The Circle of Knowledge: A Classified, Simplified, Visualized Book of Answers

Chapter XV: From the Founding of the German Empire to the Close of the European (1)

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WAR AND THE RECONSTRUCTION OF EUROPE, 1871- ----

LIVING NATIONS OF THE WORLD TO-DAY

The world as it is known to-day comprises six great divisions or parts, namely, Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, and Oceania or Australasia. The most dependable statistics estimate their _area_ and _population_ as follows:

AREA AND POPULATION OF THE EARTH BY CONTINENTS

===========+==========+=====================
| | INHABITANTS
CONTINENTAL| AREA IN +-------------+-------
DIVISIONS | SQUARE | | PER
| MILES | NUMBER |SQUARE
| | | MILE
-----------+----------+-------------+-------
Africa |11,632,000| 127,312,000| 10.9
America, N.| 7,146,641| 136,939,000| 19.1
America, S.| 7,344,508| 55,444,000| 7.55
Asia |17,470,282| 842,100,000| 48.20
Australasia| 3,456,290| 8,000,000| 2.31
Europe | 3,671,624| 458,795,000|124.9
Polar Reg. | 6,970,000| 300,000| .04
+----------+-------------+-------
Total |57,691,345|1,628,890,000| 28.2
-----------+----------+-------------+-------

POPULATION OF THE EARTH ACCORDING TO RACE

At the opening of the European war in 1914 the human race was subject to fifty-four independent and five quasi-independent governments. The British Empire and Russia are the largest two, while Monaco with its eight square miles and San Marino with its thirty-eight square miles of territory are the smallest two. The _absolute monarchies_ are Abyssinia, Afghanistan, Morocco, Siam, Oman, and Monaco; the _limited monarchies_ are Albania, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Bhutan, British Empire, Bulgaria, Denmark, German Empire, Greece, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, Montenegro, Nepal, Netherlands, Norway, Persia, Roumania, Russia, Servia, Spain, Sweden, and Turkey; the _republics_ are Andorra, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Liberia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Salvador, San Marino, Santo Domingo, Switzerland, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela.

PRINCIPAL LANGUAGES SPOKEN

There are said to be 3,424 spoken languages or dialects in the
world, distributed as follows: America, 1,624; Asia, 937; Europe,
587; Africa, 276.

----------+-----------------------+------------
LANGUAGES | NUMBER OF PERSONS | PROPORTION
| SPOKEN BY |OF THE WHOLE
+-----------+-----------+------------
| 1801 | 1916 | 1801| 1916
----------+-----------+-----------+-----+------
English | 20,520,000|160,000,000| 12.7| 27.3
French | 20,520,000|160,000,000| 12.7| 27.3
German | 30,320,000|130,000,000| 18.7| 22.2
Italian | 15,070,000| 50,000,000| 9.3| 8.6
Spanish | 26,190,000| 50,000,000| 16.2| 8.6
Portuguese| 7,480,000| 25,000,000| 4.7| 4.3
Russian | 30,770,000|100,000,000| 19.0| 17.1
+-----------+-----------+-----+------
Total |161,800,000|585,000,000|100.0|100.0
----------+-----------+-----------+-----+------

RELIGIOUS POPULATION OF THE WORLD BY CONTINENTS

=======================+===========+===========+===========
RELIGION | EUROPE | ASIA | AFRICA
-----------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------
Catholic Churches: | | |
Roman Catholic |183,760,000| 5,500,000| 2,500,000
Eastern Catholic | 98,000,000| 17,200,000| 3,800,000
Protestant Churches | 93,000,000| 6,000,000| 2,750,000
+-----------+-----------+-----------
Total Christians |374,760,000| 28,700,000| 9,050,000
| | |
Confucianism and Taoism| ...|300,000,000| 30,000
Hinduism | ...|210,000,000| 300,000
Mohammedanism | 3,800,000|142,000,000| 51,000,000
Buddhism | ...|138,000,000| 11,000
Judaism | 9,950,175| 484,359| 404,836
Animism | ...| 42,000,000| 98,000,000
Shintoism | ...| 25,000,000| ...
Unclassified | 1,000,000| 6,000,000| 130,000
+-----------+-----------+-----------
Total Non-Christians | 14,750,175|863,484,359|149,875,836
-----------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------

