HISTORY 317 



inhabitants of all parts of the earth unknown to the 

 government of the ancient Roman Empire, since all 

 Europe is the outcome of Roman civilisation modified by 

 the action upon it of the inhabitants of the provinces it 

 conquered and of unconquered regions near it. 



There appears much reason to believe that one stock, 

 or early race, of mankind was the common parent of 

 almost all the inhabitants of Europe, Persia and India, 

 and this race has been distinguished as Indo-Germanic 

 or Aryan. The exceptions are the Laps and Finns of 

 Northern Europe, the Basques of the South- West, and 

 the Turks. 



The Non-aryan inhabitants of Asia were the Turks, 

 Mongols and Chinese, together with the very remarkable 

 people known as Semites remarkable indeed because 

 amongst them rose the Jewish, Christian and Mahom- 

 medan religions, while they also gave origin to some of 

 the grossest and most cruel forms of paganism. The 

 "Semitic" nations were the Jews, the Arabs, and the 

 Phoenicians. The last named dwelt on the sea coast 

 of Syria, whence they sent forth colonies, the most 

 notable of which was Carthage, though some were 

 beyond the Straits of Gibraltar, one of these being Cadiz. 

 The inhabitants of Africa were of negro race, save the 

 Egyptians in the north (where the valley of the Nile 

 sheltered and, through its annually rising waters, 

 nourished them) together with north-western tribes over 

 which Carthage came to dominate. 



Of the Aryan Europeans, the earliest to have authentic 

 historical records, and the most famous in early science, 

 literature and art, were the Greeks. It is one of the 

 most wonderful facts of history that so small a people, 

 inhabiting so restricted a territory of islands and 

 peninsulas, mountains and valleys, should, almost 



