When Egypt and Mesopotamia gave place to others, then the geographical importance of the way between became of little account, though Jerusalem must always have a tremendous significance for reasons with which we have here no concern.
A related geographical condition was the next to influence the world's history—a condition dependent on the distribution of land and water. It is obvious that man must live on the land. States must be on the land, so that history concerns itself in the first place and mainly with the land. But though no large body of men can live permanently on the water, can use energy profitably and have a history on the water, yet, on the other hand, movement, as opposed to settlement, is much more easily possible on water than on land. On land there are barriers hindering communication; these must be surmounted or detours must be made to avoid them : in neither case is energy used with adequate return. Not only so, but very much less energy is required to move a given amount of matter on water than on land. That is to say, water is more fitted than land to form " a Way " by which men and goods may be taken from one place to another.
This fact was known to both the early empires. The Nile, Euphrates and Tigris not only supplied water for irrigation and man's more immediate personal wants, but were found to be ways. At first rafts, mere bundles of reeds, were used; then bladders were employed to give greater buoyancy; later, light boats were also made use of, and in the latter the Babylonian traders of 3000 B.C. may even have ventured out into the protected waters of the Persian Gulf, while Egyptians certainly used a few vessels in the Red Sea on one occasion a century or two later. These were, however, exceptional and noted with wonder. It was to the rivers that boats were restricted.
On rivers, though less energy is used than on land, there is the disadvantage that men must go where the river goes. Rivers, and especially those with few or no tributaries like the Euphrates or Nile, cannot, even when supplemented by canals, be of such service as the sea, for, when once on the sea, it is possible to go to the ends of the earth. Thus the geographical distribution of land and water is of enormous importance, and one of the most important features of that distribution lies in the fact that communication by sea is easy, just because the sea is one and the lands are many.
But to those early peoples, even after thousands of years of civilization, the mystery of the unknown forbade a greater knowledge of the sea. Everyone was familiar with the land, but the fertile districts on which men lived were separated from the sea by marshes. Rivers flowing through the land were familiar, but no one knew the sea ; to venture on it was a fearful thing. When men did discover the sea, they made one of the great discoveries of the world; henceforward it became part of history. It was no longer an impassable barrier, but a bond which united all lands on its borders.
It is significant that it was the people who lived where the great land Way came to the sea who really made the first discovery. Here under the mountains is a fertile though narrow belt of coast on which is no border swamp ; here the sea is deep. Thus the inhabitants of this land are never out of sight of the sea ; they are compelled to think of it, and they can with far less trouble than elsewhere launch their boats out on to the deep.
It was of extraordinary importance, too, that the particular sea that was thus discovered was the Mediter ranean. It is, as many have pointed out, a place where seamanship, not merely river navigation, may be learned. As its name implies, it is set in the midst of lands, and because it is an inland sea not only are storms of less effect than on the open ocean, but, what was of even more importance for these mariners of old, it is a tideless sea, so that almost anywhere, at almost any time, small vessels, and such they all were, could easily land. These advantages it had in common with the Persian Gulf and with the Red Sea, though its far greater extent was of importance. But there are other advantages not possessed by either of the others. Its coasts on the whole are far more fertile, nor is it wanting in good natural harbours ; with its many projecting points and indentations of coastline, and islands rising through the waters, land need never be far out of sight, and may always be a refuge. It is a very nursery of seamen.