1 / 10

Political Geography – Key Terms

Political Geography – Key Terms. State – people, land, government, & sovereignty. Nation-state – politically organized area in which nation and state occupy the same space. Microstates – states with very small land areas.

Gabriel
Download Presentation

Political Geography – Key Terms

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Political Geography – Key Terms • State – people, land, government, & sovereignty. • Nation-state – politically organized area in which nation and state occupy the same space. • Microstates – states with very small land areas. • City-state – sovereign state that compromises a town and the surrounding countryside. • Colony – territory that is legally tied to a sovereign state rather than being completely independent.

  2. States • Largest by land area – Russia, China, Canada, the US, Brazil, and Australia. • Originated in Europe, but can be traced back to the Fertile Crescent. • FC = arc b/w Persian Gulf and Mediterranean Sea. • Mesopotamia – (present-day Iraq) centered in valley by Tigris and Euphrates. • City-states = first to evolve in Mesopotamia.

  3. Modern State Idea • Peace of Westphalia – refers to the pair of treaties, the Treaty of Osnabrück and the Treaty of Münster, signed on May 15 and October 24 of 1648 respectively, which ended both the Thirty Years' War and the Eighty Years' War. • Provided a framework through which Spain, the Dutch United Provinces, France, and the Holy Roman Empire gained regional stability. • Emerging political state was accompanied by mercantilism, which led to the accumulation of wealth through plunder, colonization, and the protection of home industries and foreign markets.

  4. Colonialism • Colonialism – the effort by one country to establish settlements and to impose its political, economic, and cultural principles on such territory. • European states = colonialism • Three reasons for establishing colonies: • Christianity • Resources • More land = more power

  5. Imperialism • Imperialism – control of land already occupied and organized by an indigenous society. • Imperialism = European colonization of Africa and Asia. • France – practiced assimilation on its colonies. • Britain – decentralized approach to protect diverse cultures, customs, education systems.

  6. Shapes of States • Boundary – invisible line marking the extent of a state’s territory. • Five basic shapes – compact, prorupted, elongate, fragmented, and perforated. • Compact – distance from the center to any boundary does not vary significantly (Circle with capital at center). Ex. Kenya, Rwanda. • Prorupted – compact with a large projecting extension. Ex. the Congo.

  7. Shapes of States • Elongated – states with a long and narrow shape. Might suffer from poor internal communications. Ex. Chile and Italy. • Fragmented – several discontinuous pieces of territory. Two kinds: those with areas separated by water, and those separated by an intervening state. • Indonesia – encompasses 13,677 islands across 3,000 miles in Indian Ocean. • Perforated – state that completely surrounds another state. Example: South Africa. • Lesotho must depend on SA for the import and export of goods.

  8. Landlocked States • Lacks a direct outlet to the sea because it is completely surrounded by several countries. • Most common in Africa, where 14 of the continent’s 54 states have no direct ocean access. • 20th century – European powers built railroads from mines to seaports. These railroads now run through independent states. Created new landlocked countries that have to cooperate with neighboring states that have seaports.

More Related