The eight geographical regions of the world referred to above will now be presented, one region at a time, with accompanying semi-diagrammatic map-plates. All of these are drawn to the exact same scale and on each the region to be discussed will be outlined in green. Subdivisions will be indicated as well as possible, and shown in different colors. The map-diagrams are not drawn on the classical Mercator projection, but rather with all latitude lines drawn straight, rather than with the usual curve. This allows one to easily appreciate east-west relationships at a glance. The latitude lines, drawn at 10° intervals, are thus approximately 690 statute miles apart and longitude lines which are also at 10°intervals will be the same distance apart near the equator. As one approaches either of the earth’s poles, however, these lines converge and are separated by progressively shorter distances. All maps on a flat surface purporting to represent a portion of a sphere will have distortion and these are no exception, with the peripheries deformed particularly by the method of constructing the longitude lines as a series of straight segments. These figures are presented so that one can make comparisons of the various geographical regions as to size, latitude, and adjacent relationships.
Africa is a tremendous continent, measuring nearly 5,000 miles from north to south and the same from the western edge at 20° north latitude to the eastern "horn". It comprises over 20% of the earth's land surface. Throughout the manuscript we shall discuss Africa under the subdivisions listed below.
This area includes present day Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia. It has about 2,000,000 square miles and is a region where Hamitic and Semitic Caucasoids have met and merged with Negroid stock. Many of the Negroids seem different than other black Africans and some authorities believe them to be a separate race, as for example – the Masai. (Ref. 83). In ancient times part of Ethiopia (Abyssinia) was known as Axum, while portions of the Sudan have been known as Kush and Nubia. The Nile River runs through all of these countries with the exception of Somalia.
This area includes present day Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and a large part of the Sahara Desert. Overall there are nearly 3,000,000 square miles and the majority of the present population is descendant from the original inhabitants, as no invader ever brought many individuals to the area. Even the great Arab waves of the 7th and 8th centuries probably involved less than 200,000 people. The Berbers are a Caucasoid type, but with much physical variation from tribe to tribe. They inhabit most of the coastal region, much of the mountainous country and the oases. The basic population of the Sahara proper, particularly its more southern portions, was and is today basically Negroid, some native and some descended from slaves. (Ref. 83).
This area extends from far west Africa across the Sudanic plain as far east as the Lake Chad environs, then down to the equatorial district as well as central, east and south Africa and the major islands. This very large spread of land has many and varied peoples and cultures, but historical material is still relatively meager for most of it and from the standpoint of manuscript space, it seems best to consider it under one section.
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Although in present media parlance the "Middle East" includes Egypt, we prefer to consider that country as basically a part of Africa and will use the term NEAR EAST to refer to the area shown within the black border on the map below. In spite of its overall small size, we shall divide this geographical region into five subdivisions.
This includes all the present countries of the Arabian Peninsula, including Oman, Yemen, Democratic Yemen, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, as well as some smaller emirates and nations. Jordan, lying at the base of the peninsula is included also, since its people and land have historically been an intimate part of the desert culture.
Present day Lebanon is almost identical geographically with ancient Phoenicia but Israel's borders have varied greatly under differing names throughout the ages. Although Syria has always had a narrow opening on the sea, we prefer to group this country with its eastern neighbor, Iraq. The eastern Mediterranean coast is and always has been Semitic, although Jew and Arab alike seem to want to deny their genetic relationship and the area has been a constant battlefield as well as a crossroads between Asia, Africa and Europe.
Present Iraq has nearly the same borders as ancient Mesopotamia. Syria has had mobile borders for centuries and we are maintaining this designation for that area wedged between Asia Minor, Iraq and Lebanon. Historically, linguistically, politically and genetically it has always had close association with Iraq.
Iran is basically a non-Arabic, non-Semitic country with an Indo-European speaking people. I-historically and religiously, however, it has been a part of the Near East for centuries, at present sharing the majority Moslem religion. Its eastern portion is chiefly desert.
The Anatolian peninsula, currently represented chiefly by the country of Turkey, historically has been a land of many different nations and peoples. In the eastern end, the ancient country of Armenia has been now absorbed mainly by the Soviet Union but we are keeping this district of ancient Armenia as a separate entity in this work.
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The semi-diagrammatic map of Europe below demonstrates that if one eliminates Russia, the land mass involved is scarcely larger than the NEAR EAST. We should also note that the bulk of Europe lies at a latitude north of both the Black and the Caspian Seas and that only a small portion of Siberia lies farther north than European Russia. As indicated on the plate, these two portions of the Soviet Union have traditionally been separated by the Ural Mountain region. It is easy to see how early mariners from Norway and the British Isles could sail directly west to Iceland and then on to Greenland and America. Europe will be discussed in the text under several subdivisions which, in later centuries, will be further divided. These sections will be noted below.
