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THE FRONTIERS OF LANGUAGE AND NATIONALITY IN EUROPE
THE FRONTIERS OF LANGUAGE AND NATIONALITY IN EUROPE
BY LEON DOMINIAN PUBLISHED FOR THE AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK BY HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 1917 Copyright , 1917, BY THE AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK THE QUINN & BODEN CO. PRESS RAHWAY, N. J. To my Alma Mater Robert College of Constantinople...
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PREFACE
PREFACE
This book is submitted as a study in applied geography. Its preparation grew out of a desire to trace the connection existing between linguistic areas in Europe and the subdivision of the continent into nations. The endeavor has been made to show that language exerts a strong formative influence on nationality because words express thoughts and ideals. But underlying the currents of national feeling, or of speech, is found the persistent action of the land, or geography, which like the recurrent
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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
By Madison Grant Mr. Dominian’s book on “The Frontiers of Language and Nationality” is the logical outcome of the articles written by him in 1915 in the Bulletin of the American Geographical Society under the titles of “Linguistic Areas in Europe: Their Boundaries and Political Significance” and “The Peoples of Northern and Central Asiatic Turkey.” In the present work the problems arising from the distribution of main European languages and from their relation to political boundaries are discuss
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The Greeks
The Greeks
Our knowledge of the first appearance of Greeks in Asia Minor has undergone radical revision in recent years. Their prehistoric culture can be traced as far back as the Neolithic. The chief interest of modern discovery centers around the now accepted fact that Greek culture originally invaded the region from the south and that the Indo-European element which brought Aryan speech to the land is a later wave which flooded the original Mediterranean stock at some time during the transition from the
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The Turks
The Turks
The appearance and establishment of the Turks in a land which was not that of their origin follows their life as nomad tribesmen of the vast steppeland of central Asia. They were men at large upon the world’s largest continent, the northerners of the east who naturally and unconsciously went forth in quest of the greater comforts afforded by southern regions. The flatlands which gave birth to their race lie open to the frozen gales of the north. Their continental climate, icy cold or burning hot
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Mohammedan Immigrants
Mohammedan Immigrants
Ever since the establishment of Turkish authority in western Asia the policy of the Sultan’s officials has been directed towards attracting Mohammedan settlers from foreign countries to the unpopulated districts of Turkey. Particularly at the end of unsuccessful wars, special efforts are made to induce Moslem inhabitants of lost provinces to return within Turkish boundaries, where land often exempt from taxation is assigned to them. Widely distributed Circassian, Tatar and Turkoman settlements o
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Mohammedan Dissenters
Mohammedan Dissenters
A number of communities whose origin is wrapped in obscurity are found off well-beaten avenues on the Anatolian table-land. A mild, temperate lot, broad-shouldered and open-faced, they have much in common, in spite of diversity of worship and isolation. Racially they present few of the Turki features. Their speech is usually Turkish, but they keep rigidly apart from the Turks. They are Mohammedans in name only. Having secured immunity from the fanaticism of the masters of the land, they have sec
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The Armenians
The Armenians
The table-land on which Armenian life unfolded itself was faulted into blocks and covered by flows of huge volcanoes after the Miocene. Pontic ranges fringe it on the north and thereby forbid access to the Black Sea. [231] On the south, the folds of the Anti-Taurus mountains likewise act as successive barriers. But no mountain obstacles intervene to the east or west of Armenia. Close racial, linguistic and historical relations can therefore be traced between Armenians and Persians today. Further
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The Kurds
The Kurds
An Alpine zone of transition connecting the plains of northern Mesopotamia with the surrounding mountains on the north and east became the homeland of the Kurds. In a broad sense it is the drainage area of the Tigris and Euphrates. It is also the site of important mountain gaps through which human movements from east to west or vice versa have proceeded. Before the consolidation of Turkish authority in this region, a matter of less than a century ago and still in an imperfect stage of completion
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The Syrians
The Syrians
Syria is the elongated land passage, barely fifty miles in width, which connects northern Africa with western Asia. It is one of the world’s best-defined natural regions. The sea on the west, and the desert on the east, sharply mark off its fringe-like extension. On the north the Amanus ranges constitute a wall that has proved well-nigh impassable to Semites. To the south the land naturally ends in the Sinai peninsula. [242] As a land-bridge of early humanity Syria was necessarily the scene of m
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The Ansariyehs
The Ansariyehs
The Ansariyehs, or Nusariyehs, form an important group among northern Syrians. Their settlements are generally confined to the grassy seaward slopes of the mountains stretching north of the Nahr-el-Kebir towards the Gulf of Alexandretta. They also occupy villages in the plains surrounding Antioch. In recent years they have shown a tendency to abandon their mountain homes for the less arduous life of the plains. Officially they are regarded as Mohammedans and bear Mohammedan names, but the religi
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The Druzes
The Druzes
