Perry of the United
States Navy steamed into a Japanese harbor, and effected a treaty with
the Shogun. Soon sixteen other nations followed the American example,
and free ports were opened to foreign commerce.
In 1867-1868 a sharp civil war broke the feudal power of the daimios or
territorial magnates, suppressed the Shogunate, and unified the
authority under the Mikado. In a very few years Japanese students took a
place of their own in western science; and how thoroughly the Japanese
had laid to heart what they had learned abroad in the military and naval
arts was partially revealed by the swift and complete success of the war
with China about Korea in 1894, and more impressively by their amazing
triumph over the great military empire of Russia, in 1904-1905, whom
they defeated in a succession of bloody battles, took Port Arthur, and
utterly destroyed the Russian fleet. By the peace that followed the
Russians not only evacuated southern Manchuria, but recognized Japan’s
preponderance in Korea, and gave up to Japan the “leases” of Port Arthur
and the Liao-tung peninsula Russia had wrested from China.
A conspiracy against the life of the emperor was discovered in
September, 1910. The same year saw the passing of a bill enabling
foreigners to own land in Japan proper, under certain restrictions. But
the principal event of 1910 in Japanese history was the formal
annexation of Korea, the treaty with the emperor of Korea being
promulgated on August 29. According to the new commercial treaty with
the United States, ratified by the Senate on February 24, 1911, the
clause in the old treaty was omitted, wherein each side reserved the
right of regulating immigration from one country to the other. In 1910
and 1911 important agreements were also made with Russia with special
reference to Manchuria.
Japan entered the European war on August 23, 1914, on the side of the
Entente Allies, and immediately began the blockade and siege of the
German colony at Kiao-Chow on the Shantung promontory of China. In
November, 1915, the present emperor, Yoshihito, was crowned.
=THE COLONIAL DIVISIONS OF THE WORLD=
The following tables show how the colonies of the world have been
divided among the various nations:
COLONIES IN AFRICA
==========================+========================+=========+============
=Colony= | =Governing Country | =Area | =Popula-
| and Form of Government=| Sq. M.= | tion=
--------------------------+------------------------+---------+------------
Algeria |French Colony | 184,474| 4,739,300
Algerian Sahara |French Possession | 123,500| 50,000
Angola |Portuguese Possession | 484,800| 4,119,000
Ascension |British Crown Colony | 35| 430
Azores and Madeira Islands|Portuguese Province | 1,510| 407,002
Basutoland |British Crown Colony | 10,293| 264,100
Bechuanaland |British Protectorate | 286,200| 100,500
British East Africa |British Protectorate |1,000,000| 2,500,000
British Central Africa |British Protectorate | 42,217| 900,615
British South Africa |British Protectorate | 425,728| 1,075,000
(Rhodesia) | | |
Canary Islands |Spanish Province | 2,808| 334,521
Cape Colony |British Protectorate | 276,775| 2,433,000
Cape Verde Islands |Portuguese Province | 1,480| 147,424
Ceuta |Spanish Province | 13| 5,090
Comoro Islands |French Protectorate | 620| 47,000
Congo Inland Straits |Belgian Protectorate | 900,000| 30,000,000
Dahomey |French Possession | 60,000| 1,000,000
Egypt |Turkish Tributary | 400,000| 9,734,405
Eritrea, etc. |Italian Possession | 42,000| 329,516
Fernando Po, etc. |Spanish Possession | 850| 23,709
French Congo |French Possession |1,160,000| 10,000,000
Gambia |British Crown Colony | 69| 13,500
German East Africa |German Protectorate | 384,180| 8,000,000
German Southwest Africa |German Protectorate | 322,450| 200,000
Gold Coast |British Crown Colony | 40,000| 1,500,000
Guinea, French |French Possession | 95,000| 2,200,000
Guinea, Portuguese |Portuguese Possession | 4,440| 820,000
Ivory Coast |French Possession | 116,000| 2,000,000
Kamerun |German Protectorate | 191,130| 3,500,000
Lagos |British Crown Colony | 3,460| 85,600
Madagascar |French Possession | 227,950| 2,505,240
Mauritius, etc. |British Crown Colony | 729| 378,040
Mayotte |French Possession | 140| 11,640
Military Ter’s |French Possession | 700,000| 4,000,000
Portuguese East Africa |Portuguese Possession | 301,000| 3,120,000
Natal and Zululand |British Institutions | 34,019| 902,365
Nigeria |British Protectorate | 400,000| 25,000,000
Nossi-Be |French Possession | 130| 9,500
Orange River |British Possession | 48,330| 207,500
Princes and St. Thomas |Portuguese Possession | 360| 42,103
Islands | | |
Reunion |French Possession | 966| 173,200
Rio de Oro and Adrar |Spanish Possession | 243,000| 100,000
Sahara |French Possession |1,544,000| 2,550,000
St. Helena |British Crown Colony | 47| 3,342
St. Marie |French Possession | 64| 7,670
Senegal |French Possession | 80,000| 1,800,000
Seychelles |British Crown Colony | 148| 19,343
Sierra Leone |British Crown Colony | 4,000| 77,000
Somali Coast, British |British Protectorate | 75,000| ...
