THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



515 



tonal interests and a common destiny. There 

 are no outward barriers. The same mountain 

 chains, the same deep valleys, the same rivers, 

 traversing both, create natural bonds (see map 

 on page 506). 



Only by a sort of mental wrench can the in- 

 terwoven threads of Spanish and Portuguese 

 racial life be torn apart. But the prominence 

 of each, the great role which each has filled in 

 world affairs, require that they be discussed 

 separately. At first, however, we must con- 

 sider what the peninsula bequeathed them in 

 common. 



Phoenician and Greek traders or colonists, 

 and even the later-arrived Carthaginians, were 

 apparently welcomed by the early Iberi and 

 Celtiberi. Then followed the familiar story of 

 ineffective resistance to Roman aggression. 

 When the Teutonic invaders poured through 

 the Pyrenees or doubled them in their ships, 

 they found a completely Latinized people, en- 

 joying the full Christian civilization of Rome. 

 The Suevi established themselves in the north- 

 west angle, between the Bay of Biscay and the 

 ocean ; the Vandals spread along the southern 

 coasts; the Visi-Goths occupied all the remain- 



