f her proximity
to England. The natural defense against enemies, the protection of
mountains and forests, the proximity to the ocean, all have had their
influence in the origin and development of nations. Yet races, tribes,
and nations, once having opportunity to develop and become strong, may
flourish without the protecting conditions of nature. They may defy
the mountains, seas, and the streams, and the onslaughts of the wild
tribes.

_The Nature of the Soil an Essential Condition of Progress_.--But
geography alone, although a great factor in progress, is powerless
without a fertile soil to yield a food supply for a large population.
The first great impetus of all early civilizations occurred through
agriculture. Not until this had developed so as to give a steady food
supply were people able to have sufficient leisure to develop the other
arts of life. The abundant food supply furnished by the fertility of
the Nile valley was the key to the Egyptian civilization. The valley
was overflowed annually by the river, which left a fertilizing sediment
upon the land already prepared for cultivation. Thus annually without
excessive labor the soil was watered, fertilized, and prepared for the
seed. Even when irrigation was introduced, in order to obtain a larger
supply of food, the cultivation of the soil was a very easy matter.
Agriculture consisted primarily in sowing seed on ready prepared ground
and {145} reaping the harvest. The certainty of the crop assured a
living. The result of cheap food was to rapidly multiply the race,
which existed on a low plane. It created a mass of inferior people
ruled by a few despots.

What is true of Egypt is true of all of the early civilizations, as
they each started where a fertile soil could easily be tilled. The
inhabitants of ancient Chaldea developed their civilization on a
fertile soil. The great cities of Nineveh and Babylon were surrounded
by rich valleys, and the yield of agricultural products made
civilization possible. The earliest signs of progress in India were
along the valleys of the Ganges and the Indus. Likewise, in the New
World, the tribes that approached the nearest to civilization were
situated in fertile districts in Peru, Central America, Mexico, and New
Mexico.

_The Use of Land the Foundation of Social Order_.--The manner in which
tribes and nations have attached themselves to the soil has determined
the type of social organization. Before the