THE NEW MAP OF ASIA 



569 



former status as a part of Turkey in 

 Asia.* 



The Kingdom of Hedjaz, over which 

 rules Husein Ibn Ali, Hereditary Keeper 

 of the Holy Places (Mecca and Medina), 

 extends along the northeast shore of the 

 Red Sea, from the principate of Asir to 

 the southwestern frontier of Palestine. 

 It has an area about equal in extent to 

 that of the State of Colorado and a popu- 

 lation of some 750,000. Its capital and 

 chief seaport is Jidda, a town of 30,000 

 inhabitants. 



RUSSIA IN ASIA AN UNSETTLED PROBLEM 



Of that vast territory formerly known 

 as Russia in Asia, embracing Siberia, 

 Transcaucasia, Turkestan, and the 

 Steppes provinces, aggregating an area 

 of more than 6,290,000 square miles 

 (more than three times as large as Russia 

 in Europe), but sustaining a population 

 of only twenty-seven millions — barely 

 four persons to the square mile — little 

 can as yet be said with respect to its 

 political future, and even the reports con- 

 cerning its present status are vague and 

 contradictory. 



Out of Transcaucasia three republics 

 evolved — Azerbaijan, Georgia, and, in 

 part, Armenia. Their existence was 

 tempestuous and short-lived. Whether, 

 when the tide of Bolshevism recedes, they 

 will be able to establish their interdepend- 

 ence as a Transcaucasus governmental 

 trilogy none can say. The boundaries 

 indicated on the accompanying map are 

 merely indicative of their approximate 

 extent as originally conceived. 



For a speculative discussion of the 

 possible future of the "United States of 

 Siberia and Russian Turkestan," the 

 reader is referred to the admirable arti- 

 cle by Viscount Bryce, under the title 

 "Western Siberia and the Altai Moun- 

 tains," in this number of The Geo- 

 graphic (pages 469 to 507). 



JAPAN ASSUMES KIAOCHOW EEASE 



The transfer of German treaty rights 

 in the Chinese province of Shantung 

 (Kiaochow and Tsingtao) to Japan is a 

 cause celebre of recent diplomatic his- 

 tory. The town, harbor, and district of 



* See also "The New Map of Europe," in the 

 National Geographic Magazine for February, 

 1921. 



Kiaochow, embracing an area of some 

 200 square miles, exclusive of the bay, 

 which has an area of an additional 200 

 square miles, were seized by Germany 

 in November, 1897, and in the following 

 March were transferred by treaty to the 

 latter under a 99-year lease. A month 

 later the district was declared a pro- 

 tectorate of Germany and remained as 

 such until November, 191 4, when it was 

 captured and occupied by Japanese 

 forces. 



Despite China's contention at the Paris 

 Peace Conference that there should be a 

 restitution of this leased territory to her, 

 together with a cancellation of all Ger- 

 many's economic privileges, by the Treaty 

 of Versailles the "lease" was transferred 

 to Japan on the ground of conquest. It 

 was for this reason that China refused to 

 become signatory to the treaty with Ger- 

 many, and the whole question constitutes 

 in Asia a "sore spot" similar to the score 

 or more which now pock-mark the face 

 of the political map of Europe. 



Before the influx of the Japanese, the 

 Kiaochow . district had a population of 

 about 200,000. Surrounding the district 

 and bay is a so-called neutral zone of 

 about 2,500 square miles, with 1,200,000 

 inhabitants. 



America's interest in yap 



In addition to her acquisition of the 

 Kiaochow leased district, Japan's spoils 

 from the World War include the formerly 

 German-owned Marshall Archipelago, 

 the Marianas or Ladrone Islands, the 

 Pelew Group, and the Carolines, includ- 

 ing the much-discussed Island of Yap, 

 important from an American standpoint 

 as a connecting link for cables between 

 San Francisco, Hawaii, Guam, the 

 Philippines, China, and the Dutch East 

 Indies. 



The Carolines consist of 500 coral 

 islets, supporting some ten thousand in- 

 habitants ; the Pelews are about twenty- 

 six in number, with 3,000 natives : and 

 the fifteen Marianas have 2,600 inhab- 

 itants. The Marshalls consist of two 

 chains of some twenty-five lagoon islands, 

 supporting a population of 15.000. 



When the American Pacific cable was 

 laid, at the beginning of the twentieth 

 century, from San Francisco to the 

 Philippines by way of Hawaii, the Mid- 



