ASIA
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ASIA
were included the remote semi-Oriental territories
of Cappadocia and Pontas, Cilicia and Lesser Armenia.
Outside of Konian law and administration ttieir only
element of earnest unity was in the Christian religion,
and it is not at all insignificant that the tirst cxpres-
Bion of a sense of close and solid relationship should
oonie from a Christian philosopliic historian, and
precisely at the moment when the new religion
had finally liorne down in town and coimtry all
forms of opposition and apathy, and filled with a
new spirit the exhauste<l races and now lifeless cul-
ture of past ages.
II. Geo(;k.\phy. — It is an elevated plateau, ranging in its surfaces from two to five thousand feet above the sea level, from which rise great moun- tain chains that run east and west with a certain regularity, while minor groups of mountains and isolated i^eaks of savage grandeur are widely scat- tered over the iminen.se tabh^-land. In extent Asia Minor covers alxiut 270.0(K1 s(iuare miles and is about the size of France, while in its main physical features it has often been compared with Spain. The mountains of the northern coast, or Pontic range, ri.se abruptly from the sea for a long distance, are broken by no good harbovirs, and fall gradually away towards the Bosphonis. Those of the south- ern or Taunis range run in an irregular line not far from the Mediterranean and form a natviral barrier between the central highlands and the southern sea, broken only by the coastal plains of Pamphylia and Cilicia. Inland, the Anti-Tavinis range and isolated peaks lift their huge walls from seven to ten thousand feet and render difficult the intercommunication of the inhabitants. Some of these peaks, like Mt. Arga-us in Cappadocia (13,100) are of volcanic origin, and smaller cones with well-preserved craters are numerous. There are but few passes, usually at a great height, the most notable of them being the famous Gates of Cilicia (Pyla> Cilicia") at the easternmost extremity, a narrow gorge (3,300) be- tween two lofty mountains, the only entrance from the plains of Syria, and therefore at all times the road followed by the Eastern conquerors of Asia Minor. At the extreme west the mountains descend gradually to the sea which they pierce with ninnber- H?ss headlands and projections tliat give rise to the sj-stem of bays and inlets in which Asia Minor has at all times found its chief resources and its most attractive charm.
Asia Minor is a rich field for the geologist. The immense central mass of Mt. Arg^us in Cappadocia is largely cretaceous limestone, and elsewhere, south and west, calcareous rocks abound. The rivers carry off enormous quantities of this material which, as it hardens to travertine, forces them to shift their beds, petrifies vegetation, and sterilizes the surround- ings. Igneous rocks are frequent, and there is still abundance of the Proconnesian and Phrygian marliles that once tem))ted the sculptors and builders of Pergamus and Rhodes. The mineral wealth is very great, but much neglected. The rivers are numerous and fall mostly into the Black Sea or the Mediterranean. Hut they are all sinuous and nar- row, and as a nile very shallow. Moreover, falling from groat interior heights, they Ijecome regularly torrential floods that carry away vast masses of alluvial matter, which they de|x>sit in the .sea, thereby filling up good harlxiurs, converting into lakes ports once open, and pushing their deltas so far seaward that they become a menace to navigation. The lack of navigable rivers reaching well into the interior has always lieen a source of political and economic weakness for Asia Minor, and is perhaps the chief reason why in antiquity it never took on the character of a great united state. In later times this was much more deplorable, owing to the niin of the once excellent system of Roman roads,
the suspicious and unprogressive attitude of the
Turkish authorities, ana the decay of all the land-
improvements made by the original native nices,
the Greeks of the coast and coastal valleys, the Ro-
mans of the imperial period, and the Byzantine
population. The interior plateau has an average alti-
tude of 3,.t00 feet , and stretches north-east by south-
nest a distance of 2.")0 miles in length by IfiO in
breadth. Much of it is a treeless and barren waste
covered with salt lakes or brackish pools, and with
a stunted growth of .saline brush, wormwood, sage,
and fern. Yet it supports many nomadic and semi-
nomadic tribes of Turcomans and Yuruks. who
wander at will over the.se lonely wastes and undula-
ting downs in search of pasturage and water for
their vast flocks of sheep and goats, though in the
hot summer months they seek the higher levels for
purer air and the welfare of their flocks.
There are twenty-six lakes on this great plateau, some of which compare favourably with the great lakes of Switzerland, both for size and beauty. Hot medicinal springs are verj' numerous and form one of the distinctive features of the land. In general the climate is colder than that of the European peninsulas wHthin the same degrees of latitude, and IS subject to greater extremes of temperature. One cau.se of the great extremes of cold and heat is the general lack of moisture; that of the clouds is inter- cepted by the tall mountains, north and south, while the discharge of all the rivers is only about one-third of the united volume of the rivers of France. The northern coast, l)etween Constantinople and Sinone, is exposed to the cold blasts of unimpeded polar winds and to sultry summer heats; on the other hand, to the north-east the lofty peaks of the Cau- casus intercept the cold winds from the steppes of Russia and permit the growth of magnificent forests and of wild fruit-trees in abundance. The western coast hius a temperature somewhat lower than that of Greece, owing to the atmospheric currents de- veloped by the countless headlands and inlets of the Ionian coast. The southern coast, sheltered from the no.lh winds by the Taurus range, enjoys a warm and genial climate comparable to that of southern France, though its summer is very dry. On the central plateau the climate is affected by the eleva- tion and aspect of the land, but chiefly by the scanty rainfall; in some places the blue sky remains for six or seven months unflecked by a single cloud As a rule, the summer is exceedingly hot and the winter equally cold. Even on the coast malaria is endemic, owing to the stagnant pools, swamps, and marshy tracts formed by the shifting of river beds, inundations, and the formation of deltjis. Moreover, the deforestation of the interior permits the contaminated air of the low-lying pestilential
Flains to be wafted freely over the central plateau, n respect to climate .\sia Minor has greatly de- teriorated since Roman antiquitv. owing chiefly to the low-grade civilization of its Turkish population and the utter inefficiency of the ci^il administration. The flora of Asia Minor is verj- varied, apart from the scanty vegetation of the inland plateau. The oak is found there in fifty-two varieties, half of which occur nowhere else. On the northern slopes of the central plateau grow the walnut, box. l)eech, ash, and other trees; the great forest of .Ajakh-Dagh (Sea of Trees) is 120 miles long bv -10 broad, and its trees exhibit generally a much larger growth than those of other lands vmder the same latitude. There are also great forests on all the northern slopes of the Black Sea ranjies. On the southern slo]x>s of the Taurus, to an altitude of (i.(X)0 feet, noble cedar proves grow and tower above the pines, firs, and junipers, while below them, gradually dropping to the sea, are broad l)elts of palm groves and aloes and other sub-tropical growths. In the eastern
