Chapter I: Part 1

THE EARTH AND ITS INHABITANTS.

EUROPE.

BY ÉLISÉE RECLUS.

EDITED BY E. G. RAVENSTEIN, F.R.G.S., F.S.S., ETC.

VOL. I.

GREECE, TURKEY IN EUROPE, RUMANIA, SERVIA, MONTENEGRO, ITALY, SPAIN, AND PORTUGAL.

_ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS AND MAPS._

NEW YORK: D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 1, 3, AND 5 BOND STREET. 1883.

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS . . . 1

EUROPE.

I. GEOGRAPHICAL IMPORTANCE . . . 5

II. EXTENT AND BOUNDARIES . . . 6

III. NATURAL DIVISIONS AND MOUNTAINS . . . 9

IV. THE MARITIME REGIONS . . . 13

V. CLIMATE . . . 16

VI. INHABITANTS . . . 18

THE MEDITERRANEAN.

I. HYDROLOGY . . . 23

II. ANIMAL LIFE, FISHERIES, AND SALT-PANS . . . 28

III. COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION . . . 31

GREECE.

I. GENERAL ASPECTS . . . 36

II. CONTINENTAL GREECE . . . 45

III. THE MOREA, OR PELOPONNESUS . . . 56

IV. THE ISLANDS OF THE ÆGEAN SEA . . . 69

V. THE IONIAN ISLES . . . 75

VI. THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF GREECE . . . 80

VII. GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL DIVISIONS . . . 85

TURKEY IN EUROPE.

I. GENERAL ASPECTS . . . 87

II. CRETE AND THE ISLANDS OF THE ARCHIPELAGO . . . 90

III. TURKEY OF THE GREEKS (THRACIA, MACEDONIA, AND THESSALY) . . . 98

IV. ALBANIA AND EPIRUS . . . 115

V. THE ILLYRIAN ALPS, BOSNIA, AND HERZEGOVINA . . . 126

VI. BULGARIA . . . 131

VII. PRESENT POSITION AND PROSPECTS OF TURKEY . . . 145

VIII. GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION . . . 150

TREATIES OF SAN STEFANO AND BERLIN . . . 153

RUMANIA . . . 155

SERVIA AND MONTENEGRO.

I. SERVIA . . . 172

II. MONTENEGRO . . . 179

ITALY.

I. GENERAL ASPECTS . . . 183

II. THE BASIN OF THE PO: PIEMONT, LOMBARDY, VENETIA, AND EMILIA . . . 189

III. LIGURIA AND THE RIVIERA OF GENOA . . . 230

IV. TUSCANY . . . 239

V. THE ROMAN APENNINES, THE VALLEY OF THE TIBER, THE MARCHES, AND THE ABRUZZOS . . . 257

VI. SOUTHERN ITALY: NAPLES . . . 286

VII. SICILY . . . 309

The Æolian or Liparic Islands . . . 331

The Ægadian Islands . . . 334

Malta and Gozzo . . . 335

VIII. SARDINIA . . . 338

IX. THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF ITALY . . . 352

X. GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION . . . 358

CORSICA . . . 363

SPAIN.

I. GENERAL ASPECTS . . . 370

II. THE CASTILES, LEON, AND ESTREMADURA . . . 377

III. ANDALUSIA . . . 394

IV. THE MEDITERRANEAN SLOPE: MURCIA AND VALENCIA . . . 414

V. THE BALEARIC ISLANDS . . . 423

VI. THE VALLEY OF THE EBRO: ARAGON AND CATALONIA . . . 427

VII. BASQUE PROVINCES, NAVARRA, AND LOGROÑO . . . 439

VIII. SANTANDER, THE ASTURIAS, AND GALICIA . . . 448

IX. THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF SPAIN . . . 460

X. GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION . . . 465

PORTUGAL.

I. GENERAL ASPECTS . . . 469

II. NORTHERN PORTUGAL: THE VALLEYS OF THE MINHO, DOURO, AND MONDEGO . . . 473

III. THE VALLEY OF THE TAGUS . . . 482

IV. SOUTHERN PORTUGAL: ALENTEJO AND ALGARVE . . . 490

V. THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF PORTUGAL . . . 496

VI. GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION . . . 498

INDEX . . . 501

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

MAPS PRINTED IN COLOURS.

1. Ethnographical Map of Europe . . . 18

2. Turkey-in-Europe and Greece . . . 85

3. The Bosphorus and Constantinople . . . 98

4. Ethnographical Map of Turkey . . . 148

5. Italy . . . 183

6. The Delta of the Po . . . 210

7. The Bay of Naples . . . 288

8. Spain and Portugal . . . 365

PLATES.

Peasants from the Environs of Athens . . . _To face page_ . . . 53

Constantinople and the Golden Horn, from the Heights of Eyub . . . 99

Albanians . . . 118

Wealthy Arnauts . . . 124

Turkish Muleteers in the Herzegovina . . . 127

Tirnova . . . 133

Bulgarians . . . 138

Mussulman of Adrianople, and Mussulman Lady of Prisrend . . . 147

Wallachians (Valakhs) . . . 162

Belgrade . . . 174

The Pennine Alps, as seen from the Becca di Nona (Pic Carrel), 10,380 feet . . . 195

Venice . . . 207

The Palace at Ferrara . . . 228

Verona . . . 229

Peasants of the Abruzzos . . . 258

Naples . . . 300

Capri, seen from Massa Lubrense . . . 302

Amalfi . . . 304

La Valetta, Malta . . . 337

Peasants of Toledo, Castile . . . 390

Roman Bridge at Alcántara . . . 391

Gorge de los Gaitanes, Defile of Guadalhorce . . . 399

Peasants of Córdova, Andalusia . . . 406

Gibraltar, as seen from the “Lines” . . . 414

Peasants of La Huerta, and Cigarrera of Valencia . . . 419

Women of Ibiza, Balearic Isles . . . 425

Monserrat, Catalonia . . . 431

Barcelona, seen from the Castle of Monjuich . . . 437

Gorges of Pancorbo . . . 440

Los Pasages . . . 447

Oporto . . . 478

Lisbon . . . 484

ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT.

