Following the Roman occupation of the peninsula a steady flow of uncouth northerners began to appear. Under the names of Sarmatians, Goths of various sorts, Huns, Bulgarians to whom the Byzantines gave their appellation because they came from the banks of the Volga, and Avars, they spread havoc far beyond the western limits of the Adriatic. These barbarians were followed by Slavs. The eastbound journeys of the Crusaders next intervene; then a final mighty onslaught of Turkish hordes whose savage fury seemed for a moment to obliterate the laboriously-reared western civilization.
To this bewildering succession of human types the extraordinary complexity of stock characterizing the present population of the peninsula is directly ascribable, each race or people having left some trace of its passage. The compilation of an ethnographical map of the region results in the representation of the most mosaic-like surface imaginable. Nor are the actual evidences of these ancient invasions lacking to the observant eye. Take, for instance, the fair-haired, blue-eyed Greeks, totally devoid of traces of nigrescence, who are by no means uncommon in Macedonia.[179] In them the Nordic type, due in part to the Achæan conquerors, has survived. To this day the tourist, wandering in any town formerly occupied by the Turks, may suddenly behold in the streets as pure a Mongolian type as is to be found on the highlands of western central China. In the Bosnian town of Sarajevo, as in the Macedonian villages north of the Ægean, the ugly features of these Asiatics often reveal but too plainly their origin.
Traces of these wanderings have lingered in the relics of former habitat observable in Balkan countries. Any one whom fate has made the guest of Turkish hosts will remember how toward bedtime rolled bundles leaning vertically against the corners of the rooms are brought out and laid open on the floor. These are the beds which the members of the household use. They consist of a mattress, sheets and blankets which had been removed during the day from the mat over which it is customary to spread them at night. Although it is centuries since the Turk has ceased living in tents, he still adheres to this custom of his nomad forefathers. The fact is observable in the two-storied dwellings of the Mohammedan sections of Adrianople or Constantinople. But the practical conversion of bedrooms into sitting rooms is only one of the many phases of Turkish indoor life which recall tent life. Rooms altogether destitute of furniture are quite usual. I am now referring to the average Turkish home—not to the relatively few in which European customs are observed. In the majority of cases the only furniture consists of rugs spread on the walls and floors. Articles of household use are kept in closets. No chairs or tables help to relieve the bareness. At meals the family will squat in groups around circular trays supported on low stools. A bowl of “yoghurt,” or curdled milk, is the invariable accompaniment of each repast. Indulgence in this preparation is observable with similar frequency in a broad belt which begins in the Balkan peninsula and extends eastward between parallels 45° and 35° of latitude to Mongolia. Signs pointing to Asiatic origins can likewise be witnessed outside the houses in Turkish cities. The national coat of arms, conspicuously displayed over the gates of government buildings, bears two horsetails surmounting the Prophet’s coat. In this emblem we see Tatar chieftains’ insignia of rank which have been coupled to Mohammedan symbolism.
In this same line of thought we find that traditions furnish evidence of a remarkably significant character. A tradition flourishes to this day among the Turks that their occupation of European territory could not be permanent. Often have I heard this voiced by Turks who simultaneously added by way of explanation that it could not be otherwise, since they were Asiatics. It is this feeling which lies at the root of the Turk’s unwillingness to be buried on the European side of the Bosporus or the Dardanelles. The same sentiment accounts for their relatively larger burying grounds along the Asiatic shores bordering the peninsula, as compared with those on the European coast.
In the present era of world-wide industrial expansion, the Balkan region retains its place as one of the most notable of international highways. So centrally is the peninsula situated with reference to Europe, Asia and Africa that its valleys afford the most convenient overland passage for the products of European ingenuity and science on their way to market in the populous centers of Asia and Africa. Even the air line connecting central Europe and India passes over the Balkans. The superiority of the Mediterranean-Red Sea route over the other avenues of traffic leading from west to east led to the construction of the Suez Canal. The advantages of this line still exist. With the march of events, however, the main commercial thoroughfare from Europe to the Orient is shifting gradually from the waters between the Eurasian and African continents to a more easterly and at the same time far speedier overland route. The tracks of the Oriental, Anatolian and Bagdad railroad companies form at present the northern section of the trunk of this system. Incidentally, it should be noted that nature’s provision for this world route is so well marked in the Balkan peninsula that the luxurious cars of the Orient Express roll over a steel-clad path which coincides remarkably with the trail followed by the first crusade—the one which Godfrey de Bouillon led along a path marked by nature. The prolongation of these railroads to Delhi and the shores of the Indian Ocean by junction with the railroads of British India advancing toward the northwest is now economically desirable.
Through connection with the Cape of Good Hope by way of Ma’an and the Egyptian frontier, over the Sinai peninsula and the Cape-to-Cairo line, will probably be exacted by the requirements of trade. In that case railroad ferries over the Bosporus will enable the same car to be hauled directly from the coast of the Baltic Sea to the shores of the Indian Ocean or to cities at the southernmost points of Africa. There is reason to believe, however, the Bosporus will be crossed by a bridge over the half mile of sea that separates the European and Asiatic fortresses facing each other at Rumeli Hissar.
Fig. 47—Communications in the Balkans. The gaps in the mountainous area are the connecting links in the land travel between Europe and Asia.
Within the Balkan peninsula every economic need which has determined the foreign policy of the several states is related to a given feature of the land. The seaward thrust of Serbia towards the Adriatic is naturally directed along the narrow Drin valley, cutting across the long chain of the Dinaric Alps. But the country’s efforts to obtain mastery of this important gap were blocked by the creation of an independent Albania. Bulgaria’s trade and industrial development is likewise hampered by the lack of a favorable issue towards southern seas. At present the connection between the east-west mountainous country formed by the Balkan ranges and the lowland extending to the Ægean involves the climbing of steep slopes. Bulgarians therefore naturally coveted the Struma valley which runs in Greek territory to the west of the Chalcidic peninsula. The Montenegrins living in a rocky land which cannot support its inhabitants look covetously on the narrow defiles which lead towards the Adriatic and their longing for Scutari is merely for the possession of agricultural lands. War with the Turks once forced them to retreat into their mountains. Now that that danger is over they are coming out of their fastnesses and endeavoring to resume intercourse with the outside world.