The passing of the great race; or, The racial basis of European historyGrant, Madison
History
The passing of the great race; or, The racial basis of European history
Grant, Madison
Ethnology -- Europe
This map shows that the vitality of Scandinavia was far from exhausted
after sending for upward of two thousand years tribe after tribe across
to the continent and that it was now producing an extraordinarily
vigorous type, the Vikings in the west and the equally warlike and
energetic Varangians in the east, who migrated back to the motherland of
the Nordics and laid the foundations of modern Russia.
While all these splendid conquests were in full swing a little known
group of tribes was growing and spreading in eastern and southern
Germany and in Austria-Hungary and occupying the lands left vacant by
the Teutonic nations, which had invaded the Roman Empire. From this
centre in the neighborhood of the Carpathians and in Galicia eastward to
the head of the Dnieper River, the Wends and Sarmatians expanded in all
directions. They were the ancestors of those Alpines who are to-day
Slavic-speaking. From this obscure beginning came the bulk of the
Russians and the South Slavs. The expansion of the Slavs is one of the
most significant features of the Dark Ages and the author has attempted
to indicate the centre of expansion of these tribes by green dots and
green arrows, radiating in all directions from the solid green area in
Europe. To sum up this map, the yellow area has steadily declined
everywhere, while in western Europe the green area is now limited to the
infertile and backward mountain regions. In eastern Europe, however,
this same green Alpine area is showing a marvellous capacity for
recovery, as will appear from the map of the races of to-day.
The red area is widely spread and occupies the river valleys and the
fertile lands and represents everywhere the ruling, military aristocracy
more or less thinly scattered over a conquered peasantry of
Mediterranean and Alpine blood. One phenomenon of dire import is shown
on the map, where, coming from the districts north and east of the
Caspian Sea, certain black arrows are seen shooting westward into
Europe, reaching in one extreme instance as far as Châlons in France,
where Attila nearly succeeded in destroying what remained of western
civilization. These arrows mark respectively Huns, Cumans, Avars,
Magyars, Bulgars and other Asiatic hordes, probably for the most part of
Mongoloid origin and coming originally from central Asia far beyond the
range of Aryan speech. These hordes of Mongoloids destroyed the budding
culture of Russia, while at a later date kindred tribes under the name
of Turks or Tatars flooded the Balkans and the valley of the Danube but
these later invasions entered Europe from Asia Minor.
[Illustration:
PRESENT DISTRIBUTION
OF
EUROPEAN RACES
(generalized scheme)
by
Madison Grant
]
THE PRESENT DISTRIBUTION OF EUROPEAN RACES
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account