=======================+===========+==========+==========+=============
RELIGION | NORTH | SOUTH | OCEANIA | TOTAL
| AMERICA | AMERICA | | FOLLOWERS
-----------------------+-----------+----------+----------+-------------
Catholic Churches: | | | |
Roman Catholic | 36,700,000|36,200,000| 8,200,000| 272,860,000
Eastern Catholic | 1,000,000| ...| ...| 120,000,000
Protestant Churches | 65,000,000| 400,000| 4,500,000| 171,650,000
+-----------+----------+----------+-------------
Total Christians |102,700,000|36,600,000|12,700,000| 564,510,000
| | | |
Confucianism and Taoism| 100,000| ...| 700,000| 300,830,000
Hinduism | 100,000| 110,000| 30,000| 210,540,000
Mohammedanism | 15,000| 10,000|25,000,000| 221,825,000
Buddhism | ...| ...| 20,000| 138,031,000
Judaism | 2,144,061| 50,000| 19,415| 13,052,846
Animism | 20,000| 1,250,000|17,000,000| 158,270,000
Shintoism | ...| ...| ...| 25,000,000
Unclassified | 8,000,000| ...| 150,000| 15,280,000
+-----------+----------+----------+-------------
Total Non-Christians | 10,379,061| 1,420,000|42,919,415|1,082,828,846
-----------------------+-----------+----------+----------+-------------

NOTE.--The Coptic Church has 706,322 followers (Egyptian census 1907); Nestorians 80,000; Jacobites 70,000.

INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD TODAY

The separate nationalities grouped under their respective
hemispheres and continental divisions. On account of the European
war the boundaries and statistics of the nations engaged will,
doubtless, be subject to important changes within the next decade.

