between Europe and the Far East, and ruled the con- 

 quered countries by military power. This Ottoman Empire 

 lasted until 1800 when revolts in the Balkan countries 

 caused it to break down. Today Turkey remains alone as 

 a Republic. 



Japan began as a region inhabited by a seafaring people 

 coming from the Pacific islands in about 400 B.C. The early 

 Japanese developed largely in isolation until the fifth cen- 

 tury A.D., when contact with China led to Buddhism being 

 accepted alongside the primitive Japanese religion, and 

 to the use of the Chinese character system of writing. The 

 Japanese excelled in art and landscape gardening in the 

 fourteenth to sixteenth centuries, but the feudal character 

 of their social structure made further advance in acquiring 

 knowledge practically impossible. Although Japan resisted 

 European attempts at communication, the country was 

 forced to open to trade in c. 1850 by the United States of 

 America. The Japanese thenceforth developed into a great 

 industrial power, discarding many of their former super- 

 stitions. In 1941 they attempted to gain territory in the 

 Pacific from America, to improve their population position 

 in their overcrowded island, but the Japanese War was an 

 eventual complete failure. Since 1945 Japan has regained 

 a leading position in world trade, but the Japanese must 

 still look towards nearby lands into which to expand — 

 particularly the Australian Continent. 



The great Roman Empire of A.D. 200 broke up into 

 Eastern and Western parts around 260 A.D. with the rise 

 in Christianity. The Church, with its Pope in Rome, came 

 into conflict with the Roman Emperor (who had accepted 

 Christianity), since the respective spiritual and economic- 

 military outlooks of these two leaders were essentially in- 

 compatible. From this division the present-day attitude of 



27 



