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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



yellow and sometimes brown, beard 

 scanty, hair straight and black." 



The other three races do not concern 

 us, as they have in no way affected the 

 history of Europe or contributed to its 

 life. 



The Caucasians and Mongolians are 

 further divided into branches or groups, 

 distinguished by difference in language 

 and by minor physical peculiarities. 



Two main divisions are at once recog- 

 nized among the Caucasians, designated 

 as the Indo-European or Japhetic and 

 the Syro-Arab or Semitic. Indo-Euro- 

 pean indicates the belief that Europeans 

 came from the basin of the Indus. Syro- 

 Arab means, originating in Syria and 

 Arabia. 



THE INDO-EUROPEAN FAMILY 



The Indo-European includes eight 

 branches or groups. These are : in Asia, 

 the Aryas or Hindus of India, the Per- 

 sians and the Armenians, the last two 

 being often termed Iranians from the 

 great plateau of Iran where they had 

 their origin; in Europe, the Greeks, 

 Latins, Celts, Teutons, or Germans, and 

 Slavs. 



Common usage treats these groups as 

 races, so properly we speak of the Celtic 

 race or the Slavic race or of the races of 

 Europe. Because of the intimate rela- 

 tions of the Greeks and Latins and the 

 cognate nearness of their languages, the 

 two are denoted as of the Greco-Latin 

 race. German and Teuton are inter- 

 changeable, being synonymous terms. 



The great majority of the peoples who 

 have invaded Europe and whose de- 

 scendants are now settled there belong 

 to the Indo-European family. In addi- 

 tion, about 30,000,000 persons, or one- 

 fifteenth of the inhabitants of Europe, 

 are Finno-Ugrians and Turks, members 

 of the Ural-Altaic branch of the Mon- 

 golian family. All the rest, except the 

 Jews, Maltese, and Saracens (Syro- 

 Arab), and possibly except the Basques, 

 are of Indo-European stock. 



Ural-Altaian comprehends peoples, 

 found between the Altai and Ural moun- 

 tains. Finno-Ugrian is specific of a 

 western group of Ural- Altaians. The 



term is derived from Finn and Ugra, the 

 region on both sides of the Urals. 



GEOGRAPHIC CONDITIONS DETERMINE) 

 RACE MIGRATIONS 



The various routes of migration into 

 Europe, the later wanderings of the im- 

 migrants, and their constant relocations, 

 may be directly traced to geographic 

 causes, of which the mountain system, 

 the rivers and plains had a determinative 

 part (see map, page 506). 



The backbone and dominant factor of 

 the continent is the Alps. The Pyrenees 

 and the rugged Scandinavian plateau 

 stand isolated and apart. But the Ceven- 

 nes, the Jura, the Vosges, the Apennines, 

 the tri-lateral of Bohemia, the Carpa- 

 thians, the Balkans, and the gigantic 

 masses of Montenegro, Albania, and 

 Greece, are outspurs of the Alps. West, 

 south, and southeast their foothills touch 

 the seas. 



Though the Alps loom across the con- 

 tinent like a barrier, they are less diffi- 

 cult to traverse than the Pyrenees. More 

 than a dozen Alpine passes were familiar 

 to the military expeditions of the Ro- 

 mans. A pass is not a gorge but a way, 

 resulting from depressions in the great 

 range to which deep-cut valleys lead 

 from plains. Over those depressions 

 poured not only the troops of Hannibal 

 and Napoleon but numerous invaders 

 both before and after Julius Caesar. 



In the Alps are the fountain heads of 

 the Rhone, Rhine, and Po, and in the 

 outspurs rise the Loire, Seine, Meuse, 

 Elbe, Oder, Vistula, and Danube. These 

 rivers have each limited or determined 

 the wanderings of peoples, the march of 

 armies, and the boundaries of States. 

 The Danube was a natural and inevi- 

 table westward roadway of pastoral 

 peoples from Asia. 



THE ALPS, THE SIGN-POST OP EUROPE'S 

 RACES 



A line drawn from the mouth of the 

 Pruth to the mouth of the Niemen, and 

 thence prolonged through the Baltic and 

 Gulf of Bothnia to the sources of the 

 Torne Elf, gives an approximation of 

 real or historic Europe's eastern frontier 