Somali Coast, French |French Possession | 45,000| 200,000
Somali Coast, Italian |Italian Possession | 100,000| 400,000
Togoland |German Protectorate | 33,700| 900,000
Transvaal Colony |British Possession | 119,140| 1,094,100
Tripoli |Turkish Tributary | 398,000| 800,000
Tristanda Cuhna |British Crown Colony | 45| 100
Tunis |French Protectorate | 51,000| 1,900,000
Uganda |British Protectorate | 140,000| 3,000,000
Zanzibar and Pemba |British Protectorate | 1,020| 200,000
--------------------------+------------------------+---------+------------
COLONIES IN ASIA
==========================+========================+=========+============
=Colony= | =Governing Country | =Area | =Popula-
| and Form of Government=| Sq. M.= | tion=
--------------------------+------------------------+---------+------------
Aden and Perim |British Crown Colony | 80| 41,222
Anam |French Protectorate | 52,100| 6,124,000
Bahrein Islands |British Protectorate | 273| 68,000
Baluchistan |British Protectorate | 130,000| 500,000
Bokhara |Russian Dependency | 92,000| 1,250,000
Cambodia |French Protectorate | 37,400| 1,500,000
Ceylon |British Institutions | 25,365| 3,578,333
Cochin China |French Possession | 22,000| 2,968,600
Cypress |British Administration | 3,584| 227,900
East Turkestan |Chinese Dependency | 550,340| 1,200,000
Formosa |Japanese Dependency | 13,455| 2,745,000
Goa |Portuguese Possession | 1,390| 494,836
Hong Kong |British Crown Colony | 407| 386,159
India, British |British Crown Colony |1,087,404|231,898,807
India, French |French Possession | 196| 273,000
India, Portuguese |Portuguese Possession | 1,558| 572,290
Jungaria |Chinese Dependency | 147,950| 600,000
Kiauchau Bay |Japanese Possession | 200| 60,000
Khiva |Russian Possession | 22,320| 800,000
Kwang Tung |Russian Possession | ...| ...
Macao |Portuguese Possession | 4| 78,627
Malay Federated States |British Protectorate | 27,500| 512,342
Manchuria |Chinese Dependency | 363,610| 8,500,000
Mongolia |Chinese Dependency |1,367,600| 2,580,000
Pescadores Islands |Japanese Dependency | 85| 52,400
Samos |Turkish Tributary | 180| 54,830
Sikkim |British Protectorate | 2,818| 30,458
Straits Settlements |British Crown Colony | 1,472| 572,249
Tibet |Chinese Dependency | 463,200| 6,430,000
Tonquin and Laos |French Possession | 144,400| 7,641,900
--------------------------+------------------------+---------+------------
COLONIES IN EUROPE
==========================+========================+=========+============
=Colony= | =Governing Country | =Area | =Popula-
| and Form of Government=| Sq. M.= | tion=
--------------------------+------------------------+---------+------------
Bosnia and Herzegovina |Austro-Hungarian | 23,262| 1,568,092
|Protectorate | |
Crete |Turkish Suzerainty | 3,326| 303,543
Faroe Islands |Danish Colony | 512| 15,230
Gibraltar |British Crown Colony | 2| 27,460
Iceland |Danish Province | 39,756| 78,470
Malta and Gozo |British Institutions | 117| 188,141
--------------------------+------------------------+---------+------------
COLONIES IN NORTH AMERICA
==========================+========================+=========+============
=Colony= | =Governing Country | =Area | =Popula-
| and Form of Government=| Sq. M.= | tion=
--------------------------+------------------------+---------+------------
Alaska |United States Territory | 599,446| 63,592
Bahamas |British Institutions | 4,470| 54,358
Barbadoes |British Institutions | 166| 195,600
Bermudas |British Institutions | 20| 17,535
Canada |British Dependency |3,048,710| 5,371,315
Curacao, etc. |Dutch Possession | 403| 52,301