EUROPE.

1. The Natural Boundary of Europe . . . 7

2. The Relief of Europe . . . 8

3. Development of Coast-lines relatively to Area . . . 14

4. The Isothermal Zone of Europe . . . 17

THE MEDITERRANEAN.

5. The Depth of the Mediterranean . . . 24

6. The Strait of Gibraltar . . . 26

7. Principal Fisheries of the Mediterranean . . . 30

8. Steamer Routes and Telegraphs . . . 34

GREECE.

9. MAINOTE AND SPARTAN . . . 42

10. Foreign Elements in the Population of Greece . . . 44

11. MOUNT PARNASSUS AND DELPHI . . . 46

12. Lower Acarnania . . . 49

13. Thermopylæ . . . 50

14. Lake Copais . . . 52

15. THE ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS . . . 54

16. Athens and its Long Walls . . . 55

17. Ancient Athens . . . 56

18. MOUNT TAYGETUS . . . 58

19. Lakes Phenea and Stymphalus . . . 60

20. The Plateau of Mantinea . . . 62

21. Bifurcation of the Gastuni . . . 63

22. The Valley of the Eurotas . . . 67

23. Euripus and Chalcis . . . 70

24. Nea Kaimeni . . . 72

25. CORFU . . . 76

26. The Channel of Santa Maura . . . 77

27. Argostoli . . . 79

TURKEY IN EUROPE.

28. THE GORGE OF HAGIO RUMELI . . . 91

29. Crete, or Candia . . . 93

30. The Ægean Sea . . . 95

31. Geological Map of the Peninsula of Constantinople . . . 99

32. The Hellespont, or Dardanelles . . . 105

33. Mount Athos . . . 108

34. MOUNT OLYMPUS . . . 110

35. Mount Olympus and the Valley of Tempe . . . 111

36. Southern Epirus . . . 117

37. Subterranean Beds of the Affluents of the Narenta . . . 128

38. Mount Vitosh . . . 132

39. Delta of the Danube . . . 137

40. Comparative Discharge of the Mouths of the Danube . . . 138

41. Commercial Highways converging upon Constantinople . . . 150

42. The Turkish Empire . . . 151

RUMANIA.

43. The Rumanians . . . 156

44. The Rivers Shil and Olto . . . 158

45. The Danube and Yalomitza . . . 161

46. Ethnological Map of Moldavian Bessarabia . . . 164

47. BUCHAREST . . . 169

SERVIA AND MONTENEGRO.

48. Confluence of the Danube and Save . . . 174

49. Montenegro and the Lake of Skodra . . . 180

ITALY.

