Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 01.djvu/377

LEFT ASIA 299 ASIA MINOB India. They were soon followed by the Spaniards, the Dutch, the French, the Danes, and the British, all endeavoring to seize the richest colonies in Asia. Rus- sia, in the course of a few centuries, con- quered and colonized the northwestern slopes of the high plateau and reached the Pacific. Great Britain established herself in India, and took possession of the whole of the peninsula, and extended her power over the westei-n parts of the Indo-Chinese Peninsula. The Portuguese retain in India only Diu, Daman, and Goa; and the French keep Chanderna- gore, Yanaon, Pondicherry, Charical and Mahe. The next colonial power in Asia is the Dutch, who have under their do- minion most of Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Celebes, the Moluccas and the small Sunda Islands. British and French in- terests are rivals in the Indo-Chinese Peninsula, and, while Burma has be- come English, the annexation by France of Tonkin and of Siamese territory E. of the Mekhong has consolidated French power in Indo-China. The joint inter- vention by Russia and France in Chi- nese affairs after the Japanese War of 1894-1895 further extended both French and Russian influence in Asia. The Russo-Japanese War, which was in reality a war between the two great powers for the control of Manchuria, re- sulted in the defeat of Russia and made Japan the preponderant nation in west- em Asia. She further increased her in- fluence by the absorption of Korea which had become complete by 1920. China, in spite of protests for protection from the domination of Japan, had been obliged to yield in important particulars. Japan was given a stronger hold by the posses- sion of Kiao-Chau peninsula, which be- came her virtual property on the defeat of the Germans and the capture of Tsing- tau early in the World War. For de- tails in regard to the countries of Asia, see under the titles of those countries, as Korea, China, Japan, India, etc. Trade. — Notwithstanding the difficul- ties of communication a brisk trade is carried on between the different parts of Asia, but there is no possibility of arriv- ing at even an approximate estimate of its aggregate value. Asia deals chiefly in raw materials, gold, silver, petroleum, teak, and a variety of timberwood, furs, raw cotton, silk, wool, tallow, and so on; the products of her tea, coffee and spice plantations; and a yearly increasing amount of wheat and other grain. In- dian cottons of European patterns and jute-stuffs already compete with those of Lancashire and Dundee. Several of the petty trades carried on in India, China, Japan, Asia Minor and some parts of Persia, have been brought to so high a perfection that the silks, printed cottons, carpets, jewelry and cutlery of partic- ular districts far surpass in their artis- tic taste many like productions of Eu- rope. ASIA MINOR (Asia the Less, as dis- tinguished from Asia in the widest ex- tent) is the name usually given to the western peninsular projection of Asia, forming part of Turkey in Asia. The late Greek name for Asia Minor is Ana- tolia— Anatole, "the East," whence is formed the Turkish Anaddi. Asia Minor includes the peninsula; the east- ern boundary, somewhat artificial, being a line from the Gulf of Skanderoon to the upper Euphrates and thence to a point E. of Trebizond. The area of the peninsula exceeds 220,000 square miles. It constitutes the western prolongation of the high table-land of Armenia with its border mountain-ranges. The in- terior consists of a great plateau, or rather series of plateaus, rising in grad- uation from 3,500 to 4,000 feet, with bare steppes, salt plains, marshes and lakes; the structure is volcanic, and there are several conical mountains, one of which, theErgish-dagh (Argaeus),with two craters, attains a height of 11,830 feet, towering above the plain of Kai- sarieh, which has itself an elevation of between 2,000 and 3,000 feet. The plateau is bordered on the N. by a long train of parallel mountains, 4,000 to 6,000 feet high, and cut up into groups by cross valleys. These mountains sink abruptly down on the N. side to a narrow strip of coast; their slopes toward the interior are gentler and bare of wood. Similar is the character of the border ranges on the S., the ancient Taurus, only that they are more continuous and higher, being, to the N. of the Bay of Skanderoon, 10,000 to 12,000 feet, and, farther to the W., 8,000 to 9,000 feet. The W. border is intersected by numerous valleys opening upon the archipelago, to the northern part of which Mounts Ida and Olympus belong. Between the highlands and the sea lie the fertile coast-lands of the Levant. Of the rivers the largest is the Kizil Irmak (Halys), which, like the Yeshil Irmak (Iris), and the Sakaria (Sangarius), flows into the Black Sea; the Sarabat (Hermus) and Meinder (Maeander) flow into the .^gean. In point of natural history, Asia Minor forms the transition from the continental character of the East to the maritime character of the West. The forest trees and cultivated plants of Europe are seen mingled with the forms characteristic of Persia and Syria. The central plateau, which is barren, has the character of an