© Jürgen Sauer

"...the Carpathian Mountains have deeply shaped the natural and cultural history of Europe, as well as the history of the collective human imagination. Their intimidating slopes and impervious woods have splintered waves of Proto-Indo-Europeans, guided the expansion of the earliest Slavs, and harbored the aspirations of peoples called Dacians, Celts, Romans, Huns, Goths, Gepids, Vandals, Moravians, Poles, Hungarians, Romanians, Slovaks, Rusyns, Gorals, and many more. Carpathian ridges have defended mighty kingdoms, Carpathian passes have channeled stalwart armies, and Carpathian peaks have separated diverging societies—a sundering legacy seen today in the numerous national and provincial boundaries that Carpathian crests still form.

— page 9, Part 1; page 12, Part 2, Into the Carpathians
© Alan E. Sparks