50. Rome and the Roman Empire . . . 186

51. MONTE VISO . . . 189

52. Grand Paradis . . . 191

53. Plain of Débris between the Alps and Apennines . . . 192

54. Slope of the Valley of the Po . . . 193

55. Mud Volcanoes of the Northern Apennines . . . 194

56. Ancient Glaciers of the Alps . . . 195

57. Serra of Ivrea and Ancient Glacier Lakes of the Dora . . . 196

58. Ancient Lakes of Verbano . . . 197

59. Lake Como . . . 198

60–62. Sections of Lake Como . . . 199

63. VILLA SERBELLONI . . . 201

64. Beech and Pine Woods of Ravenna . . . 203

65. Shingle Beds of the Tagliamento, &c. . . . 205

66. Old Bed of the Piave . . . 206

67. Lagoons of Venice . . . 207

68. Colonies of the Roman Veterans . . . 209

69. The Po between Piacenza and Cremona . . . 211

70. German Communes of Northern Italy . . . 216

71. MONTE ROSA . . . 217

72. The Lagoons of Comacchio . . . 220

73. The Fisheries of Comacchio . . . 221

74. Mouth of the Adige Valley . . . 223

75. The Passages over the Alps . . . 224

76. The Lakes and Canals of Mantua . . . 227

77. Palmanova . . . 229

78. Junction of the Alps and Apennines . . . 231

79. Genoa and its Suburbs . . . 234

80. GENOA . . . 235

81. The Gulf of Spezia . . . 237

82. THE GOLFOLINO OF THE ARNO . . . 240

83. Defiles of the Arno . . . 241

84. Monte Argentaro . . . 243

85. Val di Chiana . . . 244

86. The Lake of Bientina . . . 245

87. The Malarial Regions . . . 247

88. FLORENCE . . . 252

89. The Harbour of Leghorn . . . 255

90. The Lake of Bolsena . . . 260

91. La Montagna d’Albano . . . 261

92. Ancient Lake of Fucino . . . 263

93. Lake of Trasimeno . . . 264

94. CAMPAGNA OF ROME . . . 265

95. Pontine Marshes . . . 267

96. Ancient Lakes of the Tiber and Topino . . . 269

97. CASCADES OF TERNI . . . 270

98. The Delta of the Tiber . . . 271

99. PEASANTS OF THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA . . . 272

100. ROME . . . 276

101. The Hills of Rome . . . 278

102. Civita Vecchia . . . 281

103. Valleys of Erosion on the Western Slope of the Apennines . . . 283

104. Rimini and San Marino . . . 285

105. Monte Gargano . . . 287

106. Ashes of the Campania . . . 289

107. ERUPTION OF MOUNT VESUVIUS . . . 292

108. Educational Map of Italy . . . 297

109. Pompeii . . . 301

110. The Marshes of Salpi . . . 305

111. Harbour of Brindisi in 1871 . . . 307

112. Harbour of Taranto . . . 308

113. Strait of Messina . . . 310

114. Profile of Mount Etna . . . 311

115. Lava Stream of Catania . . . 313

116. Subsidiary Cones of Mount Etna . . . 314

117. The Maccalubas and Girgenti . . . 317

118. PALERMO AND MONTE PELLEGRINO . . . 324

119. Trapani and Marsala . . . 326

120. Syracuse . . . 328

121. TEMPLE OF CONCORD AT GIRGENTI . . . 329

122. The Central Portion of the Æolian Islands . . . 332

123. The Mediterranean to the South of Sicily . . . 334

124. The Port of Malta . . . 336

125. The Sea to the South of Sardinia . . . 339

126. Strait of Bonifacio . . . 340

127. La Giara . . . 345

128. District of Iglesias . . . 348

129. CAGLIARI . . . 350

130. Port of Terranova . . . 351

131. Navigation of Italy . . . 355

132. Commercial Routes of Italy . . . 356

133. Submarine Plateau between Corsica and Tuscany . . . 364

134. Profile of the Road from Ajaccio to Bastia . . . 365

135. BASTIA . . . 368

SPAIN.

136. Table-lands of Iberian Peninsula . . . 371

137. Dehesas near Madrid . . . 375

138. Density of Population . . . 376

139. Profile of Railway from Bayonne to Cádiz . . . 379

140. Sierras de Grédos and de Gata . . . 380

141. DEFILE OF THE TAJO . . . 382

142. Steppes of New Castile . . . 384

143. Salamanca . . . 388

144. THE ALCAZAR OF SEGOVIA . . . 389

145. TOLEDO . . . 390

146. Madrid and its Environs . . . 392

147. Aranjuez . . . 394

148. Basins of the Guadiana and Guadalquivir . . . 395

149. THE PASS OF DESPEÑAPERROS . . . 396

150. THE SIERRA NEVADA . . . 397

151. The Mouth of the Guadalquivir . . . 399

152. The Steppes of Ecija . . . 402

153. Zones of Vegetation on the Coast of Andalusia . . . 403

154. The Mines of Huelva . . . 406

155. THE ALHAMBRA . . . 408

156. Cádiz and its Roadstead . . . 411

157. Gibraltar . . . 413

158. Steppes of Múrcia . . . 416

159. THE PALM GROVE OF ELCHE . . . 418

160. The Palm Grove of Elche and the Huertas of Orihuela . . . 419

161. RUINS OF THE DYKE ABOVE LORCA . . . 420

162. PEASANTS OF MURCIA . . . 421

163. The Harbour of Cartagena . . . 423

164. The Gráo de Valencia . . . 424

165. The Balearic Islands . . . 426

166. VIEW OF IBIZA . . . 427

167. The Pytiuses . . . 428

168. Port Mahon . . . 430

169. The Delta of the Ebro . . . 435

170. The Steppes of Aragon . . . 436

171. The Environs of Barcelona . . . 440

172. The Sand-banks of Mataró . . . 441

173. Andorra . . . 443

174. Jaizquibel . . . 445

175. Azcoitia and Azpeitia . . . 447

176. The Environs of Bilbao . . . 449

177. St. Sebastian . . . 450

178. ST. SEBASTIAN . . . 451

179. Guetaria . . . 452

180. Guernica . . . 453

181. Pass of Reinosa . . . 454

182. Peñas de Europa . . . 456

183. Rias of La Coruña and Ferrol . . . 458

184. Santoña and Santander . . . 460

185. Oviedo and Gijon . . . 462

186. TOWER OF HERCULES . . . 463

187. Ria de Vigo . . . 464

188. Railroads of the Iberian Peninsula . . . 465

189. Foreign Commerce of the Iberian Peninsula . . . 466

190. Diagram exhibiting the Extent of the Castilian Language . . . 467

PORTUGAL.

191. Rainfall of the Iberian Peninsula . . . 470

192. PORTUGUESE TYPES (Peasants) . . . 472

193. The Valley of the Limia, or Lima . . . 475

194. Dunes of Avéiro . . . 476

195. Oporto and the Paiz do Vinho . . . 478

196. São João da Foz and the Mouth of the Dóuro . . . 480

197. COIMBRA . . . 482

198. The Estuary of the Tejo (Tagus) . . . 483

199. Peniche and the Berlingas . . . 485

200. Mouth of the Tejo . . . 486

201. Zones of Vegetation in Portugal . . . 488

202. CASTLE OF PENHA DE CINTRA . . . 489

203. MONASTERY OF THE KNIGHTS OF CHRIST AT THOMAR . . . 491

204. Estuary of the Sado . . . 492

205. Serra de Monchique and Promontory of Sagres . . . 493

206. Geology of Algarve . . . 494

207. Faro and Tavira . . . 496

208. Geographical Extent of the Portuguese Language . . . 497

209. Telegraph from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro . . . 498

{1}

THE EARTH AND ITS INHABITANTS.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.[1]

