Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/324

* EUROPE. 282 EUROPE. north of the Pyrenees, Alps, and Balkans, and that of the Mediterranean south of these moun- tains. The richness of the fauna of central and northern Europe is due to the favorable climatic influences in the west and centre, the physio- , hie contour of the land, and the rich vegeta- tion, especially that of the forests. On the other hand, the great density of population has much reduced the numbers of the larger animals and has even rendered some species extinct. The characteristic mammals are the bear, lynx, badger, wolf, fox, otter, marten, ermine, pole- eat, squirrel, marmot, mole, hedgehog, vole, shrew, dormouse, hare, and rabbit : the wild cat- tle have been almost wholly exterminated by man. (See Cattle.) Among the species peculiar to itii- region are the desman and the chamois. The Mediterranean subregion possesses the rich- fauna of the European Palearctie region, among the distinctive mammals being the fallow, deer, ibex, Alpine marmot, and civet. This fauna extends also along the south shore of the Mediter- ranean as far as the Atlas Mountains; and this northwest corner of Africa and the /Egean Islands contain a few species, like the wild sheep, not now known in Europe, but properly a part of its fauna. The apes are not found in Europe save for a species of macaque in the neighborhood of Gib- raltar, which is more nearly allied to the Asiatic simians than to the African. The bats, cats, dogs, martens, deer, hares, and mice are found throughout Europe. The hedgehogs are not found mirth of latitude 00° except in Scan- dinavia, where they range a few degrees higher. Flic moles are found between latitudes 44° and 60 X., anil also range a little higher in Scandi- navia. The i>1 1 ii- ami badger-like animals are found little above the Arctic Circle. The bears are not found in the extreme west, though for- merly inhabiting nearly the whole of France and the British Isles. The dormice are found in west- ern Europe as far north a.s the 00th parallel, but in eastern Europe not above latitude 50°. The squirrels are found throughout Europe except at the extreme north, and the beavers south of lati- tude 65°. but not in the extreme west and not be- low the Alpine region. Swine are found south of 60°. Of the birds, the most characteristic are the thrushes, sylvine warblers, tits, pipits, wagtails, finches, snow-buntings, house-sparrows, crossbills, linnet-, magpies, choughs, kingfishers, goat-suck- ers, wood-pigeons, grouse, ami ptarmigans. Of the larger birds may be mentioned the eagles. falcons, owls, and raven-. Many of the nu- merous birds found in this region are annual migrants from the south. Reptiles an' comparatively scarce, there being found but 11 species of snakes and 1'2 of lizards. Only one North European serpent is venomous. of the amphibians, several forms arc peculiar to this region, among which are the eel-like pro teus, the curious toad ( Uytes), the male of which carries the eggs until thej are batched, and the Pelodytes, a frog pe.-uliar to France. Frogs, toads, tree toads, and newts are common. The characteristic fresh water (i-h arc the ' I I'd i'i 'n.'i h li. pike, carp, gud- ii. roach, chub, dace, tench, bream, bleak, loach; and among sea-fish several species not I imwn on the American I I he i lanl ic, of which the tunny and sole are most conspicu- ous. Insects are numerous, butterflies especially being very abundant, ami the species widely spread, but no genera are peculiar to the region. This region is also rich iu beetles and other in- sect forms. HISTORY. Earliest Population. Of the peoples that have inhabited Europe since the dawn of his- tory, some — and these the most important, Greeks, Italians, Celts, Germans, and Slavs — ex- hibit striking resemblances in language and in their early religion and customs. Other peoples, like the Iberians, who inhabited what is now Spain, the Etruscans, who inhabited northern Italy, and the Lapps and Finns, who still occupy the extreme north of the continent, apparently had from the outset dissimilar speech and cus- toms. The resemblances noted between the peo- ples of the first group exist also between them and the Indo-Iranian peoples of Asia. From these data philologists have inferred that all these peoples are members of a single race, which they term the Aryan race; and since, in historical times, the Celts, Germans, and Slavs have been pressing westward, it is assumed that the original home of the Aryan race was in Asia. Modern ethnological researches, however, are tending to modify the Aryan hypothesis. On the basis of a comparison of physical characteristics, es- pecially of skull-forms, it is asserted that the original population of Europe consisted of two races, which are termed Eurafrican and Eurasian, and that the former race was originally located in the ba.sin of the Mediterranean, the latter in the valley of the Danube or even farther east. Of the Eurafrican race two branches are found, one of which continued to live on the Mediter- ranean, while the other went or was driven into northern Europe (the so-called Baltic branch). It is further asserted that the so-called Aryan peoples of Europe exhibit, for the most part, such a mixture of these two racial types that the resemblances which have heretofore been taken as proofs of common origin seem rather ascribable to the diffusion of the speech, religion, and cus- toms of some superior people, partly by expan- sion and conquest, partly by imitation. See Ary- an ; Indo-Europeans ; Europe, Peoples of. Earliest Civilization. In the earliest times of which we have historic knowledge, only *hose parts of Europe which border upon the .Mediter- ranean were in any sense civilized, and the points at which a Mediterranean civilization first appeared were Egypt and Phoenicia. There is increasing evidence that the civilization of these countries was of Asiatic origin. It probably came along the routes of trade from Assyria (per- haps ultimately from China), and its diffusion through the Mediterranean Basin was accom- plished chiefly by (be earliest traders in that sea, the Phoenicians. It was in Crete, where the Pine nicians had some of their earliest trading posts, that a Greek civilization seems first to have developed. See Egypt; Pihkmcta. Greek Civilization. Before tin nquest of Greece by the Romans (B.C. 146), the Greeks had developed every form of government which Eu- rope has since known. Their little citj Slates passed from patriarchal kingship to aristocracy anil from :ni locr:o through tyrannv to ilcinne-