A SKETCH OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 



OF ASIA MINOR 



By Sir William Ramsay, D. C. L., LL. D. 



A glance at the pages of the past will aid the readers of The Geographic in 

 grasping the significance of the recent upheaval in Asia Minor, especially in the 

 vicinity of Smyrna and along the shores of the Sea of Marmora. The author of 

 the following article is one of the foremost authorities on the geography and the 

 history of the Near Bast, his knowledge having been gained during a residence of 

 more than 50 years in this part of the world. — The Editor. 



THE great peninsula of Asia Minor 

 protrudes toward the west from 

 the main mass of the continent of 

 Asia and reaches out toward Europe, from 

 which it is divided by the ^Egean Sea and 

 by the salt-water river called the Bosporus 

 and the Dardanelles. Until a compara- 

 tively recent geologic age, it actually 

 reached Europe, and the ^Egean Sea did 

 not exist. 



The name Asia Minor is a medieval in- 

 vention ; the ancients used no single name 

 for this large peninsula, which they never 

 regarded as a unity, but only as a con- 

 geries of distinct countries — Lydia, Phry- 

 gia, Mysia, Cappadocia, Lycaonia, etc. 

 The Turkish name Anadol, Anatolia, is 

 not exactly coextensive, but is a useful 

 variation. 



The length from east to west is from 

 500 to 700 miles, according to the eastern 

 limit chosen by individual inclination. 

 Some extend the name as far as the 

 Euphrates or even beyond ; others make 

 the eastern boundary run north from the 

 line of Mf. Amanus (Turkish, Alma- 

 Dagh), which bounds Cilicia on the east. 

 Its breadth north to south varies from 

 300 to 400 miles (see map, page 554). 



The peninsula is shaped like a hand 



In shape the peninsula of Asia Minor 

 may be compared by a rough analogy to 

 the right hand laid palm upward, with 

 the fingers pointing to the west. The 

 palm is the central plateau, which is sur- 

 rounded with a rim of mountains. Like 

 fingers, five chains of mountains extend 

 from the plateau, most of them stretching 

 far out into the ^Egean Sea, as if they 

 were trying to force their way to Europe. 



These mountain chains are continued 

 by chains of islands, which form, as it 

 were, stepping-stones for the march of a 



giant from Asia to Europe. Mt. Ida, 

 which is the western end of the "thumb," 

 is continued by Tenedos, Imbros, and 

 vSamothrace. The first mountain-finger, 

 though comparatively insignificant on 

 land, is resumed by the islands of Lesbos, 

 Lemnos, etc. The second finger, Tmolus, 

 is continued by the islands of Chios, 

 Ipsara, Skyros, etc. ; and the third, Mes- 

 sogis, by the islands of Samos, Icaria, 

 Tenos, Andros, while the great ridge of 

 Taurus is continued across the sea by the 

 larger islands of Rhodes and Crete. 



Each of these chains turns northward 

 and is continued on the European side of 

 the ^Egean Sea. 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY MADE ASIA MINOR'S 

 PEOPLE SEAFARERS 



Accordingly, in Asia Minor, Europe 

 and Asia meet both geographically and 

 historically. But the main mass of the 

 peninsula is Asiatic in character — a con- 

 tinuation of central Asia — monotonous, 

 level, unchanging, but molding man to its 

 own character and imposing a general 

 similarity of type on every race, Asiatic 

 or European, that has settled there. 



The west coast, however, is as broken 

 and irregular as European Greece or 

 Scotland. Long arms of the .Egean Sea 

 stretch up into the land, alternating with 

 those long mountain fingers which project 

 far out into the sea. 



Very frequently the sea presents by far 

 the shortest way from one point to an- 

 other on the land ; and during a great part 

 of the year it is so quiet, or moved only 

 by winds so regular and certain, that it 

 tempts men to navigation and has tempted 

 them from the beginning of history. 



You may stand on a promontory of 

 western Asia Minor and signal by hand 

 across the sea-arm ; in fact, in the clear 



553 