This division will be discussed with four sub-sections. First will be the eastern Mediterranean islands which modern authorities are considering as the site of the first truly European societies (in contrast to being a part of the Near East), These include the Cyclades, Crete, Rhodes, Cyprus and even Malta. The second area will be Greece and the third the upper Balkans which includes present day Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romani and Albania. Historically other countries have occupied this region, such as Macedonia, Serbia, Thrace, etc. Lastly the division will have Italy, with some comments about Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica from time to time.
Arbitrarily this will include five sub-sections - Germany, Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Switzerland. Although Hungary and Czechoslovakia are now usually considered a part of eastern Europe because of present ideologies, we have put them in Central Europe because of their long political associations with Austria and Germany.
These are the nations along the Atlantic coast, thus Spain, Portugal, France, the Netherlands and Belgium and finally the British Isles. The latter will be further broken down at times into England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.
In addition to the expected sub-sections of Norway, Sweden and Denmark, this division will include Finland. Although originally genetically different from the true Scandinavian countries, Finland was a part of Sweden for some 600 years and still has Swedish as one of its two official languages. On occasions there will also be comments about Iceland.
This will include the southern Baltic countries such as Poland, Old Prussia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia as well as European Russia.
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The reader will note on the map to follow that this geographical region is of the general magnitude of North America, but much smaller than Africa. The map does not include the very far eastern tip of Soviet Siberia with the Magadan region and the Kamchatka peninsula. That extends roughly 600 miles farther east than the edge of the diagram, but it is of little interest in-this manuscript. Although the various sub-divisions of central and northern Asia are not discussed formally, as such, in the text because of constant changing of borders and names throughout the centuries, the various present day component parts will be discussed under their current names.
The boundaries of this area have been chosen somewhat arbitrarily so that the region is bounded by European Russia on the northwest, Manchuria and China on the southeast, Iran, Pakistan, India and Southeast Asia on the south and otherwise by the Arctic and Pacific oceans and the Caspian Sea. Siberia is a vast land lying almost entirely north of the 50th parallel. Just below its center lies Mongolia, at roughly the latitude of Poland, but about as large as Poland, Germany and France together. In south central Asia the present states of Kazakh, Turkmen, Usbek, and Kirghiz all are incorporated within the Soviet Union. The ancient and important city of Samarkand is in Usbek while Tashkent lies at the eastern edge of Kirghiz. Standing alone south of these central states is the country of Afghanistan, shown in yellow. All of these central Asian areas have a great mixture of Turkish and Mongolian peoples, with perhaps some remnants of the old Indo-European speaking Kushans. The Moslem religion is predominant today.
The area shown in light red on the diagram deserves special mention. This is the Zvarea of Tibet and Sinkiang, both of which are currently a part of the Peoples Republic of China. Historically and genetically, at least until very recent years, however, these A-were central Asian peoples, not "Han" Chinese and so, ignoring the present political border we have elected to include this large area under the heading of Central Asia. Thus there is a heavy dotted line border, rather than a solid line about these regions, as at present they are not actually defined as "countries".
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All parts of traditional India will be included under this heading and this means that present day Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka will be involved. Please note that this area is approximately the same size as the Near East and much of it lies at the same latitude. The Indus River valley, site of one of the world’s earliest civilizations, is now in Pakistan, while the second great Indian River, the Ganges, terminates, in part, in Bangladesh. As we shall emphasize in the text, this subcontinent contains an almost unbelievable mixture of peoples, languages, customs and religions.
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In general this region concerns most of the Pacific coast nations of Asia. The northern people of this area tend to be taller and heavier than the southerners. Language shows greater diversification, even within the confines of China proper, with the northerners speaking Mandarin (now the official language for all Chinese), while the southern Chinese primarily speak one of several mutually unintelligible dialects, including Cantonese, Wu and Fukien. Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese make up a language family which in turn is a branch of a language stock called “Sino-Tibetan". The "Tibeto-Burman" family is another division of this stock. In contrast, the Mongolians and Manchurians to the north belong to an entirely different "Altaic" language stock which includes Turkic, Mongolian and Tungusic (Manchu) language families.
In the text this sixth geographical area will be discussed under four main subdivisions.
This will not include China’s more recent central Asiatic acquisitions, namely Sinkiang and Tibet, but will include Manchuria and classical China, which is about one-half the size of the continental United States and extends from the great Wall in the north, the inner Asian wastelands, and Tibetan highlands in the west, down to the Pacific on the east and south. It is divided transversely by the Qin Ling mountain chain into the northern Yellow river basic, the site of the earliest Chinese civilization, and the more southern Yangste, sub-tropical basin. (Ref. 73, 101).
The land mass of all the Japanese islands together is smaller than the s