THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



443 



one between the mountains of the Cau- 

 casus and the Black Sea. 



the origin of the name Europe 



On the map Europe is only an exten- 

 sion or prolongation of Asia ; but to this 

 prolongation its unique physical features 

 and its resultant history have given a 

 distinct preeminence. 



Between Europe and Asia there is no 

 natural boundary ; neither does any offi- 

 cial line of demarcation exist. The 

 Russians sometimes imagine such a line 

 in the "crest of the Urals." But in the 

 wide region over which the broad, low 

 Urals spread, no crest ever has been or 

 can be traced. Moreover, the Urals them - 

 selves traverse only a part of the space 

 which subtends Europe from Asia. Be- 

 cause of the arbitrary or undetermined 

 nature of that eastern boundary, emi- 

 nent authorities vary in their estimate of 

 the total area of Europe by several hun- 

 dred thousand square miles. 



The name Europe has been in use for 

 more than twenty-five hundred years. 

 Its origin and meaning are unknown. 

 Perhaps it is derived, as the ancients be- 

 lieved, from the fair maiden Europa, be- 

 loved of Jupiter. Perhaps it comes from 

 the word irib or ereb, found on Assyrian 

 monuments and supposed to mean dark- 

 ness, or the setting sun, in distinction 

 from asti, found on the same monuments 

 and supposed to mean the rising sun, or 

 Asia. Let us agree, however, with He- 

 rodotus who naively confesses that "no 

 mortal can ever hope to find out the true 

 meaning of this word inherited from the 

 forefathers." 



why Europe's races are progressive 



Europe does not equal one-fourteenth 

 of the land surface and is less than one- 

 fiftieth of the entire surface of the globe ; 

 yet upon it dwell 450,000,000 human 

 beings, more than a fourth of all man- 

 kind. Nor are all Europeans found in 

 Europe. They and their children have 

 occupied and populated the whole West- 

 ern Hemisphere, of which they were the 

 discoverers. They have partitioned and 

 subdued to themselves nearly the whole 

 of Africa. With the exception of China 



and Japan, they control all Asia and all 

 the islands of all the seas. During the 

 last twenty-five centuries, from them as 

 from a focus have radiated the art and 

 science and thought of the world. 



How has this stupendous result been 

 brought about? What potent causes 

 have produced such practical monopoly 

 of universal leadership ? 



That the early ancestors of the present 

 European peoples were more highly en- 

 dowed than their kindred or contempo- 

 raries or possessed greater capacity for 

 development, there is no reason to be- 

 lieve. 



In the physical advantages Europe 

 possesses are revealed the causes which 

 have given to Europeans and the de- 

 scendants of Europeans their unques- 

 tioned superiority. 



Almost the whole of Europe is situ- 

 ated in the northern half of the North 

 Temperate Zone. Its extreme northern 

 point, the North Cape, is nineteen de- 

 grees from the Pole. Tarifa, its extreme 

 southern point, is thirty-six degrees from 

 the Equator. 



Nowhere, except in the farthest boreal 

 limits, does excessive cold stunt body 

 and mind. Nowhere does excessive and 

 continued heat sap energy and enervate 

 the will. No spontaneous prodigality of 

 Nature removes the necessity of exertion 

 and induces sloth. 



Here, where the air invigorates, man 

 must labor if he would survive. The re- 

 wards of labor are reasonably sure, but 

 something more is necessary than to sat- 

 isfy one day's needs. The periodic suc- 

 cession, "the rhythmic swing," of the 

 seasons, where winter invariably follows 

 summer, compels him to take thought and 

 make some provision of food, shelter, 

 and clothing for the days to come. Even 

 slight labor and little forethought, neither 

 of which can be escaped, force him to- 

 ward emergence from the primitive and 

 purely animal state toward higher exist- 

 ence. 



Much thus far said would apply to the 

 parallel region of North America occu- 

 pied by the Dominion of Canada and the 

 United States. It applies to no other 

 portion of the globe. The greater part 