Our earth is but as an atom in space, a star amongst stars. Yet, to us who inhabit it, it is still without bounds, as it was in the time of our barbarian ancestors. Nor can we foresee the period when the whole of its surface will be known to us. We have been taught by astronomers and geodesists that our planet is a sphere flattened at the poles, and physical geographers and meteorologists have applied their powers of inductive reasoning to establish theories on the direction of the winds and ocean currents within the polar regions. But hitherto no explorer has succeeded in reaching the extremities of our earth, and no one can tell whether land or sea extends beyond those icy barriers which have frustrated our most determined efforts. Thanks to the struggles of indomitable seamen, the pride of our race, the area of the mysterious regions around the north pole has been reduced to something like the hundredth part of the earth’s surface, but in the south there still remains an unknown region of such vast extent, that the moon, were she to drop upon our planet, might disappear within it without coming into contact with any part of the earth’s surface already known to us.

And the polar regions, which present so many natural obstacles to our explorers, are not the only portions of the earth not yet known to men of science. It may be humiliating to our pride as men, but we feel constrained to admit that among the countries not yet known to us there are some, accessible enough as far as natural obstacles are concerned, but closed against us by our fellow-men ! There are peoples in this world, dwelling in towns, obeying laws, and having customs comparatively polished, but who choose to live in seclusion, and are as little known to us as if they were the inhabitants of some other planet. Their frontiers are closed by war and its horrors, by the practice of slavery, by religious {2} fanaticism, and even commercial jealousy. We have heard of some of these peoples by vague report, but there are others concerning whom we absolutely know nothing. And thus it happens that in this age of steam, of the printing press, of incessant and feverish activity, we still know nothing, or very little, of the centre of Africa, of a portion of Australia, of the interior of that fine and no doubt most fertile island of New Guinea, and of vast table-lands in the centre of Asia. Nay, even the country which most men of learning love to look upon as the cradle of our Aryan ancestors is known to us but very imperfectly.

As regards most countries which have been visited by travellers, and figure more or less correctly upon our maps, a great amount of further research is required before our knowledge of their geography can be called complete. Years will pass ere the erroneous and contradictory statements of our explorers concerning them have been set right. A prodigious amount of labour must be performed before their climate, their hydrography, their plants and animals, can be thoroughly known to us. Minute and systematic researches have to be conducted to elucidate the slow changes in the aspects and physical phenomena of many countries. The greatest caution will have to be exercised in distinguishing between changes due to the spontaneous action of natural causes and those brought about by the hand of man. And all this knowledge we must acquire before we can boast that we know the earth, and all about it !

Nor is this all. By a natural bent of our mind, all our studies are carried on with reference to Man as the centre of all things. A knowledge of our planet is, therefore, imperfect as long as it is not joined to a knowledge of the various races of man which inhabit it. The earth which man treads is but imperfectly known, man himself even less so. The first origin of races is shrouded in absolute darkness, and the most learned disagree with reference to the descent, the amalgamation, the original seats, and migratory stages of most peoples and tribes. What do men owe to their surroundings? What to the original seats of their ancestors, to inborn instincts of race, to a blending with alien races, or to influences and traditions brought to bear upon them from beyond? We hardly know, and as yet only a few rays of light begin to penetrate this darkness. Unfortunately our erroneous views on many of these questions are not due solely to ignorance. Contending passions and instinctive national hatreds too frequently obscure our judgment, and we see man as he is not. The far-off savages assume the shape of dim phantoms, and our near neighbours and rivals in the arts of civilisation appear repulsive and deformed of feature. If we would see them as they really are, we must get rid of all our prejudices, and of those feelings of contempt, hatred, and passion which still set nation against nation. Our forefathers, in their wisdom, said that the most difficult thing of all was to know one’s self. Surely a comprehensive study of mankind is more difficult still.

We are thus not in a position at present to furnish a complete account of the earth and its inhabitants. The accomplishment of this task we must leave to the future, when fellow-workers from all quarters of the globe will meet to write the grand book embodying the sum of human knowledge. For the present an {3} individual author must rest content with giving a succinct account of the Earth, in which the space occupied by each country shall be proportionate to its importance, and to the knowledge we possess with respect to it.

It is natural, perhaps, that each nation should imagine that in such a description it ought to be accorded the foremost place. Every barbarous tribe, however small, imagines itself to occupy the very centre of the earth, and to be the most perfect representative of the human race. Its language never fails to bear witness to this naïve illusion, born of the very narrowness of its horizon. The river which irrigates its fields is called the “Father of Waters,” the mountain which shelters its camp the “Navel,” or “Centre of the Earth;” and the names by which primitive races designate their neighbours are terms of contempt, for they look down upon them as their inferiors. To them they are “mute,” “deaf,” “unclean,” “imbecile,” “monstrous,” or “demoniac.” The Chinese, one of the most remarkable peoples in some respects, and certainly the most important of all as far as mere numbers go, are not content with having bestowed upon their country the epithet of “Flower of the Centre,” but are so fully convinced of its superiority as to have fallen into the mistake (very excusable under the circumstances) of deeming themselves to be the “Sons of Heaven.” As to the nations thinly scattered around the borders of their “Celestial Empire,” they know them merely as “dogs,” “swine,” “demons,” and “savages.” Or, more disdainful still, they designate them by the four cardinal points of the compass, and speak of the “unclean” tribes of the west, the north, the east, and the south.

