Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-10-26
SHIFT Of EUROPE'S WAR
BRINGS UP NEW AREA
Islands Between Europe and Asia
Once Backgrounds in 1850
Years Of Struggle.

With the shifting of the center of
the European storm and it's gathering
In intensity toward the Balkans. Turks
In Europe and the near east, those Is
lands which dot the course between Eu-
rope and Asia. backgrounds in the $500
years of struggle between the orient
and occident for supremacy. are form
e. once more a part of the area where
anA future of the west is to be decided.
.resfe are no lands in the world whose
kAorTes are more absorbing than those
- these islands. A bulletin just issued
- Sc National Geographic Society
gives a sketch of the islands as pre-
sensrS 80 a communication to the So
ciety by Ernest Lloyd Harris. 1t is as
follows:
Where a broken fringe of islands
parallels the coast Of Asia Minor, be-
ginning with famed Rhodes, in the
south: running northward. narrowly
peninsula of Gallipoli, and ending near
the present Aegean coast of Bulgaria,
Is the dividing line between the occi-
dent and orient.
Famous Marches of History.
These islands are the European
marches. where Asia and Europe have
CldSHeu throughout all
Here we find Persian pitted against
Greek. Roman against Pontian, Byzan
tine against Moslem. crusader against
Saracen. Turk against Mogul. and, to-
day. Europe divided against itself and
against the east.
Not only has Asia Minor and the is
lands facing Its shores been the stage
upon which have been enacted some
OF the most gigantic events in human
history. but it is at the present time
one OF the most interesting and pic
turesQue regions in the world. 1t has
been termed the quintessence of the
east. For nowhere else will you find,
thrown together in close association, SO
many things of the east-the camel
caravan: the groves of cypress. olive,
plane and valonia trees; the mosque
and lowering minaret; latticed windows
and yelled women, and a background
! made up of the remnants of an ancient
Fertilization.
Scene of Fascinating Romance.
Rhodes. whose history is one chap
ter after another of fascinating ro-
nance from days of remote antiquity,
through its reign as a cultural center
during the age of Roman occupation,
and its golden period as the stronghold
Of chivalry during the occupation of
the islands by the order of the Knights
OF St John, once dominated the eastern
heolterranean, as vest-pocket Eng
land off the coast of Asia Minor.
Cicero and Caesar finished their edu-
ations at Rhodes. but imperial Rome
and Byzantium finally absorbed the
schools of Rhodes. Next the Knights
of st. John. founded in the eleventh
century at Jerusalem, after many hard
ships. frightened again the annals of
the islands by making 1t their home.
They assumed the name of the Knights
of Rhodes. and after innumerable wars
were at last forced to retire, in 1922,
before the Turks to Malta At the
present time the island is being held by
Italy. which took possession in 1912,
in the course of her war with Tripoli.
"Chios. $50 miles to the north. once
1onian union, subject, in turn, to
Athenian, Roman, Italian and Turkish
domination, has long been a bone of
contention between the Turk and
parent country. Greece. in 1918. after
separation of more than 1900 years.
80, 600 Slaughtered In Two Months.
The Chians Joined their brother
Greeks in the wars of liberation, which
began in the first years Of the last
century. In 1922 the Turks slaughtered
10000 Chians in the space of two
months and sold $4,000 others into
slavery. and the land was thoroughly
devastated.
"Samos, at the mouth of the bay, upon
which stood ancient Ephesus, the Mag
nificent. formed one of the oldest set
Elements of the Ionians in the Medi-
terranean. Samos was the birthplace
of the philosopher Pythagoras. and
here, too. was the wonderful Temple of
Terra, a boast of the Grecian world.
The islands of the Aegean taken
together constitute one of the most his
toric and interesting insular regions In
the world. Besides the twenty princi-
pal ones, which have lent much to
history. there are innumerable smaller
ones The larger islands have num-
Der of fertile and well watered val
leys and plains, the principal products
OF which are wheat. wine. oil, mastic,
cotton, silk, raisins, honey and wax.
Coral and sponge fisheries are numer-
GUS. and in most of the islands the
ancient Greek type perseveres among
the people"