A highway of migration cannot be the abode of a pure race. Its inhabitants necessarily represent the successive human groups by which it has been overrun.[29] The Alsatian of the present day is, accordingly, a product of racial mingling. But the blending has conferred distinctiveness, and Alsatians, claiming a nationality of their own, find valid arguments in racial antecedents no less than in geographical habitation. The uniform appearance of the Alsatian region strikes the traveler at every point of the fertile Ill valley, where the soil is colored by a reddish tinge which contrasts strongly with the greens and grays of surrounding regions. By race also the Alsatian represents a distinct group in which the basal Alpine strain has been permeated by strong admixtures of Nordic blood. The confusion of dark and fair types represent the two elements in the population. In a broader sense the Alsatians are identical with the Swiss population to the south and the Lorrains and Walloons to the north—in fact, they are related to the peoples of all the districts which once constituted the Middle Kingdom of Burgundy.
Although sharply defined by nature, Alsace never acquired independence. Its situation between the areas peopled by two powerful continental races was fatal to such a development. But the influence of its physical setting always prevailed, for, despite its political union with Frenchmen or Germans, the region has always been recognized as an administrative unit defined by the surface features which mark it off from surrounding regions. The influence of topographic agencies has even been felt within the province. The separation of Lower from Higher Alsace originated in a natural boundary, formed by a marshy and forest-clad zone extending from the Tännchal and Hochkönigsberg mountains to the point of nearest convergence between the Rhine and the Vosges. This inhospitable tract first separated the two Celtic tribes known as the Sequani and the Mediomatrici. Later, it afforded a convenient demarcation for the Roman provinces of Maxima Sequanorum and Tractus Mediomatricorum. The two archbishoprics of Besançon and Mayence, both of Middle-Age fame, were similarly divided. The coins of Basel and of Strassburg point to the subsistence of this line during the Renaissance, when two distinct territories of economic importance extended over the region. In the administrative France of modern days, the departments of Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin again reveal adherence to the dividing line provided originally by nature. Finally after the German annexation of 1871 the “districts” constituted under German authority, with Colmar and Strassburg as their chief towns, conformed once more with the historical line of division.
The Vosges[30] uplift has been until recent times the means of barring intercourse between the plains facing its eastern and western slope. The chain has prevented communication on account of the height of its passes, its thickly forested slopes and the sterility of its soil. The influence of these mountains on European history deserves contrast with that of the Alps where nature’s provision of passes and defiles has at all times facilitated land travel in and out of the Italian peninsula. Primitive wandering tribes found but scant inducement to settle in the mountainous area of the Vosges. Pastoral Celts settled in its environing plains long before they attempted to occupy the rocky mass itself. The Teutonic tribes which followed the Celts likewise found little to attract them to the Vosges, and generally migrated southward around its northern and southern extremity, the former route being that of the Franks while the Goths, Burgundians and Alemanni invaded France through the Belfort gap.
Alsace was a province of German speech throughout the Middle Ages as well as after Louis XIV’s conquest of the land. French took a solid foothold mainly after the revolution and during the nineteenth century. An enlightened policy of tolerance towards Alsatian institutions cemented strong ties of friendship between the inhabitants and their French rulers. Alsatian leanings towards France were regarded with suspicion by the victors of 1870, who proceeded to pass prohibitory laws regarding the use of French in primary schools, churches and law courts. These measures of Germanization were attended by a notable emigration to France. In 1871 there were 1,517,494 inhabitants in Alsace-Lorraine. The number had decreased to 1,499,020 in 1875 in spite of 52.12 per cent excess of births over deaths.
Nancy, by its situation, was destined to welcome Alsatians who had decided to remain faithful to France. The number of immigrants to this city after the Franco-Prussian war was estimated at 15,000.[31] Pressing need of workingmen in the city’s growing industrial plants intensified this movement. Alsatian dialects were the only languages heard in entire sections of the urban area. Peopled by about 50,000 inhabitants in 1866, Nancy’s population jumped to 66,303 in 1876. Metz, on the other hand, with a population of 54,820 inhabitants in 1866, could not boast of more than 45,675 in 1875. The census taken in 1910 raised this figure to 68,598 by the addition of the garrison maintained at this point. Altogether it was estimated that, in 1910, French was spoken by 204,262 inhabitants of Alsace-Lorraine, out of a total population of 1,814,564.[32]
The present line of linguistic demarcation in Alsace-Lorraine rarely coincides with the political boundary. Conformity between the two lines is observable only in stretches of their southernmost extension. East and southeast of Belfort, however, two well-defined areas of French speech spread into German territory at Courtavon and Montreux. In the elevated southern section of the Vosges, the line runs from peak to peak with a general tendency to sway east of the crest line and to reveal conspicuous deflections in certain high valleys of the eastern slope. Its irregularity with respect to topography may be regarded as an indication of the fluctuations of protohistoric colonization.
From Bären Kopf to about 10 miles beyond Schlucht Pass, the mountainous divide and the linguistic line coincide. Farther north, however, French prevails in many of the upper valleys of the Alsatian slope. This is true of the higher sections of the Weiss basin, as well as of the upper reaches of the Bruche. At a short distance south of the sources of the Liepvre, parts of the valley of Markirch (Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines) are likewise French. Here, however, the influx of German miners, who founded settlements as far back as the seventeenth century, converted the district into an area linguistically reclaimed by Germans.
The linguistic boundary in the valley of the Bruche corresponds to the dividing line between houses of the Frank-Alemannic style and those of the purely Alemannic.[33] Villages of the Frank-Lorrainer style, in which narrow façades, flat roofs and close lining-up of houses are observable, belong to the period of French influence which followed the Thirty Years’ war and should not be confused with the former types. In Lorraine the houses are built with their longest sides parallel to the street. The entrance leads into the kitchen; rooms occupy the left wing of the building, the right providing stable space. In some respects this structure recalls the Saxon houses met east of the Elbe valley. The characteristic feature of the Lorraine dwelling, however, is found in the construction of the entrance on the long side, whereas in the German type of house it lies under a gable on the short side. As a rule the Alemannic type of house prevails in the mountainous sections and attains the valleys of the Meurthe. In the Vosges, Black Forest and Swabia these dwellings are distinguishable by their characteristic inclusion of all outhouses and barns under a single roof. In the densely peopled valley of the Bruche the most important settlements rest on the alluvial terraces of its affluents. In the upper valley the villages are scattered on rocky amphitheaters, and here the Celtic type of settlement is oftener met.
Witte’s studies show that, in Alsace,[34] the delimitation of the Germanic and Romanic domain is somewhat more complicated than in Lorraine. Valuable clues are generally afforded by toponymic data. The Alemanni are responsible for the suffix “heim.” Towns and villages with names bearing this suffix are restricted to the plain. The dividing line extends on the west to the sub-Vosgian foreland and attains the forest of the Haguenau on the north. This last section corresponds to the beginning of an area of Frankish colonization having its center at Weissenburg. The suffix “ingen,” which occurs in place names of southern Alsace, is likewise Alemannic. It is supposed to correspond, however, to a later period of settlement. The ending “weiler” accompanies the names of villages found on the heights.