If in our description of the Earth we accord the first place to civilised Europe, it is not because of a prejudice similar to that of the Chinese. No ! this place belongs to Europe as a matter of right. Europe as yet is the only continent the whole of whose surface has been scientifically explored. It possesses a map approximately correct, and its material resources are almost fully known to us. Its population is not as dense as that of India or of China, but it nevertheless contains about one-fourth of the total population of the globe; and its inhabitants, whatever their failings and vices, or their state of barbarism in some respects, still impel the rest of mankind as regards material and mental progress. Europe, for twenty-five centuries, has been the focus whence radiated Arts, Sciences, and Thought. Nor have those hardy colonists who carried their European languages and customs beyond the sea succeeded hitherto in giving to the New World an importance equal to that of “little” Europe, in spite of the virgin soil and vast area which gave them scope for unlimited expansion.

Our American rivals may be more active and enterprising than we are—they certainly are not cumbered to the same extent by the traditions and inheritances of feudal times—but they are as yet not sufficiently numerous to compete with us as regards the totality of work done. They have scarcely been able hitherto to ascertain the material resources of the country in which they have made their home. “Old Europe,” where every clod of earth has its history, where every man is the heir of a hundred successive generations, therefore still maintains the first place, and a comparative study of nations justifies us in the belief that its moral {4} ascendancy and industrial preponderance will remain with it for many years to come. At the same time, we must not shut our eyes to the fact that equality will obtain in the end, not only between America and Europe, but also between these two and the other quarters of the world. The intermingling of nations, migrations which have assumed prodigious proportions, and the increasing facilities of intercourse must in the end lead to an equilibrium of population being established throughout the world. Then will each country add its proper share to the wealth of mankind, and what we call civilisation will have “its centre everywhere, its periphery nowhere.”

The central geographical position of Europe has undoubtedly exercised a most favourable influence upon the progress of the nations inhabiting it. The superiority of the Europeans is certainly not due to the inherent virtues of the races from which they sprang, as is vainly imagined by some, for in other parts of the ancient world these same races have exhibited far less creative genius. To the happy conditions of soil, climate, configuration, and geographical position the inhabitants of Europe owe the honour of having been the first to obtain a knowledge of the earth in its entirety, and to have remained for so long a period at the head of mankind. Historical geographers are, therefore, right when they insist upon the influence which the configuration of a country exercises upon the nations who inhabit it. The extent of table-lands, the heights of mountain ranges, the direction and volume of rivers, the vicinity of the ocean, the indentation of the coast-line, the temperature of the air, the abundance or rarity of rain, and the correlations between soil, air, and water—all these are pregnant with effects, and explain much of the character and mode of life of primitive nations. They account for most of the contrasts existing between nations subject to different conditions, and point out the natural highways of the globe which nations are constrained to follow in their migrations or warlike expeditions.

At the same time, we must bear in mind that the influence exercised upon the history of mankind by the general configuration of land and sea, or any special features of the former, is subject to change, and depends essentially upon the stage of culture at which nations have arrived. Geography, strictly speaking, confines itself to a description of the earth’s surface, and exhibits the various nations in a passive attitude as it were, whilst Historical Geography and statistics show man engaged in the struggle for existence, and striving to obtain the mastery over his surroundings. A river, which to an uncultured tribe would constitute an insurmountable barrier, becomes a commercial high-road to a tribe further advanced in culture, and in process of time it may be converted into a mere canal of irrigation, the course of which is regulated by man. A mountain range frequented by shepherds and huntsmen, and forming a barrier between nations, may attract, in a more civilised epoch, the miner and the manufacturer, and in course of time will even cease to be an obstacle, as roads will traverse it in all directions. Many a creek of the sea, which afforded shelter of yore to the small vessels of our ancestors, is deserted now, whilst the open bays, which vessels dreaded formerly, have been protected by enormous breakwaters, and have become the resort of our largest ships. {5}

Innumerable changes such as these have been effected by man in all parts of the world, and they have revolutionised the correlations existing between man and the land he lives in. The configuration and height of mountains and table-lands, the indentation of the coasts, the disposition of islands and archipelagos, and the extent of the ocean—these all lose their relative influence upon the history of nations in proportion as the latter emancipate themselves and become free agents. Though subject to the condition of his dwelling-place, man may modify it to suit his own purpose; he may overcome nature as it were, and convert the energies of the earth into domesticated forces. As an instance we may point to the elevated table-lands of Central Asia, which now separate the countries and peninsulas surrounding them, but which, when they shall have become the seats of human industry, will convert Asia into a real geographical unit, which at present it is only in appearance. Massy and ponderous Africa, monotonous Australia, and Southern America with its forests and waterfalls, will be put on something like an equality with Europe, whenever roads of commerce shall cross them in all directions, bridging their rivers, and traversing their deserts and mountain ranges. The advantages, on the other hand, which Europe derives from its backbone of mountains, its radiating rivers, the contours of its coasts, and its generally well-balanced outline are not as great now as they were when man was dependent exclusively upon the resources furnished by nature.

This gradual change in the historical importance of the configuration of the land is a fact of capital importance which must be borne in mind if we would understand the general geography of Europe. In studying SPACE we must take account of another element of equal value—TIME.

{5}

EUROPE.

I.—GEOGRAPHICAL IMPORTANCE.

