The Earth and its inhabitants, Volume 1: Europe. / Greece, Turkey in Europe, Rumania, Servia, Montenegro, Italy, Spain, and Portugal.
BY ÉLISÉE RECLUS.
EDITED BY E. G. RAVENSTEIN, F.R.G.S., F.S.S., E TC.
VOL. I.
GREECE, TURKEY IN EUROPE, RUMANIA, SERVIA, MONTENEGRO, ITALY, SPAIN, AND PORTUGAL.
ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS AND MAPS.
NEW YORK: D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 1, 3, AND 5 BOND STREET. 1883.
UR earth is but as an atom in space, a star amongst stars. Yet, to us who inhabit it, it is still without bounds, as it was in the time of our barbarian ancestors. Nor can we foresee the period when the whole of its surface will be known to us. We have been taught by astronomers and geodesists that our planet is a sphere flattened at the poles, and physical geographers and meteorologists have applied their powers of inductive reasoning to establish theories on the direction of the winds and ocean currents within the polar regions. But hitherto no explorer has succeeded in reaching the extremities of our earth, and no one can tell whether land or sea extends beyond those icy barriers which have frustrated our most determined efforts. Thanks to the struggles of indomitable seamen, the pride of our race, the area of the mysterious regions around the north pole has been reduced to something like the hundredth part of the earth’s surface, but in the south there still remains an unknown region of such vast extent, that the moon, were she to drop upon our planet, might disappear within it without coming into contact with any part of the earth’s surface already known to us.
And the polar regions, which present so many natural obstacles to our explorers, are not the only portions of the earth not yet known to men of science. It may be humiliating to our pride as men, but we feel constrained to admit that among the countries not yet known to us there are some, accessible enough as far as natural obstacles are concerned, but closed against us by our fellow-men ! There are peoples in this world, dwelling in towns, obeying laws, and having customs comparatively polished, but who choose to live in seclusion, and are as little known to us as if they were the inhabitants of some other planet. Their frontiers are closed by war and its horrors, by the practice of slavery, by religious {2} fanaticism, and even commercial jealousy. We have heard of some of these peoples by vague report, but there are others concerning whom we absolutely know nothing. And thus it happens that in this age of steam, of the printing press, of incessant and feverish activity, we still know nothing, or very little, of the centre of Africa, of a portion of Australia, of the interior of that fine and no doubt most fertile island of New Guinea, and of vast table-lands in the centre of Asia. Nay, even the country which most men of learning love to look upon as the cradle of our Aryan ancestors is known to us but very imperfectly.