======================+============+=========+==============
COUNTRIES | POPULATION | SQUARE | CAPITALS
| | MILES |
----------------------+------------+---------+--------------
=EASTERN HEMISPHERE= | | |
=(1) Europe= | | |
Albania | 825,000| 11,000|Durazzo
Andorra | 6,000| 175|Andorra
Austria-Hungary | 50,000,000| 260,034|Vienna
Belgium | 7,571,387| 11,373|Brussels
Bulgaria | 4,755,000| 43,000|Sofia
Denmark | 2,775,076| 15,388|Copenhagen
France | 30,601,509| 207,054|Paris
German Empire | 66,715,000| 208,780|Berlin
Great Britain |See page 467| ...|...
Greece | 5,000,000| 46,522|Athens
Holland or Nether-| | |
lands | 6,500,000| 12,648|Amsterdam
Italy | 35,240,000| 110,623|Rome
Luxemburg | 268,000| 999|Luxemburg
Monaco | 20,000| 8|...
Montenegro | 520,000| 5,650|Cettinje
Norway | 2,459,000| 124,129|Christiania
Poland | ...| ...|...
Portugal | 5,957,985| 35,490|Lisbon
Roumania | 7,600,000| 54,000|Bucharest
Russian Empire | 171,000,000|8,647,657|Petrograd
San Marino | 10,655| 38|...
Servia | 4,600,000| 34,000|...
Spain | 19,588,688| 190,050|Madrid
Sweden | 5,476,441| 172,876|Stockholm
Switzerland | 3,741,971| 15,976|Berne
Turkey (Europe) | 1,892,000| 11,000|Constantinople
| | |
=(2) Asia= | | |
Afghanistan | 6,000,000| 250,000|Kabul
Arabia | 3,500,000|1,000,000|...
Bhutan | 250,000| 20,000|Punakha
China | 400,000,000|2,169,200|Pekin
Japan | 52,985,423| 147,655|Tokio
Nepal | 4,000,000| 54,000|Khatmandu
Oman | 750,000| 82,000|Muscat
Persia | 9,000,000| 628,000|Teheran
Siam | 6,000,000| 220,000|Bangkok
Turkey (Asia) | 19,382,000| 699,224|...
| | |
=(3) Africa= | | |
Abyssinia | 8,000,000| 390,000|Adis Ababa
Liberia | 2,060,000| 41,000|Monrovia
Morocco | 6,500,000| 200,000|Fez
| | |
=WESTERN HEMISPHERE= | | |
=(1) North America= | | |
Costa Rica | 420,180| 23,000|San Jose
Cuba | 2,383,000| 44,164|Havana
Dominican Republic| 700,000| 19,325|San Domingo
Guatemala | 2,119,165| 48,290|Guatemala
Haiti | 2,000,000| 10,204|Port-au-Prince
Honduras | 600,000| 46,250|Tegucigalpa
Mexico | 15,063,207| 765,535|City of Mexico
Nicaragua | 500,000| 49,200|Managua
Panama | 427,000| 32,380|Panama
San Salvador | 700,000| 7,325|San Salvador
United States | 112,445,000|3,743,312|Washington
| | |
=(2) South America= | | |
Argentina | 8,000,000|1,153,418|Buenos Ayres
Bolivia | 2,267,925| 708,195|La Paz
Brazil | 24,000,000|3,292,000|Rio de Janeiro
Chile | 5,000,000| 292,100|Santiago
Columbia | 5,500,000| 438,000|Bogata
Ecuador | 1,500,000| 116,000|Quito
Paraguay | 800,000| 196,000|Asuncion
Peru | 4,000,000| 680,000|Lima
Uruguay | 1,300,000| 72,210|Montevideo
Venezuela | 3,000,000| 393,976|Caracas
----------------------+------------+---------+---------------

