A Manual of Ancient History Author:George Rawlinson Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. Excerpt from book: Section 3BOOK I. HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT ASIATIC AND AFRICAN STATES AND KINGDOMS FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE FOUNDATION OF THE PERSIAN MONARCHY BY CYRUS THE GREAT. PART I. ASIATIC NATIONS. ... more » A. textit{Preliminary Remarks on the Geography of Asia. 1. Asia is the largest of the three great divisions of the Eastern Hemisphere. Regarding it as separated from Africa by the Red Sea and Isthmus of Suez, and from Asia—size Europe by the Ural mountains, the Ural river, the and situation. Caspian Sea, and the main chain of the Caucasus, its superficial contents will amount to 17,500,000 square miles, whereas those of Africa are less than 12,000,000, and those of Europe do not exceed 3,800,000. In climate it unites greater varieties than either of the two other divisions, extending as it does from the 78th degree of north latitude to within a hundred miles of the equator. It thus lies mainly within the northern temperate zone, but projects northwards a distance of eleven degrees beyond the Arctic circle, while southwards it throws into the region of the Tropics three long and broad peninsulas. The advantages of Asia over Africa are great. Note especially the indentation of the shores, the numerous littoral islands, the great number of large rivers, and the comparatively small amount of sandy desert. Its advantages over Europe are less, consisting chiefly in its far larger size, and the greater variety of its products. 2. Asia consists mainly of a great central table-land, running east and west from the neighbourhood of the jEgean to the north- Physical western frontier of China, with low plains sur- features. rounding it, which are for the most part fertile and well watered. The high table-land is generally bounded by mountain-chains, which mostly run parallel to it in textit{latitudinal lines. In places thes...« less