The southern Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon ranges in the rear-land of the Haifa-Beirut coast [246] are inhabited by Druzes. Tribes of this people are met as far southeast as the Hawran volcanic uplift, whither they have steadily emigrated from the Lebanon in the course of the past hundred years and where they have succeeded in dislodging the former Bedouin inhabitants. These Druzes are best known for their warlike disposition. Although numerically inferior to the Christian population of their native
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The Maronites
The Maronites
Closely related to the Druzes are their northwestern neighbors, the Maronites, a Christian people, who seceded from the Roman Church in the great schism that followed the council of Chalcedon in 451 A.D. [248] They form a compact mass settled on the western slopes of the Lebanon mountains between the valleys of the Nahr-el-Kebir and the Nahr-el-Barid. Mountain isolation and intermarriage among them have maintained an old type with remarkable purity. Being better farmers than warriors they have s
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The Jews
The Jews
The Jews of Turkey include a small remnant of the captivity settled around Jerusalem and in Mesopotamia. [250] After the destruction of Jerusalem, the valley of the Tigris became the most important seat of the Hebrews. Parthian tolerance granted them a partial autonomy under the authority of a chief chosen from among the descendants of the house of David. [251] This liberal régime ended with the decline in power of the Abbasside caliphs of Bagdad. The Jews were then forced to abandon Chaldea. Ma
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Arameans
Arameans
The Arameans are either direct ancestors of modern Jews or else close congeners of early Hebrews. Both peoples are closely allied. They represent one of the many waves of Semitic humanity which have rolled out of Arabia’s highland steppes. A period of settlement in the fertile districts around the mouth of the Euphrates and Tigris precedes their spread throughout Mesopotamia and northeastern Syria. References to their history abound in sacred texts, as well in inscriptional remains [252] found t
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The Yezidis
The Yezidis
The Sinjar range of hills stretching in a westerly direction from Mosul is the only upland of importance in the Mesopotamian valley. The largest compact mass of Yezidis are domiciled in this hilly country. A minor group occupies the Samaan mountains in Syria. [255] The appellation of devil-worshipers which generally accompanies the name of Yezidi conveys a totally erroneous impression regarding their beliefs. They recognize, in fact, a benign deity, the Khode-Qanj, who reigns supreme over creati
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The Nestorians
The Nestorians
The Nestorians, a Christian sect, are descendants of the followers of Nestorius, who seceded from established orthodoxy in the sixth century. They inhabit scattered villages in a region which changes from mountain to plain as it extends west of the Persian frontier to the Tigris river, roughly between latitudes 34° and 38°. On the north they rarely venture beyond the Bohtan river. The mountainous tract produces a manly set, who have more than held their own against the martial Kurds. Poverty and
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The Chaldeans
The Chaldeans
The Chaldeans are racially akin to the Nestorians, with whom they formed a single religious community prior to the seventeenth century. The hope of obtaining relief from Mohammedan persecution induced an important section of the old community to join the church of Rome at that time. In recent years, however, many have forsaken Roman Catholicism and formed a new sect which is known by the name of New Chaldeans. Protestant communities of this people as well as of Nestorians and Jacobites exist....
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The Jacobites
The Jacobites
The rugged limestone district around Midyad is the home of another mountain people known as the Jacobites. Banded together by the ties of religion they form a community of husbandmen living aloof from their neighbors of divergent religious views. They are described as of warlike nature and independent spirit. Language also differentiates them from other Ottoman groups, a Syriac dialect differing considerably from Nestorian being in use among them. [258] In Turabdin they speak an Aramaic dialect
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The Sabeans
The Sabeans
We are still in the dark concerning the history of the Sabeans, a people of Semitic origin who profess Christianity. That they once formed a powerful nation is attested by numerous ruins and inscriptions. This state began to decline in the first century of the Christian era and had completely disappeared by 500 A.D. They call themselves Mendai and are often known by the name of Christians of St. John. The community is small, numbering hardly 3,000 souls, mostly goldsmiths and boatbuilders who pl
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The Arabs
The Arabs
The Arab folk, sparsely distributed over the Syrian desert and forming the majority of the inhabitants of the featureless downs of Mesopotamia, represent the ebbing of the last tide of Semitic invasion. In the sandy waste of their western extension, their tribes, shifting perpetually from seat to seat, like the dunes around which they roam, consist of Bedouin or “tent men.” The contribution of these nomads to society is as insignificant as the yield of the unproductive lands of their wandering.
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APPENDIX C Classification of Languages Spoken in Europe
APPENDIX C Classification of Languages Spoken in Europe
In addition to the above the following non-Indo-European languages are spoken in Europe:...
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APPENDIX D A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDIX D A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Auerbach, B. La Germanisation de la Pologne Prussienne. La loi d’expropriation. Rev. Politique et Parlementaire , Vol. 57, juillet 1908, pp. 109-125. Babelon, E. La grande Question d’Occident. Le Rhin dans l’histoire, Vols. 1 and 2, Paris, 1915. Bain, R. N. Scandinavia, A Political History of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, 1513-1900. Cambridge, 1905. Balkan Wars, Causes and Conduct of the, Report of the International Commission to inquire into the. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace , Publ.
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