======================+=====================+================+===========
COUNTRIES | PRESENT OFFICIAL | TITLE AND DATE | SALARY OR
| HEAD AND | OF ACCESSION | BUDGET
| DATE OF BIRTH | |
----------------------+---------------------+----------------+-----------
=EASTERN HEMISPHERE= | | |
=(1) Europe= | | |
Albania |Essad Pasha (b. ...) |President (1914)| ...
Andorra |... |Consul | ...
Austria-Hungary |Charles (b.1887) |Emperor (1917) |$ 4,520,000
Belgium |Albert (b.1875) |King (1909) | 623,600
Bulgaria |Ferdinand (b.1861) |Czar (1887) | 250,000
Denmark |Christian X. (b.1870)|King (1912) | 262,500
France |Raymond Poincaré |President (1913)| 140,000
|(b.1860) | |
German Empire |William II. (b.1859) |{Emperor (1888) |} 3,700,000
| |{King (1888) |}
Great Britain |George V. (b.1865) |King (1910) | 2,350,000
Greece |Constantine (b.1868) |King (1913) | 260,000
Holland or Nether-| | |
lands |Wilhelmina (b.1880) |Queen (1898) | 250,000
Italy |Victor Emmanuel III. |King (1900) | 2,650,000
|(b.1869) | |
Luxemburg |Marie (b.1894) |Grand Duchess | ...
| |(1912) |
Monaco |Albert (b.1848) |Prince (1889) | ...
Montenegro |Nicholas (b.1841) |King (1910) | 24,000
Norway |Haakon VII. (b.1872) |King (1905) | 185,000
Poland |... |... | ...
Portugal |Dr. Bernardino |President (1915)| ...
|Machado (b.1850) | |
Roumania |Ferdinand (b.1865) |King (1914) | 227,520
Russian Empire |Nicholas II. (b.1868)|Emperor (1894) | 12,000,000
San Marino |... |President (....)| ...
Servia |Peter (b.1844) |King (1903) | 225,000
Spain |Alfonso XIII. |King (1886) | 1,344,000
|(b.1886) | |
Sweden |Gustaf V. (b.1858) |King (1907) | 416,500
Switzerland |Dr. Shulteis (b. ...)|President (1917)| 3,000
Turkey (Europe) |Mohammed V. (b.1884) |Sultan (1909) | 7,500,000
| | |
=(2) Asia= | | |
Afghanistan |Habibulla Khan |Ameer (1901) | ...
|(b.1872) | |
Arabia |... |... | ...
Bhutan |... |... | ...
China |Li Yuan Hung (b. ...)|President (1916)| ...
Japan |Yoshihito (b.1879) |Emperor (1912) | 2,250,000
Nepal |Dhiraja Tribhubana |Maharaja (1911) | ...
|Sh’sher Jang (b.1906)| |
Oman |Seyyid Taimur bin |Sultan (1913) | 250,000
|Turkee (b. ...) | |
Persia |Ahmed Mirza (b.1897) |Shah (1914) | ...
Siam |Vagiravudn (b.1880) |King (1910) | 2,000,000
Turkey (Asia) |... |... | ...
| | |
=(3) Africa= | | |
Abyssinia |Lij Ey-assu (b. ...) |Emperor (1914) | ...
Liberia |D. E. Howard (b. ...)|President (1912)| ...
Morocco |Muley Yusoef (b.1875)|Sultan (1912) | ...
| | |
=WESTERN HEMISPHERE= | | |
=(1) North America= | | |
Costa Rica |Alfredo Gonzalez |President (1914)| ...
|(b. ...) | |
Cuba |Mario G. Menocal |President (1913)| 25,000
|(b. ...) | |
Dominican Republic|Ramon Baez (b. ...) |President (1914)| ...
Guatemala |Manuel Estrada |President (1911)| ...
|Cabrera (b.1856) | |
Haiti |Gen. Dartiguenave |President (1915)| 24,000
|(b. ...) | |
Honduras |Dr. Bertrand (b.1867)|President (1913)| ...
Mexico |Venustiano Carranza |President (1915)| 50,000
|(b. ...) | |
Nicaragua |Adolfo Diaz (b. ...) |President (1911)| ...
Panama |Belisario Porras |President (1912)| 24,000
|(b. ...) | |
San Salvador |Carlos Melendez |President (1913)| ...
|(b. ...) | |
United States |Woodrow Wilson |President (1913)| 75,000
|(b.1856) | |
| | |
=(2) South America= | | |
Argentina |Victorino de la Plaza|President (1914)| 36,000
|(b. ...) | |
Bolivia |Ismael Montes |President (1913)| ...
|(b. ...) | |
Brazil |W. B. Pereira Gomes |President (1914)| 40,000
|(b. ...) | |
Chile |Juan Luis San Fuentes|President (1915)| 7,000
|(b. ...) | |
Columbia |Jose Vicente Concha |President (....)| ...
|(b. ...) | |
Ecuador |Leonidas Plaza |President (....)| 12,000
|(b. ...) | |
Paraguay |Eduardo Schaerer |President (1912)| 9,500
|(b. ...) | |
Peru |Jose Pardo (b. ...) |President (1915)| 12,000
Uruguay |Feliciano Viera |President (1915)| 36,000
|(b. ...) | |
Venezuela |Juan Vincente Gomez |President (1915)| ...
|(b. ...) | |
----------------------+---------------------+----------------+-----------

=WEALTH OF NATIONS=

These are the latest estimates: United States, $188,000,000,000;
Great Britain and Ireland $85,000,000,000; Canada, $7,000,000,000;
India, $15,000,000,000; total British Empire (including possessions
not here stated), $130,000,000,000; Germany, $80,000,000,000;
France, $50,000,000,000; Russia, $40,000,000,000; Austria-Hungary,
$25,000,000,000; Italy, $20,000,000,000; Belgium, $9,000,000,000;
Spain, $5,400,000,000; Netherlands, $5,000,000,000; Switzerland,
$4,000,000,000; Portugal, $2,500,000,000.

THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE

From its political and historical importance Europe has always been
regarded as one of the great divisions of the earth’s surface though
it is not a separate and independent mass. It is, rather, a great
peninsula of what is sometimes called _Eurasia_--i.e. the continent
of Europe and Asia combined--that extends westward its many arms
between the Arctic Ocean on the north, the Atlantic on the west, and
the Mediterranean Sea on the south.

Its name seems to have been derived from the Semitic word _ereb_,
meaning “the land of the setting sun,” and came into use among the
Greeks and Latins in very early times as _Europa_.

=Outline and Extent.= The most striking feature of its outline is
that of its great irregularity, the deep inlets and gulfs of the
ocean which penetrate its mass, and the peninsulas which run from
it.

The greatest distance between its extreme north and south
points--the North Cape of Norway and Cape Matapan in Greece--is
about twenty-four hundred miles; and from east to west--from Cape La
Roca, or the “Rock of Lisbon,” to Cape Apsheron, the eastern
extremity of the Caucasus range, on the Caspian--about three
thousand miles.

EUROPEAN GULFS AND INLETS

On the north the _White Sea_, so called from the ice and snow which bind it up for more than half the year, reaches in from the Arctic Ocean. From the Atlantic, the shallow _North Sea_, or German Ocean, and the _English Channel_ (called _La Manche_, or “The Sleeve,” by the French) break in to separate the British Isles from the mainland; and from the former the _Skager Rak_, “the crooked and boisterous strait,” leads through the _Kattegat_, the “Cat’s Throat,” and the “Belts” of the Danish islands, to the _Baltic_, or the “East Sea” of the Germans, and its continuations, the Gulfs of Bothnia, Finland, and Riga.

Farther southward, the stormy _Bay of Biscay_, named from the Basque province of Vizcaya, sweeps in along the northern coast of Spain, and beyond the Peninsula the narrow _Strait of Gibraltar_ leads into the great _Mediterranean_, which stretches eastward for twenty-three hundred miles.

THE MEDITERRANEAN AND ITS ARMS

Among the many branches of this great basin are the _Gallic Sea_, running north toward Gaul, between Spain and the islands of Sardinia and Corsica, forming the stormy Gulf of the Lion and that of Genoa; the _Tyrrhenian Sea_, between Sardinia and Italy; the _Ionian Sea_ and the _Adriatic_ running north from it, between Italy and the Balkan peninsula, towards the ancient seaport of Adria, perhaps the oldest in Europe.

Beyond Greece, the island-studded Ægean leads north to the narrow inlet of the _Dardanelles_, opening into the little Sea of Marmora, named from its marble-yielding islands, and from that by the _Bosporus_ or Oxford (the canal of Constantinople), into the second great Mediterranean basin, the _Black Sea_ or Euxine, with its offshoot the shallow _Sea of Azof_. The Caspian Sea, forms part of the natural frontier between Europe and Asia.

The indented seaboard of Europe measures not less than sixty thousand miles.

PENINSULAS OF EUROPE

Between each of these branches of the sea there run out corresponding promontories and peninsulas of the mainland. These are most numerous on the south side, where we find the _Crimea_, _Turkey_ and _Greece_, _Italy_ and _Spain_, bordered by the islands of the Archipelago, by Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica, and the Baleares.

The western or Atlantic side presents the greatest peninsula, that of _Scandinavia_, and the most important island group, that of the British Isles. The Danish peninsula is remarkable as the only one in Europe, and indeed in almost any part of the world, that points northward.

SURFACE CHARACTERISTICS

The great lowland of Europe lies toward the east, embracing the vast continental area of Russia, and sending out arms westward round the Gulf of Bothnia and the Swedish side of the Baltic, and through North Germany and Denmark, to form the lowlands of Holland and Belgium and of Western France, along the shores of the Bay of Biscay, as far as the rise of the Pyrenees.

