Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 294, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 December 1918 — ARABIA’S PLACE ON THE MAP [ARTICLE]

ARABIA’S PLACE ON THE MAP

"Cradle of Islam” of Great Importance In the Aspirations of Warring Countries. At the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers—a hundred miles from the Persian gulf—ls the town of Gurna. The few tourists who in ante-bel-lum days sailed past Gtfrna were told to look with reverence at the spot, for here was the original Garden of Eden, writes John Van Ess In Asia Magazine. In December, 1914, the British took Gurna and for some time, at least, for the first time, Arabia was put on the map. The advance which British arms have made in the land of the Arab is Important In proportion as the Germans regarded Arabia as Important. Arabia looms large on the Teutonic horizon because it is the door to “Mitteleuropa,” and because it is the cradle of Islam. Since Islam Is professed by the majority of the population In Turkey and 63,000jQ00 of Indians and 20,000,000 of Russians and 24.000,000 in the East Indies and 12,000,000 in Egypt and 8,000,000 In China—lslam was considered worthy of an attempt at wedlock, holy or unholy. If you look at the map of the Mediterranean you will see that Cyrus seems to hare a great finger which points just to where Asia Minor bends down sharply to form the Syrian coast. Napoleon noticed this more than a hundred years ago and suggested that there lay the key to any situation which would involve that part of the world. Follow the finger and it Is significant that the objective of the British Palestine and Mesopotamian campaign was Aleppo. Thence draw the line across and you draw with almost uncanny accuracy the northern linguistic boundary of Arabia.