. The history of mankind . tationsfor forces hostile to civilauthority, for desper-adoes of every shade ofvillainy. Not infrequently theformation of new statesstarts from these cases in which sharpfrontiers are soonestformed is where the twofundamentally differentmodes of civilization andlife, nomadism and agri-culture, come in of necessity fron-tiers are sharply drawnagainst races of thesteppes, and art endea-vours to contribute itsaid by building earth-works and even region of the steppesis the country of thegreat wall of China, andof the ramparts thrownup b
. The history of mankind . tationsfor forces hostile to civilauthority, for desper-adoes of every shade ofvillainy. Not infrequently theformation of new statesstarts from these cases in which sharpfrontiers are soonestformed is where the twofundamentally differentmodes of civilization andlife, nomadism and agri-culture, come in of necessity fron-tiers are sharply drawnagainst races of thesteppes, and art endea-vours to contribute itsaid by building earth-works and even region of the steppesis the country of thegreat wall of China, andof the ramparts thrownup by Turks and Cos-sacks. Leopold von Rankehas stated as a maximof experience that whenwe study universal his-tory it is not as a rulegreat monarchies thatfirst present themselves,but small tribal districtsor confederacies of thenature of states. Thisis shown in the historyof all great empires ;even the Chinese can becarried back to smallbeginnings. Xo doubtthey have been of shortduration with the singleexception of the Roman. Kingsmill Islander in full armour. (Berlin Museum of Ethnology.) 138 THE HISTORY OF MANKIND Empire. Even that of China has passed through its periods of breaking the Roman Empire the nations have learnt how great territories must beruled in order to keep them great in extent, for since its time history has seenmany empires, even surpassing the Roman in magnitude, arise and maintainthemselves for centuries. Apart from the way in which the teaching of history has been taken toheart, the increaseof population andthe consequent ac-cession of import-ance to the ma-terial interests ofthe people has un-questionably con-tributed to this. But there aredeeper-lying rea-sons for the small-ness of primitivestates. Among most naturalraces the familyand the societyform unions solarge, so frequentlycoinciding, so ex-clusive, that littleremains to sparefor the state. Therapid break-up ofempires is counter-balanced by thesturdy tribal the empiresfall to pie
Size: 1044px × 2395px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectethnology, bookyear18
