318 
Modern Business Geography 
The historical lands of western Asia. From the historical stand- 
point Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, Turkey, and Persia are especially 
important parts of Asia. Lack of rain in summer causes their popula- 
tion to be far less dense than that of India, China, and Japan. Never- 
theless, theirnearness to Europe and their historical connection have 
caused them to have more dealings with the western world than have 
the countries of southeastern Asia. 
22. From a topographical map of Asia find out what mountain barrier has 
made it difficult to construct a railway connecting Constantinople with 
the Euphrates valley. 
23. Work out two routes of travel from London to Bagdad and decide 
which would be the quicker. 
Locate the following regions: (a) Transcaucasia; (b) Russian Turkes- 
tan; (c) Asia Minor; (d) Palestine. For each of these four regions. 
answer the following questions : 
(a) Why are railroads fairly numerous ? 
(b) How important is irrigation ? 
¢) What crops are planted in the autumn and reaped in the spring, 
thus making agriculture possible in spite of the long. rainless summer ? 
(d) What cities are the most important ? 
(e) What are the reasons for their importance and their location ? 
The location of Asiatic cities. Although Asia has a great number of 
large cities, the number is small in comparison with the population. 
For example, while Europe has nearly seventy cities with a population 
of more than 300,000, Asia with twice as many inhabitants has only 
about twenty-six. Most of the large Asiatic cities are in India, China, 
and Japan. The majority have hitherto been important chiefly as 
centers of trade for the surrounding regions or as capitals, but are now 
becoming great centers of foreign commerce. 
25. From Table 5, B (page 330), make a list of all the Asiatic cities with more 
than 200,000 people. Locate them on the map made in Exercise 8. - 
26. Describe the relation of each of these cities to (a) density of population ; 
(b) waterways; (c¢) railroads: (d) the more important primary products. 
MANUFACTURING 
Asia’s position in manufacturing. Aside from small quantities of 
handmade goods which often have a high artistic value, the chief man- 
nfactured goods of Asia are these: 
(a) India: coarse cotton cloth; jute bagging; linseed oil. 
(6) China: silk floss or partly spun thread; relatively little cotton. 
woolen, and silk cloth.