Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-12-26
Geographic News
Bulletins by the
National Geographic Society
BACK DOOR

EUROPE'S BACK DOOR
Translation often spoils romance.
Chanak, the strategic point on the
| Asiatic side of the Dardanelles,
I which figured in the headlines for
weeks after the fall of Smyrna as a
sort of threatened British Their
! mopylae, means "pots'-scullery
| understanding t o a bulletin deal
| ing with the region issued by the
National Geographic Society.
but though it has a hum-drum
name," continues the bulletin,
"Chanak-or Tehanak-Kalessi-and
its neighborhood have more than
once been the stage for acts which
have radically nodded the worlds
history and even the worlds litera-
ture. Barely twenty miles to the
south rose Troy, to furnish inspira-
ton alike to Homer n his myriad
of readers. Within a stones throw
of Chanak, Xerxes in $50 b. G. led
his thousands Of Persians across
the Dardanelles on a bridge of boats
in the first formidable expedition
of Asiatics into Europe which hts
tory records. At the same spot a
century and a half later Alexander
led his smaller but more highly
trained army into Asia on his tri-
umphal conquest of the world.
Turks Entered There $50 Years Ago
sit was from Chanak in 1858
that the Turks crossed to their first
foothold in Europa crossing thai
gave Europe a problem that has
bred wars and massacres and brok-
en- treaties for more than 500 years.
1.-THE Sea of Marmora Tito which
the Dardanelies and the Bosporus
widen forms a barrier between Asia
and Europe. The roads between
the two continents lie across the
two straits at its ends. Constanti-
nople. at the ~narrewest point of the
Bosporus is the front door; Chanak,
where the Dardanelles is most on
stricted. Is the back door. 1t is
natural enough. perhaps. that al
most all of the historic invasions
of Europe from the East shoul1
have been by the back way, and
that there again today Great Bril-
tain should have made an impor-
tant stand.
Solar Plexus Of Dardanelles
Castle after castle, each forth
fed, comes into view on both the
Asiatic and the European sides of
tie Dardanelles as one steams from
the Aegean toward Constantinople.
But the narrows opposite Chanak
are reserved for the castles of cas-
| licSs LIS SdollC VI Aotd ol IL
| right, the Castle of Europe on the
left. The Chanak f~ortifications We're
first constructed in 1470 not long
after Constantineple fell to the
Turks. Ever since Chanak has
been a place of importance. In re-
cent decades 1t has been the point
of administration for all the Darda-
nelles defenses+the solar plexus of
the outer straits. German artillery
experts resided there during the
World War and modernized the
Notifications.
"ohanak, too, has been the gate
There each of the 1900 ships that
passed through the Dardanelles in
| prewar days was held until its
papers were found to be satisfac-
tory; and home could pass after
nightfall. Nearby was anchored an
important unit of the Turkish feet.
In Shadow of Mt. Ida
"To the Western observer steam
ing up the Dardanelles the roles of
Asia and Europe seem reversed. ALI
the scenic beauty is on the Asiatic
side where the steep slopes are clad
| with beautiful forests. The Euro
pean side is rugged and largely bar
rem.
"Ot the beauty spots on thu
Asiatic shore few surpass those
about Chanak where the construct
ed stream suddenly widens out to
form at once the Dardanelles most
striking cape and bay. Barely five
miles to the south are the ruins Of
the ancient city of Dardanus which
gives the strait its name. A few
miles farther to the southeast rises
Mt. Ida where gods communed and
&c. - --- --.-
Scamander to water the plains of
Troy"