The vast central area of the Russian lowland has almost everywhere the same character, _woods and marshes_ alternating with cultivated land, affording a superfluity of grain, which is sent down by the rivers to the seaports of the Baltic and the Black Sea; but along its northern border, next the icy Arctic Sea, lie the moss-covered swamps called the _Tundras_, the soil of which is never thawed for more than a yard’s depth; all its southern margin toward the Black Sea and the Caspian is a treeless _steppe_, over which at some seasons the grasses shoot up above a man’s height, concealing the pasturing herds.

REMARKABLE SURFACE OF FINLAND

Finland is one of the most remarkable regions of the great European plain; its granite floor, elevated above the sea-level probably in a recent geological period, is worn into thousands of angular lake-basins, which form a perfect network over its surface; to the sailor on the Baltic its margin presents a girdle of steep cliffs guarded by a fringe of rocky islets or skerries. The cliffy Aland Islands are detached fragments of this remarkable formation.

LOWLANDS OF WESTERN EUROPE

The eastern portions of the North German plain, as far as the Oder, have the same character, the same corn-yielding clay soil, as the adjoining lowlands in Russia; but farther west, round the capital city of Berlin, the plain becomes less fertile, in some parts sandy and bare. Beyond the Elbe, in Hanover, the _Lüneburg heath_ covers a large part of the plain; next it lie the moors, marshes, and fens of Oldenburg and the borders of Holland, where cattle and horses are the wealth of the land; and beyond these the highly cultivated lowlands on each side of the Rhine delta, separated by the heaths and moors of Brabant, which run out toward the lower Scheldt like a dividing wedge between Holland and Belgium.

Passing into France, and across the broad river basins of its lowlands which open to the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay, we come upon the great wine-yielding lands, such as _Champagne_ and the vineyards of the Gironde, with the corn country of Brie northeast of Paris, and of Touraine, on the Loire between these; and lastly, at the extremity of this branch of the European plain, to the _Landes_ along the coast between the mouth of the Gironde and the Pyrenees, composed of sandy heaths and marshes.

ISOLATED LOWLANDS OF EUROPE

Of these, two of large extent occur in the basin of the river Danube, separated by the gorge of the “Iron Gate,” formed where the Balkan and Carpathian ranges approach most closely. The upper plain, circled about on all sides by mountains, is that of _Hungary_, over which corn fields interchange with pastoral steppes well stocked with horses and cattle, sheep and swine, merging in some parts into marsh lands or into dusty sand flats. Where the plain begins to rise to the sunny hills, the Hungarian grape ripens to yield its famous wines. The lower plain of the Danube, which might be called a branch of the vast Russian lowland, is that of _Roumania_, with its far-stretching treeless heaths and pasture lands supporting great herds of cattle and horses, passing into wide reed swamps which characterize the delta of the Danube.

Corresponding to the Roumanian plain is that of _Lombardy_, perhaps the most productive region of Europe, in which the irrigated meadows may be six times mowed in the year, and where wheat, maize, and rice, and wine and dairy produce, are yielded in vast quantity.

MOUNTAINS AND HIGHLANDS

Europe presents two great mountain regions; a southern, extending along the northern border of the Mediterranean from Turkey to Spain, in continuation of the chief line of the heights of Asia; and a northern, appearing in Scandinavia and Britain, separated from the former by the western branch of the great lowland that we have been noticing.

