POLITICAL DIVISIONS. in the political affairs of Asia, as in those of the African continent, the predominance of European influence has become marked during the last 200 years, though the power of the European nations has not been as completely established over the native races of Asia as over those of the Dark Continent. Still, reference to the table appended to this article will show that nearly two-thirds of the area of Asia, and nearly one-half of its population are under the control of the European powers, and even in the unappropriated area and over the nominally independent peoples, the ascendancy of Western culture, spreading mainly through the channels of commerce, is rapidly being estab lished. While China, Siam, and Persia are as yet autonomous, the play of European politics is rapidly becoming the guiding force of their national life. Ultimately Siam seems destined to be annexed to the Indo-Chinese Empire, which France has built up in Farther India; Persia at present is a stake in the political game going on between Great Britain and Russia ; and China, by reason of its huge size and the immense op portunities it promises for exploitation, has awakened the ambitions of all the nations of Europe. Japan alone has safely grounded its national existence, because its people have shown an aptitude for adopting the civilization of the Europeans without falling under the power of their civilizers. The striking fact, then, about conditions in Asia at the present time, is that the continent which first gave civilization to the world has in turn become subject to the higher state of civilization to which Europe, favored by many circumstances, has attained. The struggle for supremacy is much more,acute in Asia than in Africa, because in the former coun try European culture has no free field to work in, and finds itself confronted by political and religious systems of great antiquity and of suf ficient strength to render powerful resistance. In the southern part of Asia there is not any room for the influx of European colonization, as there is in the sparsely settled continent. of Africa. With an area exceeding that of Africa by one-half, the Asiatic continent has about five times its population, and therefore the es tablishment of European domination must mean not so much the actual occupation of the soil by the Western nations as the control of the native races by the European powers, acting through the long-established machinery of local government and ancient forms of life. The ride played by
Russia in Siberia, however must be distinguished from the part played by the other nations in southern Asia ; for Siberia, the Russian provinces in Central Asia, and the Caucasus region are in reality not foreign possessions. but constitute an integral unit with the Russian Empire in Europe, from which the first two are separated by no considerable physical harriers. The plains of Siberia are a continuation of the South Rus sian steppes, and the nomad inhabitants of Si beria are closely akin to the Tartar peoples that dwell on the lower Volga and the Caspian. Finally, the vast stretches of Russian Asia, with their mere sprinkling of inhabitants, afford such an opportunity for European colonization as the southern part of the continent can never pre sent.
Among the Powers of Europe, jealousy and dis sension have appeared over the question of pre dominance in Asia, and, as in Africa, certain spheres of infitmn•e have been marked out in which individual powers are allowed a free hand in their dealings with the natives. The danger of coniliet between the European Powers arises when the boundaries of such spheres approaeh too near to each other, or perhaps intersect. The supremacy of England is, of course, recog nized in India and Burma. Russia. is pre dominant over all of northern Asia. Persia and Afghanistan are at present neutral ground, or rather the battle-places of Russian and British influence. French influence is supreme in ludo China, and the power of the Dutch is predominant in the East Indies. Germany, which has been the last to enter the field, is an important factor in the Turkish provinces of Asia Minor, and by the seizure of Kino-•lmu in 1897 gained a foothold in China. That Empire, also, although still in tact, has effectually been partitioned into cer tain spheres, and the most interesting que*tion of the future is whether these spheres of intim enc@s, in China are destined to become provinces in fact, or whether one of the European Powers will prove strong enough to exercise for itself control over the entire enormous mass of the Middle Kingdom. The problem, then, that awaits solution is twofold. In the first place, it concerns th'e relations of the European Powers among themselves in regard to the distribution of the prize of political and commercial power in Asia. In the second place, it must deal with the task of the control of the Asiatic races by na tions differing from them in race, religion, and civilization.