_ASIA: THE CONTINENT OF DIVERSITY The Interplay between Asia and Europe.—Since the dawn of history the people of Asia have again and again overwhelmed Europe, while the Europeans have pressed back into Asia. The broad-headed Alpine and other people of central and eastern Europe the Slays, Huns, yars, and Turks—are derived from Asia's later overflow. The con quests of Alexander,. the Asiatic expansion of Rome, the Crusades, and the present domination of large parts of Asia by Europeans repre sent the reverse movement from Europe. Each outward migration from Asia has permanently influenced the trend of civilization in Europe; but in the past the European conquerors of Asia have dis appeared or been absorbed without producing any marked effect. Today the interplay between the outward tendency of Asiatic migrants and the tendency of Europeans to dominate Asia but not settle there, is one of the main factors in the world's political and business relations. Chinese and Japanese migration to America, a " white " Australia, Hindu coolie labor in South Africa and South America, and colonial troops in the Great War arc all phases of this problem. So, too, are Asiatic colonies and mandates, the control of raw materials and food supplies, the " open door " policy in the Far East, and the building of railways in China, Siberia, India, and elsewhere.
Asia's Disadvantages in Size, Shape, and con trasted tendencies of Asia and Europe depend largely on their geography.
(1) Asia's great size and peculiar topography make the interior very dry, and permit great extremes of temperature. This caases widespread barrenness and migration. The size also fosters isolation and backwardness because communication by land is more difficult than by water. Scarcely 5 per cent of Europe is more than 600 miles from the sea, compared with about 35 per cent of Asia, or one and one-half times the area of Europe.
(2) The shape of Asia is also a disadvantage. Europe and Asia have an interesting resemblance like that of the right and left hands. Thus (a) Asia Minor corresponds roughly to the upper Balkan penin sula ending in Constantinople; (b) Arabia corresponds to Greece; (c) India to Italy; (d) the Malay and Indo-Chinese peninsula to that of Spain and Portugal; (e) Korea to Brittany; (f) Japan to Britain; (g) the Japanese Sea to the North Sea; (h) the Sea of Okhotsk to the Baltic; and (i) the Kamchatkan peninsula to Scandinavia. But the Asiatic gulfs and seas penetrate inland far less than those of Europe. Moreover, the most important coast faces cast in Asia and west in Europe, so that the preVailing westerlies of the most favorable lati tudes do not appreciably modify the severity of the Asiatic climate. Another reason for the contrast between the continents is that Europe is a peninsula of Asia. When the severe climate of inner Asia or any other of the many possible causes drives people outward, they migrate into the peninsulas. Hence, Europe has a great mixture of races. The
various branches of the Nordics, Mediterraneans, and Alpines owe much of their present distribution to pressure from Asia. The repeated droughts in inner Asia, the scarcity of food, and the increase of popula tion seem to have been among the reasons for the barbarian migrations of earlier times.
(3) Again Asia's position is not so good as that of Europe. About two-fifths of Asia lie in the unfavorable latitudes north of or south of 30°, while only about a fourth of Europe lies north of 60° and none south of 30°. Moreover, although the island groups of Britain and Japan both face America, Japan is over twice as far from America as is Britain, and faces the portion where the rugged relief, the relatively dry climate, and the newness of the country restrict the population.
The Great Disadvantages of Asia's relief Asia is strongly at a disadvantage compared with Europe. This is primarily due to the vast central mountain system, comprising Asia Minor, the Cau casus, Elburz and Hindu Kush mountains, and the great mass of high lands bordered by the Himalayas and the Burmese ranges on the south and the Tian Shan, Altai, and Stanovoi ranges on the north. On a good relief map notice how the mountains of both Europe and Asia form loops enclosing plains, plateaus, or basins. In Europe the loops of the Po, Hungary, and Rumania, swing around low areas with easy access to the sea or to other plains. Only in the far west does Spain contain an elevated plateau practically surrounded by mountains. In Asia all the loops are of the unfavorable Spanish type, and are of vast size comprising about six million square miles. For example, Asia Minor is a high, sparsely populated, mountain-girt plateau accessible from the sea only by way of steep narrow valleys. Farther east the mountains contract into the knot of the Armenian Highland where Ararat rises 17,000 feet. Then comes another and greater loop, the elevated basin or plateau of Iran where a million square miles in Persia, Afghanistan, and Baluchistan are almost completely cut off from the ocean, and can support only ten or twenty people per square mile. Next, in the mighty knot of the Pamirs north of India, great mountains rise from a huge plateau ten to fifteen thousand feet above the sea. Farther east a series of mountain chains extend from the Pamirs to Behring Strait, another series stretches from the Pamirs to the north ern tip of Siam, while a third running from northern Siam to the Sea of Okhotsk lies from 200 to 700 miles from the Pacific coast. These three sets of mountains enclose an area larger than Europe and almost completely cut off from the ocean. So dry, high, or inaccessible is it that Tibet, Chinese Turkestan, Mongolia, and Transbaikalian Siberia contain little more than one inhabitant for each of the four million square miles. Yet these regions occupy the best latitudes, N., Ind correspond to the United States from the Appalachians westward the Rockies.