ISOLATION OF THE TURKS
The Bulgarians, who came out of Asia to devastate Europe, at length turned Christian, adopted a Slavic speech, and entered the family of European nations. The Magyars, who followed them, also made their way into the fellowship of Christendom. Quite the opposite has been the case with the Turks. Preserving their Asiatic language and Moslem faith, they have remained in southeastern Europe, not a transitory scourge, but an abiding oppressor of Christian lands. Every century since 1453 A.D. has widened the gulf between them and their subjects.
TURKISH INFLUENCE IN SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
The isolation of the Turks has prevented them from assimilating the higher culture of the peoples whom they conquered. They have never created anything in science, art, literature, commerce, or industry. Conquest has been the Turks' one business in the world, and when they ceased conquering their decline set in. But it was not till the end of the seventeenth century that the Turkish Empire entered on that downward road which is now fast leading to its extinction as a European power.
STUDIES
1. Locate these cities: Bokhara; Samarkand; Merv; Herat; Bagdad; Peking; Delhi; Kiev; Moscow; and Adrianople.
2. Who were Baber, Kublai Khan, Othman, Mohammed II, Constantine Palaeologus, and Ivan the Great?
3. Why should the steppes of central and northern Asia have been a nursery of warlike peoples?
4. What parts of Asia were not included in the Mongol Empire at its greatest extent?
5. Trace on the map on page 486 the further expansion of the Mongol Empire after the death of Jenghiz Khan.