Danish West Indies |United States Possession| 138| 32,786
Greenland |Danish Possession | 46,740| 10,516
Guadeloupe, etc. |French Possession | 688| 182,110
Honduras, British |British Crown Colony | 7,560| 37,650
Leeward Islands |British Institutions | 700| 127,440
Jamaica and Turks Islands |British Crown Colony | 4,370| 771,900
Martinique |French Possession | 380| 203,780
Newfoundland and Labrador |British Dependency | 162,200| 217,100
Porto Rico |United States Possession| 3,606| 953,243
St. Pierre and Miquelon |French Possession | 92| 6,250
Trinidad and Tobago |British Crown Colony | 1,868| 279,700
Windward Islands |British Institutions | 500| 162,800
--------------------------+------------------------+---------+------------
COLONIES IN SOUTH AMERICA
==========================+========================+=========+============
=Colony= | =Governing Country | =Area | =Popula-
| and Form of Government=| Sq. M.= | tion=
--------------------------+------------------------+---------+------------
Falkland Islands |British Crown Colony | 7,500| 2,076
Guiana, British |British Institutions | 104,000| 294,000
Guiana, French |French Colony | 30,500| 32,910
Guiana, Dutch |Dutch Possession | 46,060| 68,968
--------------------------+------------------------+---------+------------
COLONIES IN OCEANIA
==========================+========================+=========+============
=Colony= | =Governing Country | =Area | =Popula-
| and Form of Government=| Sq. M.= | tion=
--------------------------+------------------------+---------+------------
Bismarck Archipelago |German Possession | 20,000| 188,000
Borneo, British N. |British Protectorate | 31,106| 175,000
Borneo, Dutch |Dutch Possession | 212,737| 1,180,578
Caroline Islands and |German Possession | 810| 42,000
Palaos | | |
Celebes Islands |Dutch Possession | 71,470| 1,197,860
Fiji and Rotumah Islands |British Crown Colony | 7,740| 120,950
Guam |United States Possession| 150| 9,000
Hawaii |United States Territory | 6,449| 154,000
Java and Madura |Dutch Possession | 50,554| 28,745,698
Kaiser Wilhelm Land |German Protectorate | 70,000| 110,000
Marianne Islands |German Possession | 250| 2,000
Marquesas Islands |French Possession | 480| 4,280
Marshall Islands |German Possession | 150| 13,000
New Caledonia |French Possession | 7,650| 51,415
New Guinea, British |British Crown Colony | 90,540| 350,000
New South Wales |British Dependency | 310,370| 1,397,700
New Guinea, Dutch |Dutch Possession | 195,653| 599,208
New Zealand |British Dependency | 104,470| 787,660
Philippine Islands |United States Possession| 119,542| 8,000,000
Queensland |British Dependency | 668,500| 510,520
Samoan Islands (Savaii and|German Possession | 1,000| 29,100
Upolu) | | |
Samoan Islands (Tutuila |United States Possession| 79| 5,800
and Manua) | | |
Society Islands, etc. |French Possession | 1,520| 29,000
Solomon Islands |German Possession | 4,200| 45,000
South Australia |British Dependency | 903,700| 364,800
Sumatra |Dutch Possession | 161,612| 3,209,067
Tasmania |British Dependency | 26,215| 174,230
Timor, Dutch |Dutch Possession | 44,374| 978,267
Timor, Portuguese |Portuguese Possession | 7,458| 300,000
Victoria |British Dependency | 87,890| 1,208,710
West Australia |British Dependency | 975,920| 194,800
--------------------------+------------------------+---------+------------
NOTE.--Practically all the German colonial possessions throughout the
world are at this date (1917) in military possession of the Entente
Allies, and will be so held pending the terms of the final treaty of
peace at the close of the present European war.