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214‣ There are only two options for the autochthonous populations in the wake ofmajor migrations: (1) part of them stay in their old territories, and (2) part ofthem is pushed to the geographically isolated regions (mountains, forests,swamps, islands, colder northern margins of the Europe). Of course, mountainranges in Europe have never been “empty”, so it would be a mistake to thinkthat mountains (and other geographically isolated regions) were populatedonly because of the arrival of the new migrant populations. But there is nodoubt that because of the new arrivals the population of the mountains becamedenser. This was (and still is) the strategy of survival of the indigenouspopulations against intruders if the relatively inaccessible mountains are a partof their ethnic territory. “If the enemy is prevailing in the plain, I’ll go andfind a shelter in the mountains” these are the words of a simple Georgiansong.‣ Part of the older population, who did not move from their native places, isassimilated by the waves of newcomers. The cultural integrity of the otherpart of the old population that moved to the isolated regions survived better.Of course, we are not talking about the complete survival of all elements ofculture. For example, most of the native, pre-Indo-European languages werelost among most of the mountain populations of Europe, with the onlyexception of the Basque and Caucasian languages which survived until the21 st century (and of course, both in mountains!).‣ Let’s go back again. Of course, such generalizations are always imprecise, butwe may say that two different layers of populations occupy differentgeographical environments: the newcomers occupy the easy to access andmore fertile plain regions of the central and southern part of Europe, and theolder populations live in the geographically isolated regions (mountains,islands, forests, and in the northern marginal and colder zone of thecontinent). For a few centuries (or even millennia) this stratification is kept.Losing contact with other isolated (and related) regions, each survivingisolated island of the older population and culture maintains and developcontacts within the natural borders of their own mountain region, formingcloser cultural ties;‣ Later, when the time for the creation of the states is right, the “fathers of thestate” notice that the most natural places to draw the borders between thestates are geographically isolated regions, like mountain ranges, big rivers orthe forests. Exactly where the old surviving populations live.‣ Caught up in this process of state-making and the creation of state borders, theold surviving populations, living for centuries and millennia in the isolatedmountain ranges and forests, and keeping contact within their “own”mountain range, suddenly find themselves belonging to different states,divided by the newly created state borders;‣ If we look at the geographically isolated regions in Europe (particularlymountain ranges) we can see that most of the major mountain ranges are usedas the borders between the states, and the native mountain populations areoften divided between different states. Basques in the Pyrenees are dividedbetween France and Spain. The Alpine population is divided between France,