In the geography of the world the first place is claimed for Europe, not because of a prejudice like that of the Chinese, but as a matter of right. Europe as yet is the only continent the whole of whose surface has been scientifically explored. It possesses a map approximately correct, and its material resources are almost fully known to us. Its population is not as dense as that of India or of China, but it nevertheless contains about one-fourth of the total population of the globe; and its inhabitants, whatever their failings and vices, or their state of barbarism in some respects, still impel the rest of mankind as regards material and mental progress. Europe, for twenty-five centuries, has been the focus whence radiated Arts, Sciences, and Thought. Nor have those hardy colonists who carried their European languages and customs beyond the sea succeeded hitherto in giving to the New World an importance equal to that of “little” Europe, in spite of the virgin soil and vast area which gave them scope for unlimited expansion.

“Old Europe,” where every clod of earth has its history, where every man is the heir of a hundred successive generations, therefore still maintains the first place, and a comparative study of nations justifies us in the belief that its moral ascendancy and industrial preponderance will remain with it for many years to come. At the same time, we must not shut our eyes to the fact that equality will obtain in the end, not only between America and Europe, but also between these two and the other quarters of the world. The intermingling of nations, migrations which have assumed prodigious proportions, and the increasing facilities of intercourse, must in the end lead to an equilibrium of population throughout the world. Then will each country add its proper share to the wealth of mankind, and what we call civilisation will have “its centre everywhere, its periphery nowhere.”

The central geographical position of Europe has undoubtedly exercised a most favourable influence upon the progress of the nations inhabiting it. The superiority of the Europeans is certainly not due to the inherent virtues of the races from which they sprang, as is vainly imagined by some, for in other parts of {6} the ancient world these same races have exhibited far less creative genius. To the happy conditions of soil, climate, configuration, and geographical position, the inhabitants of Europe owe the honour of having been the first to obtain a knowledge of the earth in its entirety, and to have remained for so long a period at the head of mankind. Historical geographers are, therefore, right when they insist upon the influence which the configuration of a country exercises upon the nations who inhabit it. The extent of table-lands, the heights of mountain ranges, the direction and volume of rivers, the vicinity of the ocean, the indentation of the coast-line, the temperature of the air, the abundance or rarity of rain, and the correlations between soil, air, and water—all these are pregnant with effects, and explain much of the character and mode of life of primitive nations. They account for most of the contrasts existing between nations subject to different conditions, and point out the natural highways of the globe which nations are constrained to follow in their migrations or warlike expeditions.

II.—EXTENT AND BOUNDARIES.

The dwellers on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea must have learnt, in the course of their first warlike and commercial expeditions, to distinguish between the great continents; for within the nucleus of the ancient world Africa is attached to Asia by a narrow band of arid sand, and Europe separated from Asia Minor by seas and channels difficult to navigate on account of dangerous currents. The division of the known world into three distinct parts could not fail to impress itself upon the minds of those infant nations; and when the Greeks had attained a state of maturity, and historical records took the place of myths and oral traditions, the name of Europe had probably been transmitted through a long series of generations. Herodotus naïvely admits that no mortal could ever hope to find out the true meaning of this name, bequeathed to us by our forefathers; but this has not deterred our modern men of learning from attempting to explain it. Some amongst them consider that it was applied at first to Thrace with its “large plains,” and subsequently extended to the whole of Europe; others derive it from one of the surnames of Zeus with the “large eyes,” the ancient god of the Sun, specially charged with the protection of the continent. Some etymologists believe that Europe was designated thus by the Phœnicians, as being the country of “white men.” We consider it, however, to be far more probable that its name originally meant simply “the West,” as contrasted with Asia, “the East,” or “country of the rising sun.” It is thus that Italy first, and then Spain, bore the name of Hesperia; that Western Africa received the name of El Maghreb from the Mohammedans, and the plains beyond the Mississippi became known in our own times as the “Far West.”

But, whatever may be the original meaning of its name, Europe, in all the myths of the ancients, is described as a Daughter of Asia. The Phœnicians were the first to explore the shores of Europe, and to bring its inhabitants into contact with those of the East. When the Daughter had become the superior of her {7} Mother in civilisation, and Greek voyagers were following up the explorations begun by the mariners of Tyre, all the known countries to the north of the Mediterranean were looked upon as dependencies of Europe, and that name, which was originally confined to the Thraco-Hellenic peninsula, was made to include, in course of time, Italy, Spain, the countries of the Gauls, and the hyperborean regions beyond the Alps and the Danube. Strabo, to whom were known already the most varied and fruitful portions of Europe, extends it eastward as far as the Palus Mæotis and the Tanais.[2]

Scale 1 : 21,800,000.

Erhard.

The zone of depression extending from the Black Sea to the Gulf of Obi is shaded. The darker shading to the north of the Caspian shows the area depressed below the level of the Mediterranean.]

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Since that epoch the limits between Europe and Asia have been shifted by geographers still further to the east. They are, however, more or less conventional, for Europe, though bounded on three sides by the ocean, is in reality but a peninsula of Asia. At the same time, the contrasts between these two parts of the world fully justify scientific men in dividing them into two continental masses. But where is the true line of separation between them? Map-makers generally adopt the political boundaries which it has pleased the Russian Government to draw between its vast European and Asiatic territories, and others adopt the summits of the Ural Mountains and of the Caucasus as the boundary between the two continents; and although, at the first glance, this delineation appears more reasonable than the former, it is in reality no less absurd. The two slopes of a mountain chain can never be assigned to different formations, and they are generally inhabited by men of the same race. The true line of separation between Europe and Asia does not consist of mountains at all, but, on the contrary, of a series of depressions, in former times covered by a channel of the sea which united the Mediterranean with the Arctic Ocean. The steppes of the Manych, between the Black Sea and the Caspian, and to the north of the Caucasus, are still covered in part with salt swamps. The Caspian itself, as well as Lake Aral and the other lakes which we meet with in the direction of the Gulf of Obi, are the remains of this ancient arm of the sea, and the intermediate regions still bear the traces of having been an ancient sea-bed.

