[195] D. M. Brancoff: La Macédoine et sa population chrétienne, Paris, 1905. The Serbian viewpoint is resumed by J. Cvijić in “Ethnographie de la Macédoine,” _Ann. de Géogr._, Vol. 15, 1906, pp. 115-132 and 249-266. [196] R. A. Tsanoff in the _Journ. of Race Develop._ (Jan. 1915, p. 251) estimates that 1,198,000 Bulgarians have passed under foreign rule as a result of the treaty of Bucarest. Of those 286,000 have become subjects of Rumania, 315,000 of Greece and 597,000 of Serbia. [197] A. Schopoff: The Balkan States and the Federal Principle, _Asiat. Rev._, July 1, 1915, p. 21. [198] Brancoff: op. cit., p. 23. [199] _L’Écho de la Bulgarie._ Dec. 20, 1914. [200] R. T. Nikolić: Krajste i Vlasina, _Naselia Srpskikh zemalia_, Vol. 8, 1912, pp. 1-380. [201] On the Asiatic side the valley of the Sakaria and a long fault revealed by the line of lakes east of the Marmora provide ready-made frontiers which could be conveniently extended to the Gulf of Adramyt on the Ægean. This line constituted the Asiatic boundary of the Latin Empire of Constantinople in the period intervening between the years 1204 and 1261. CHAPTER XI THE GEOGRAPHICAL CASE OF TURKEY Turkey, by virtue of position, has always stood closely related to every section of the European mainland. The country’s fate has affected the destiny of every European nation. The modern importance of Turkish affairs in European international problems is a measure of the extensive influence of the Near East over Europe. A study of European nationalities cannot therefore be complete without reference to the empire of Turkish Sultans. A strong contrast constantly engages attention in the history of Ottoman lands. Of old, the world’s highest civilizations, its purest religions, arose within their confines. In modern days decadence on the heels of a steady recessional marks their lot. The explanation usually advanced is that Mohammedanism has impeded Turkish progress. But this religion was no obstacle to cultural growth in the countries surrounding Turkey. In Egypt, as in Arabia, Persia and northern India, the thought of the natives grew to splendid maturity. The intellectual life of these Mohammedan countries is altogether beyond the grasp of the Turkish mind.