Country. Density
of pop.		 Country. Density
of pop.
(Saxony) 743* Ceylon 141**
Belgium 589* Greece  97
Java 568** European Turkey  90
(England and Wales) 558 Spain  97
(Bengal) 495** European Russia  55**
Holland 436 Sweden  30
United Kingdom 344 United States  25
Japan 317 Mexico  18
Italy 293 Norway  18
China proper 270** Persia  15
German Empire 270 New Zealand  7
Austria 226 Argentina  5
Switzerland 207 Brazil  4.5
France 188 Eastern States of
Indian Empire 167**  Australia  3
Denmark 160** Dominion of Canada  1.5
Hungary 154** Siberia  1
Portugal 146 West Australia  0.2
 * Almost exclusively industrial.
 ** Almost exclusively agricultural.

The movement of people from one place to another without the immediate intention of returning is known as migration, and according to its origin it may be classed as centrifugal (directed from a particular area) and centripetal (directed towards Migration. a particular area). Centrifugal migration is usually a matter of compulsion; it may be necessitated by natural causes, such as a change of climate leading to the withering of pastures or destruction of agricultural land, to inundation, earthquake, pestilence or to an excess of population over means of support; or to artificial causes, such as the wholesale deportation of a conquered people; or to political or religious persecution. In any case the people are driven out by some adverse change; and when the urgency is great they may require to drive out in turn weaker people who occupy a desirable territory, thus propagating the wave of migration, the direction of which is guided by the forms of the land into inevitable channels. Many of the great historic movements of peoples were doubtless due to the gradual change of geographical or climatic conditions; and the slow desiccation of Central Asia has been plausibly suggested as the real cause of the peopling of modern Europe and of the medieval wars of the Old World, the theatres of which were critical points on the great natural lines of communication between east and west.

In the case of centripetal migrations people flock to some particular place where exceptionally favourable conditions have been found to exist. The rushes to gold-fields and diamond-fields are typical instances; the growth of towns on coal-fields and near other sources of power, and the rapid settlement of such rich agricultural districts as the wheat-lands of the American prairies and great plains are other examples.

There is, however, a tendency for people to remain rooted to the land of their birth, when not compelled or induced by powerful external causes to seek a new home.

Thus arises the spirit of patriotism, a product of purely geographical conditions, thereby differing from the sentiment of loyalty, which is of racial origin. Where race and soil conspire to evoke both loyalty and patriotism in a people, the moral Political geography. qualities of a great and permanent nation are secured. It is noticeable that the patriotic spirit is strongest in those places where people are brought most intimately into relation with the land; dwellers in the mountain or by the sea, and, above all, the people of rugged coasts and mountainous archipelagoes, have always been renowned for love of country, while the inhabitants of fertile plains and trading communities are frequently less strongly attached to their own land.

Amongst nomads the tribe is the unit of government, the political bond is personal, and there is no definite territorial association of the people, who may be loyal but cannot be patriotic. The idea of a country arises only when a nation, either homogeneous or composed of several races, establishes itself in a region the boundaries of which may be defined and defended against aggression from without. Political geography takes account of the partition of the earth amongst organized communities, dealing with the relation of races to regions, and of nations to countries, and considering the conditions of territorial equilibrium and instability.

The definition of boundaries and their delimitation is one of the most important parts of political geography. Natural boundaries are always the most definite and the strongest, lending themselves most readily to defence against aggression. Boundaries. The sea is the most effective of all, and an island state is recognized as the most stable. Next in importance comes a mountain range, but here there is often difficulty as to the definition of the actual crest-line, and mountain ranges being broad regions, it may happen that a small independent state, like Switzerland or Andorra, occupies the mountain valleys between two or more great countries. Rivers do not form effective international boundaries, although between dependent self-governing communities they are convenient lines of demarcation. A desert, or a belt of country left purposely without inhabitants, like the mark, marches or debatable lands of the middle ages, was once a common means of separating nations which nourished hereditary grievances. The “buffer-state” of modern diplomacy is of the same ineffectual type. A less definite though very practical boundary is that formed by the meeting-line of two languages, or the districts inhabited by two races. The line of fortresses protecting Austria from Italy lies in some places well back from the political boundary, but just inside the linguistic frontier, so as to separate the German and Italian races occupying Austrian territory. Arbitrary lines, either traced from point to point and marked by posts on the ground, or defined as portions of meridians and parallels, are now the most common type of boundaries fixed by treaty. In Europe and Asia frontiers are usually strongly fortified and strictly watched in times of peace as well as during war. In South America strictly defined boundaries are still the exception, and the claims of neighbouring nations have very frequently given rise to war, though now more commonly to arbitration.[51]

The modes of government amongst civilized peoples have little influence on political geography; some republics are as arbitrary and exacting in their frontier regulations as some absolute monarchies. It is, however, to be noticed that absolute Forms of government. monarchies are confined to the east of Europe and to Asia, Japan being the only established constitutional monarchy east of the Carpathians. Limited monarchies are (with the exception of Japan) peculiar to Europe, and in these the degree of democratic control may be said to diminish as one passes eastwards from the United Kingdom. Republics, although represented in Europe, are the peculiar form of government of America and are unknown in Asia.

The forms of government of colonies present a series of transitional types from the autocratic administration of a governor appointed by the home government to complete democratic self-government. The latter occurs only in the temperate possessions of the British empire, in which there is no great preponderance of a coloured native population. New colonial forms have been developed during the partition of Africa amongst European powers, the sphere of influence being especially worthy of notice. This is a vaguer form of control than a protectorate, and frequently amounts merely to an agreement amongst civilized powers to respect the right of one of their number to exercise government within a certain area, if it should decide to do so at any future time.

The central governments of all civilized countries concerned with external relations are closely similar in their modes of action, but the internal administration may be very varied. In this respect a country is either centralized, like the United Kingdom or France, or federated of distinct self-governing units like Germany (where the units include kingdoms, at least three minor types of monarchies, municipalities and a crown land under a nominated governor), or the United States, where the units are democratic republics. The ultimate cause of the predominant form of federal government may be the geographical diversity of the country, as in the cantons occupying the once isolated mountain valleys of Switzerland, the racial diversity of the people, as in Austria-Hungary, or merely political expediency, as in republics of the American type.