According to Houzeau, Berghaus, Kiepert, Olsen, and others. Scale 1 : 60,000,000.]

There can be no doubt that vast changes have taken place in the configuration {9} of Europe, not only during more ancient geological periods, but also within comparatively recent times. We have already seen that a vast arm of the sea formerly separated Europe from Asia; it is equally certain that there was a time when it was joined to Anatolia by an isthmus, which has since been converted into the Bosphorus of Constantinople; Spain was joined to Africa until the waters of the Atlantic invaded the Mediterranean; Sicily was probably connected with Mauritania; and the British Islands once formed a portion of the mainland. The erosion of the sea, as well as upheavals and subsidences of land, has effected, and still effect, changes in the contours of our coasts. Numerous soundings in the seas washing Western Europe have revealed the existence of a submarine plateau, which, from a geological point of view, must be looked upon as forming an integral portion of our continent. Bounded by abyssal depths of thousands of fathoms, and submerged one hundred fathoms at most below the waters of the ocean, this pedestal of France and the British Islands must be looked upon as the foundation of an ancient continent, destroyed by the incessant action of the waves. If the shallow portions of the ocean, as well as those of the Mediterranean Sea, were to be added to Europe, its area would be increased to the extent of one-fourth, but it would lose, at the same time, that wealth in peninsulas which has secured to Europe its historical superiority over the other continents.

If we supposed Europe to subside to the extent of one hundred fathoms, its area would be reduced to the compass of one-half. The ocean would again cover her low plains, most of which are ancient sea-beds, and there would remain above the waters merely a skeleton of plateaux and mountain ranges, far more extensively indented by bays and fringed by peninsulas than are the coasts existing at the present time. The whole of Western and Southern Europe would be converted into a huge island, separated by a wide arm of the sea from the plains of interior Russia. From an historical as well as a geological point of view, this huge island is the true Europe. Russia is not only half Asiatic on account of its extremes of temperature, and the aspect of its monotonous plains and interminable steppes, but is likewise intimately linked with Asia as regards its inhabitants and its historical development. Russia can hardly be said to have belonged to Europe for more than a hundred years. It was in maritime and mountainous Europe, with its islands, peninsulas, and valleys, its varied features and unexpected contrasts, that modern civilisation arose, the result of innumerable local civilisations, happily united into a single current. And, as the rivers descending from the mountains cover the plains at their foot with fertile soil, so has the progress accomplished in this centre of enlightenment gradually spread over the other continents to the very extremities of the earth.

III.—NATURAL DIVISIONS AND MOUNTAINS.

The Europe alluded to includes France, Germany, England, and the three Mediterranean peninsulas, and constitutes several natural divisions. The British Islands form one of these. The Iberian peninsula is separated scarcely less {10} distinctly from the remainder of Europe, for between it and France rises a most formidable range of mountains, the most difficult to cross in all Europe; and immediately to the north of it a depression, nowhere exceeding a height of 650 feet, extends from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean. The geographical unity of Europe is represented to the full extent only in the system of the Alps, and in the mountains of France, Germany, Italy, and the Balkan peninsula which are connected with it. It is there we must seek the framework of continental Europe.

The Alps, whose ancient Celtic name probably refers to the whiteness of their snowy summits, stretch in an immense curve, more than 600 miles in length, from the shores of the Mediterranean to the plains of the Danube. They consist in reality of more than thirty mountain masses, representing as many geological groups, and joined to each other by elevated passes; but their rocks, whether they be granite, slate, sandstone, or limestone, form one continuous rampart rising above the plains. In former ages the Alps were higher than they are now. This is proved by an examination of their detritus and of the strata disintegrated by natural agencies. But, whatever the extent of detrition, they still rise in hundreds of summits beyond the line of perennial snow, and vast rivers of ice descend from them into every upland valley. Looked at from the plains of Piedmont and Lombardy, these glaciers and snow-fields present the appearance of sparkling diadems encircling the mountain summits.

In the eastern portion of the Alpine system—that is to say, between the Mediterranean and Mont Blanc, the culminating point of Europe—the average height of the mountain groups gradually increases from 6,500 to more than 13,000 feet. To the east of Mont Blanc the Alps change in direction, and, beyond the vast citadels represented by Monte Rosa and the Bernese Oberland, they gradually decrease in height. To the east of Switzerland no summit exceeds a height of 13,000 feet, but this loss in elevation is fully made up by increase of breadth. And whilst the general direction of the principal axis of the Alps remains north-easterly, very considerable mountain chains, far exceeding the central mass in breadth, are thrown off towards the north, the east, and the south-east. A line drawn across the true Alps from Vienna has a length of no less than 250 miles.

