ds in the far West, and
the withdrawal of the Australian natives from the fertile coasts to the
desert interior have meant racial renunciation of the sources of life.

Hence a people who are conquered and dislodged from their territory, as
were the ancient Britons by the Saxons, the Slavs from the land between
the Elbe and the Niemen by the mediaeval Germans, and the Kaffirs in
South Africa by the Dutch and English, the Ainos from Hondo by the
Japanese, and the whole original Alpine race by the later coming Teutons
from the fertile valleys and plains into the more barren highlands of
western Europe, have little or no chance of regaining their own. When
conquest results not in dislodgement, but only in the subjection of an
undisturbed native population to a new ruling class, the vanquished
retain their hold, only slightly impaired, perhaps, upon their
strength-giving fields, recover themselves, and sooner or later conquer
their conquerors either by absorption or revolution. This was the
history of ancient Egypt with its Shepherd Kings, of England with its
Norman lords, of Mexico and Peru with their Spanish victors.

[Sidenote: Weakness of small states.]

A large area throws around all the life forms which it supports the
protection of its mere distances, which facilitate defense in
competition with other forms, render attack difficult, and afford room
for retreat under pursuit. On the other hand, the small area is easily
compassed by the invaders, and its inhabitants soon brought to bay.
Since there is a general correspondence between size of area and number
of inhabitants, where physical conditions and economic development are
similar, a small area involves a further handicap of numerical weakness
of population. Greece has always suffered from the small size of the
peninsula and the further political dismemberment entailed by its
geographic subdivisions. Despite superior civilization and national
heroism, it has fallen a victim to almost every invader. Belgium,
Holland, Switzerland exist as distinct nations only on sufferance.
Finland's history since 1900 shows that the day for the national
existence of small peoples is passing.[304] The fragmentary political
geography of the Danube basin gives the geographer the impression of an
artist's crayon studies of details, destined later to be incorporated in
a finished picture. Their small areas promise short-lived autonomy. The
recent absorption of Bosnia and Herzegovina by