CHAPTER IV
THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF RACES
WE have seen so far that physical geography and economic geography are both on the side of tradition and conservatism. What can we learn further from the geographical distribution of races?
I
We have already emphasized the fact that for ten centuries Russia has been a debatable land, a terra nullius, open to all barbarians and to all nomads. For ten centuries these barbarian hordes have swept like torrents over the plain. But ever on the fertile steppe the green grass would grow again after the horse of Attila had passed. The forty-eight races which are scattered all over the empire represent the alluvial strata of these barbaric invasions. The ethnographical map of Russia tells us of the migrations and revolutions of races, even as the
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