THE ALPINE REGION

The _Alps_ rise as the central mass of the southern mountain region of Europe. The many groups comprised in this series of heights which curve round the plain of Lombardy arrange themselves into three generally recognized divisions:--The Western Alps, the groups lying between the Gulf of Genoa and the Little St. Bernard Pass; the Central Alps, extending from the St. Bernard to the pass named the Stilfser Joch; and the Eastern Alps beyond this. The central mass is the highest, rising with majestic forms from deep valleys up to sharp riven peaks, high above the line of permanent snow; its wings to east and west decrease in elevation towards the Gallic Sea and the plain of the Danube on either side. All the less jagged heights are mantled in snows, from which glacier streams descend. The largest of these ice streams are the Aletsch glacier from the group of the Finsteraarhorn, and those of the frequented valley of Chamounix, descending from Mont Blanc, the monarch of the Alps.

FAMOUS ALPINE PASSES

The passes of the Alps have always had importance as the gates of traffic from North Italy to the rest of Europe; some of them, such as the two St. Bernard Passes, are under the protection of friendly monks; but railroads have now been constructed to pass the great barrier by the tunnels of Mont Cenis in the west, of St. Gothard in the center, and the Simplon farther east (opened 1906), by a line over the Brenner Pass from Innsbruck to Bozen, and by an eastern road over the Semmering from Vienna to Graz.

Southward the Alps fall steeply to the low plain of Lombardy, but a mass of lesser highlands and plateaus extends northward from them over central Europe to the border of the plain of Northern Germany.

OUTLYING SPURS OF THE ALPS

The first division is the long limestone range of the _Jura_, with its magnificent pine forests. Beyond, bordering the Rhine valley, rises the _Schwarzwald_, or Black Forest, then the _Odenwald_ and the _Rhön_ mountains, leading into the _Vogelsberg_ and _Taunus_, and to the outlying _Harz_, the farthest north of the central European heights. Turning eastward, we reach the _Thüringerwald_, the _Fichtel Gebirge_, and the metalliferous or _Erz Gebirge_; then across the Elbe, in Saxon Switzerland, come the _Riesen Gebirge_ (the Giant Range), and the _Sudetic Mountains_, extending to the Oder. Turning south again towards the Alps, the _Mährische Höhen_ (the Mavorian heights) are reached, and joining with these to close in the high valley of the Upper Elbe, the high _Böhmerwald_, the forest mountain of Bohemia. Almost all the area of South Germany, including Würtemberg, Bavaria, and Bohemia, enclosed by these heights, which extend northward from the Alpine mass, is high plateau land.

HIGHLANDS OF FRANCE

Westward of these central European heights, beyond the Rhone, rises the range of the _Cevennes_ in France, extending from near the Pyrenees northward through the _Forez_ and _Côte d’Or_ to the plateau of _Langres_, to the _Vosges_ and _Hardt_, the undulating plateau of _Ardennes_ covered with beech and oak wood, and the volcanic group of the _Eifel_, skirting the Rhine valley. More centrally in France, contrasting with the adjoining long range of the Cevennes, the volcanic cones and domes of _Auvergne_ rise from bare lava-covered plateaus.

PYRENEES AND SPANISH PENINSULA

Shut off from the rest of Europe by the _Pyrenees_ whose high and close barrier admits easy passage only round its flanks, is the Spanish Peninsula, which, excepting in its river valleys, and along some parts of the seaboard, is a continuous highland. A number of mountain ranges, supporting broad plateaus between, traverse it from east to west. Along its northern edge the _Cantabrian_ mountains prolong the high line of the Pyrenees; centrally rise the _Sierras of Guadarrama_ and _Estrella_; farther south the _Sierra Morena_, and along the Mediterranean border the _Sierra Nevada_ of Granada. Throughout the summer the table-lands of _Castile_, bare and treeless, are burned up by the hot sun, but through the chilly winter they are swept by violent winds. The herdsman who wears a broad-brimmed hat for protection against the excessive heat during the day, a few hours later puts on his thick warm cloak; in the same way, after the almost rainless summer, follows a cold winter with ice and snow.

MOUNTAINS OF ITALY AND THE BALKANS

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The Circle of Knowledge: A Classified, Simplified, Visualized Book of AnswersChapter XV: From the Founding of the German Empire to the Close of the European (1)

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