4.10 The National Geographic Magazine 



great desert stretched almost continu- 

 ously from the Mediterranean to India 

 and China, and threatened the lives of 

 men and animals which invaded it. At 

 the south of that desert was that im- 

 passable mass of mountains known as 

 " The Roof of the World "—the Hima- 

 layas. 



.0 iB% 1900 i903 

 JAPAN 



I860 i860 1890 l 

 INDIA 



l i890 1900 1903 

 CHINA 



FOREIGN COMMERCE OF JAPAN. INDIA AND CHINA 

 (in millions of Dollars.) 



A Comparison of Japan, India, and China 

 Today. See page 416 



RUSSIA AN EARLY ARRIVER IN THE 

 ORIENT 



Only by working through the passes 

 in the Ural range and thence cross- 

 ing the trackless wilds of Siberia was 

 it possible for Europeans to reach the 

 Orient by the land route ; and it was 

 by this route that one nation did find 

 its way by land to the Far East, while 

 the others were relying upon the water 

 route. That nation was Russia. We 

 are accustomed to think of Russia 



as a newcomer in the Orient, but in 

 fact it was earlier in that field — much 

 earlier than is realized by many who 

 have but casually read the history of 

 that persistent people. Even before 

 the discovery of America the Russians 

 were looking over the Urals toward the 

 east and making short incursions into 

 the territory which they were des- 

 tined to occupy. By the year 1580 

 they had established permanent set- 

 tlements in the eastern part of what 

 is now known as Siberia. By 1620 

 they were half way to the Pacific ; by 

 1638, only eighteen years after the 

 Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth 

 Rock, they had actually established 

 themselves on the Pacific coast ; by 

 1 74 1 they had crossed Bering Sea into 

 northwestern America, and before the 

 adoption of our Constitution they had 

 established a permanent settlement in 

 Alaska, where they remained until 

 the purchase of that territory by the 

 United States, in 1867. 



But beginning with the middle of 

 the last century there came a new 

 and marked development of the com- 

 merce of the Occident with the Orient. 

 Prior to 1842 all trade in China was 

 carried on through the " Hong mer- 

 chants," designated by the Chinese 

 government as intermediaries for trade 

 with foreigners. 



In 1842 the British government, 

 through what is known in history as 

 the " opium war," forced the Chinese 

 government to open five ports to the 

 trade of its vessels, and two years later 

 similar privileges were given to the 

 United States, and shortly thereafter to 

 other countries, and these " treaty 

 ports ' ' have been increased from time 

 to time until they now number about 

 forty. In 1854 Japan, upon the insist- 

 ence of the United States, opened its 

 doors to our commerce, and a little later 

 to other countries of the world. In 

 1858 the British government took the 

 entire control of India and began the 



