merce over the whole world has scarcely sufficed to bring them into
touch. Therefore the highly irregular distribution of the land areas,
here compactly grouped, there remote, deserves especial attention, since
it produces far-reaching results. Finally, continents and islands, by
their zonal situation, their land forms, rainfall, river systems, flora
and fauna, produce for man varied life conditions, which in their turn
are partially dependent upon the size and grouping of the land-masses.

[Sidenote: Classification of land-masses according to size and
location.]

A comparison of the large and small land-masses of the from the
standpoint of both physical and anthropological geography yields a
classification based upon size and location on the one hand, and
historical influences on the other. The following table indicates the
relation between the two.

I. Independent Land-masses.

A. _Continents_. Independent by reason of size, which enables them
to support a large number of people and afford the conditions for
civilization.

(a) Insular continents, whose primitive and modern development are
marked by remoteness. Australia.

(b) Neighboring continents, separated by narrow seas and showing
community of historical events. Europe and Africa. Asia and North
America around Bering Sea.

B. _Islands_. Independent by reason of location.

(a) Oceanic islands, characterized by greatest remoteness from
continents and other islands, and also by independent or detached
history. St. Helena and Iceland.

(b) Member of a group of oceanic islands, therefore less
independent. Hawaii, Fayal in the Azores, Tongatabu.

(c) Large islands, approaching by reason of size the independence
of continents and thereby finding compensation for a less
independent location. New Guinea, Borneo, Madagascar; in a cultural
sense, Great Britain and Japan.

II. Dependent Land-masses.

(a) Inshore or coast islands, whose history is intimately connected
with that of the nearby mainland. Euboea, Long Island, Vancouver,
Sakhalin, Ceylon.

(b) Neighboring islands, showing less intimate historical
relations. Formosa, the Canaries, Ireland in contrast to Great
Britain.

(c) Islands of enclosed or marginal seas, contained in a circle of
lands and exposed to constant intercourse from all sides. Jamaica,
Java, Cr