In thus spreading out, the Alps lose their character and aspect. We no longer meet with grand mountain masses, glaciers, and snow-fields. Towards the north they gradually sink down into the valley of the Danube; towards the south they branch out into secondary chains, resting upon the arched plateau of Turkey. But, in spite of the vast contrasts offered by the true Alps and the mountains of Montenegro, the Hæmus, the Rhodope, and the Pindus, all these mountain chains nevertheless belong to the same orographical system. The whole of the Balkan peninsula must be looked upon as a natural dependency of the Alps; and the same applies to Italy, for the chain of the Apennines is nothing but a continuation of the Maritime Alps, and we hardly know where to draw the line of separation between them. The Carpathians, too, must be included among the {11} mountain chains forming part of the system of the Alps. They have been gradually separated from them through the continuous action of water, but there can be no doubt that, in former times, the semicircle of mountains known as the Little Carpathians, the Beskids, the Tatra, the Great Carpathians, and the Transylvanian Alps was joined, on the one hand, to the Austrian Alps, and on the other to spurs descending from the Balkan. The Danube has forced its way through these mountain ramparts, but the passages, or “gates,” are narrow; they are strewn with rocks, and commanded by what remains of the ancient partition ranges.

The configuration of the Alps, and of the labyrinthine mountain ranges branching off from them towards the east, could not fail to exercise a most powerful influence upon the history of Europe and of the entire world. The only high-roads known to barbarians are those traced out by nature herself, and they were consequently able to penetrate into Europe only by sea, or through the vast plains of the north. Having penetrated to the westward of the Black Sea, their progress was first stopped by the lakes and difficult swamps of the Danubian valley; and, when they had surmounted these obstacles, they found themselves face to face with a barrier of high mountains, whose intricate wooded valleys and declivities led up to the inaccessible regions of eternal snow. The Alps, the Balkan, and all the other advanced chains of the Alpine system constituted an advanced defensive barrier for Western Europe, and the conquering nomad tribes who threw themselves against it did so at the risk of destruction. Accustomed to the boundless horizon of the steppes, they did not venture to climb these steep hills—they turned to the northward, where the vast plains of Germania enabled successive swarms of immigrants to spread over the country with greater ease. And as to the invaders, whom blind rage of conquest impelled to engage in the defiles of these mountains, they found themselves caught as in a trap; and this accounts for the variety of nations, and of fragments of nations, whose presence has converted the countries of the Danube into a sort of ethnological chaos. And as the débris carried along by the current is deposited in the eddy of a river, so were these fragments of nearly every nation of the East accumulated in motley disorder in this corner of the Continent.

To the south of this great mountain barrier the migrations between Europe and Asia could take place only by sea—a high-road open to those nations alone who were sufficiently advanced in civilisation to have acquired the art of building ships. Whether pirates, merchants, or warriors, they had raised themselves long ago above a state of primitive barbarism, and even their voyages of conquest added something to the stock of human knowledge. Moreover, owing to the difficulties of navigation, they migrated only in small bodies. At whatever point they settled they came into contact with populations of a different race from their own, and this intercourse gave birth to a number of local civilisations, each bearing its own stamp, and nowhere did their influence preponderate. Every island of the Archipelago, and every valley of ancient Hellas, differed from its neighbours as regards social condition, dialect, and customs, but they all remained Greek, in spite of the Phœnician and other influences to which they had been subjected. It is thus owing to the {12} configuration of the mountain chains and coast-lines that the civilisation which developed itself gradually in the Mediterranean countries to the south of the Alps was, upon the whole, more spontaneous in its nature, and offered more variety and greater contrasts, than the civilisation of the far less advanced nations of the north, who were moving from place to place on vast plains.

The wide range of the Alps and of their advanced chains thus separated two distinct worlds, in which historical development went on at a different rate. At the same time, the separation between the two slopes of the Alpine system was by no means complete. Nowhere in the Alps do we meet with cold and uninhabited plateaux, as in the Andes and in Tibet, whose enormous extent forms almost insurmountable barriers. The Alpine masses are cut up everywhere into mountains and valleys, and the climate of the latter is sufficiently mild to enable man to exist in them. The mountaineers, who easily maintained their independence, owing to the protection extended to them by nature, first served as intermediaries between the peoples inhabiting the opposite lowlands. It was they who effected the rare exchanges of produce which took place between the North and South, and who opened the first commercial high-roads between the summits of the mountains. The direction of the valleys and the deeply cut mountain passes even then indicated the grand routes by which the Alps would be crossed, at a future period, for the purposes of commerce or of war. That portion of the Alps which lies between the mountain masses of Savoy and of the Mediterranean would naturally cease first to form an obstacle to military expeditions. The Alps there are of great height, it is true, but they are narrower than anywhere else; besides which, the climate on the two opposite slopes is similar, and assimilates the mode of life and the customs of the people dwelling there. Far more formidable, as a natural barrier, are the Alps to the north-east of Mont Blanc, for they constitute a climatic boundary.

The other mountain ranges play but a secondary or local part in the history of Europe, when we compare them with the Alps. Still, the influence which they have exercised upon the destiny of nations is no less evident. The table-lands and snow-fields of the Scandinavian Alps form a wall of separation between Norwegians and Swedes. The quadrangular mountain fort of Bohemia, in the centre of Europe, which shelters the Chechians, is almost entirely enclosed by Germans, and resembles an island fretted by the waves of the ocean. The hills of Wales and of Scotland have afforded a shelter to the Celtic race against the encroachments of Anglo-Saxons, Danes, and Normans. The Bretons, in France, are indebted to their rocks and _landes_ for the fact of their not having yet become wholly French; whilst the table-land of Limousin, the hills of Auvergne and the Cevennes constitute the principal cause of the striking contrast which still exists between the inhabitants of Northern and of Southern France. The Pyrenees, next to the Alps, constitute the most formidable obstacle to the march of nations in Europe; they would have remained an insurmountable rampart down to our own time, were it not easy to pass round them by their extremities abutting upon the sea. {13}

IV.—THE MARITIME REGIONS.