Hence the commercial importance of Constantinople. The city is a huge caravanserai--the meeting place of traders from the world’s remotest corners. Control of its commanding position is coveted by every nation whose citizens depend on industry and trade for their welfare. The commerce of three continents lies within its grasp. The political status of the extreme southeastern corner of the Balkan peninsula, together with that of the extreme northwestern corner of Asia Minor, therefore affects the interests of the entire community of European nations. We have in this a factor which may exert greater weight than language in the eventual formation of an independent political unit comprising the elongated zone of coastland inclosing the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmora and the Bosporus. A convenient boundary for this territory in the Balkans might start at the Gulf of Saros and, coinciding thence with the heights overlooking Rodosto, might reach the course of the Chorlu. From here to the Black Sea coast the administrative boundary of the vilayet of Constantinople might be converted into an international frontier. This delimitation would leave the valley of the Maritza in Bulgarian hands. This award is justifiable not because the beauty of the river banks is proclaimed in the Bulgarian national hymn, but rather on the grounds of Bulgarian linguistic preponderance in this valley. Substantial coincidence between Bulgarian political and linguistic boundaries on the southeast would then have been obtained.[201] FOOTNOTES: [189] Reliable estimates of the population of Albania are given by Petrovich in “Servia: Her People, History and Aspirations,” London, 1915, p. 175. According to this author the country is inhabited by: Arnauts (Mohammedans) 350,000 Tosks (Orthodox) 350,000 Mirdites (Roman Catholics) 300,000 Serbs (Orthodox) 250,000 Greeks (Orthodox) 150,000 Bulgarians (Orthodox) 50,000 Turks (Mohammedans) 50,000 -------- Total 1,500,000 [190] G. Gravier: L’Albanie et ses limites, _Rev. de Paris_, Jan. 1, 1913, pp. 200-224. [191] L. Büchner: Die neue griechisch-albanische Grenze in Nordepirus, _Pet. Mitt._, Vol. 61, Feb. 1915, p. 68. [192] Such migrations generally follow boundary revisions. The crossing of Alsatians into French territory since 1870 has been already mentioned. A large number of Danes abandoned their home in Schleswig-Holstein in 1865, and wandered into Denmark. [193] D. M. Brancoff: La Macédoine et sa population chrétienne, Paris, 1905. [194] The number of Serbians scattered in the highland region of northern Macedonia has been omitted, probably owing to its relative inferiority.