This lack the Ukrainians have always felt very deeply. With the exception of the Black Sea, which was once the boundary of the ancient Ukrainian Kingdom of Kiev and now forms the southern boundary of the Ukraine, and, with the exception, also, of the forest swamps of the Polissye, the Ukraine never possessed, and does not now possess, any good natural boundaries. Neither the Carpathians nor the Caucasus have provided the Ukraine with a distinct natural boundary line. The borders and borderlands of the Ukraine lie open, were always easily accessible to all conquerors, and made the defense of their political independence much harder for the Ukrainians than it has been for any other nation of Europe. To be sure, the [[221]]lack of obstacles on the borders made it very easy for the Ukrainian Kingdom to extend its limits, as the rapid and appreciable growth of the ancient Kingdom of Kiev best proves. But later, unfortunately, this favorable surface formation was taken advantage of with much greater gain by the Tatars, Lithuanians, Poles and Russians, to the ruin of the Ukraine. The facility of military campaigns and of territorial conquests, two favorable foundations for the development of great land-conquering nations, and at the same time typical anthropogeographical characteristics of low countries, have played an active part in the history of the Ukraine. The pressure of various races, which is a characteristic of plain countries, is another condition the Ukraine had to face. From the Cimmerians to the Turks, how many races have inhabited the steppes of the Ukraine!
In the present times of highly developed intercourse, natural obstacles are losing much of their value, and, for the same reason, the disadvantages of low countries are becoming less serious. It is true that the Ukraine is hard to defend strategically, and an enemy wishing to attack Russia in the Ukraine would place her in a very precarious position. But the lack of pronounced natural lines of defense is also peculiar to the eastern border of Germany, for example, or the northern border of France. Apart from these strategic elements, the Ukrainian plain country and plateau country has nothing but advantages. The migration of the Ukrainian people has always been very easy, and the growth of Ukrainian territory has been unhindered because of the openness of the borders.
The lowland character of the Ukraine is important not merely in respect to borders. The lack of obstacles within the country in the way of highlands always favored easy travel in all directions. The building of the roads met with no obstacles, and was able to proceed in straight lines. [[222]]In the present days of high-roads and railways, this is a very important characteristic of the land. Unfortunately it has never been taken advantage of. The railroads of the Ukraine tend toward unknown Russian centers, without consideration of the natural centers of the country. Hence its insufficient importance for traffic.
Another characteristic of all plain countries, and therefore of the Ukraine, is great homogeneity. It produces a great uniformity of living conditions, and gives the Ukraine great unity of language, customs and standard of living. The types of buildings, national costume, etc., so varied in the small area of Germany, extend over hundreds of thousands of square miles in the Ukraine, with only minor changes. The uniform lowland character of the Ukraine favored, to a certain degree, the constant preservation of the old customs and the gradual development of culture. The lack of natural differences within the country has brought with it the lack of differences among the inhabitants, and it is well known that such differences enrich the ability and the character of the entire nation considerably. Hence, the lack of those necessary conditions of development and progress has always had a profound influence in the Ukraine, while we meet such favorable conditions at every step in the small areas of Central Europe, with their smaller supply of natural wealth. Melancholy and indifference, these typical marks of the lowland peoples, have always been characteristic of the Ukrainians also. And these types are not favorable to the development of culture. Only the present time of easy communications are capable of weakening the bad influence of the uniformity of surface of the Ukraine to any marked degree.
Yet, not all the typical characteristics of a lowland country are common to the Ukrainians. Above all, they lack, and always have lacked, the capacity for the development of great political strength, the capacity for centralization; [[223]]in a word, the capacity for state organizing. This characteristic of the lowland peoples, which is very strongly developed among the Russians, more weakly in the Poles, has always been very poorly bred in the Ukrainians. The Ukrainians have possessed the tendency, peculiar to all lowland peoples, to level its aspirations, to divert them to one side, but never to the subordination of their individuality to the interests of the state. Only when the general equality of all citizens of the state opens to every man an equal field for the activity of his personal ego, have the Ukrainians been able to do the state-idea justice and to embody it very finely. They have given the best proof of this in the Zaporog Cossack organization. This fact gives us the only hope that the Ukrainians may yet become an organized nation in modern times. The present manner of national life is what the Ukrainians wished to have centuries ago—much too early, of course.
In view of the great uniformity, every rise of land is significant. Slight elevations, chains of hills, river valleys, even swamps and forests appear in the Ukraine as important boundaries, lines of defence, foundations for cities and castles, fortified places, lookout stations, etc. Even the many barrows (mohili, kurhani) have played an important part in the history of the Ukraine.
The anthropogeographical significance of the Ukrainian mountains is in general slight, altho we find all the typical influences of the mountains in the mountain tribes of the Ukrainians. Great physical endurance, coupled with a feeling for liberty and independence, great personal courage, great love of country, etc., have always distinguished the Ukrainian mountain dwellers.
The Ukrainian Carpathians are, to this day, one of the most thinly settled regions of the Ukraine, chiefly for the reason that it was always a passive region, which was not considered in political life. Great historical movements [[224]]hardly ever touched the Carpathians. For many centuries they remained almost devoid of human life. Hence, the Carpathians played hardly any part as a border defence of the Ukrainian state organizations. Mountain chains usually are of very great importance as a defence for individual tribes or entire races. The Carpathians, with their great ease of passage, especially in the Ukrainian part, have been of no significance in this respect. They did provide effective protection for the Walachian shepherds thru many centuries. These shepherds led a nomad life with their flocks on the Carpathian pastures, and left proof of their presence in numerous names of mountains, rivers and villages. The Carpathians also provided shelter for the numerous Ukrainian fugitives who fled from oppressive serfdom and formed bands of half-political freebooters, friends of the lowly, and warriors against the lords (oprishki). The brigandage peculiar to all mountain regions flourished also in the Carpathians. But no state originated in the Carpathians. The Alps were the foundation of Switzerland, and played a part in the formation of the Austrian state. The Carpathians have given the Ukraine nothing, apart from occasional passing shelter.
At this point we must emphasize another anthropogeographical characteristic of the mountains. It is the general poverty of their inhabitants and their consequent desire, under compulsion, to seek expansion. The inhabitants of the Ukrainian Carpathians, about the middle of the 19th Century, were in a serious economic condition because of the small amount of productive ground. Need came first to the Lemkos, then to the Boikes, and last to the Hutzuls. Above all, it partly divested the mountain population of the then predominating industry of cattle raising. The Lemkos at first carried on a lively trade in wagon grease thruout the southern part of Eastern Europe, then they turned to harvest work, in the surrounding [[225]]lowlands, and last to the annual emigration to America. The Boikes first carried on trade in salt, then changed to the fruit trade, which they are carrying on today, down as far as Warsaw and Moscow. Very lately, the annual emigration to America has been depleting their ranks also. The Hutzuls have but just begun to resort to emigration. They hire out less frequently for agricultural work than for the lumber industry, in which they are very skilful. Their highly developed domestic industry, which borders on the artistic, might provide them with rich support, but it is rather hindered than advanced by the determining factors of the land.
In presenting the general influence of the ground formation on the people, we must also consider the anthropogeographical significance of the geological conditions of the country. They should not be underestimated, as one might expect, while to overestimate them, as some scholars have done, by even referring anthropological characteristics back to the geological composition of the country, is quite as bad; at all events very many of the living conditions of the inhabitants are dependent upon the geological make-up of the land. We shall skip over the great importance of the geological composition of the country for the surface formations which it determines. We shall pay attention only to the direct geological influences.