Geographical Characteristics of the State

The Cultural Mosaic

Fellman, and Notes from

D.J. Zeigler of Old Dominion

Vocab Review

• State• Sovereignty• Nation• Nation-State• Part-nation State• Binational State• Multinational State• Multistate Nation• Stateless Nation• Nationalism

• Functional Region• MDC• LDC• Postindustrial• Sectors of the Economy

– Primary– Secondary– Tertiary

New Vocab

• Wallerstein’s World Systems Theory: proposes that social change in the developing world is inextricably linked to the economic activities of the developed world– Core – Processes that incorporate higher levels of

education, higher salaries and more technology; generate more wealth than periphery countries in the world economy

– Semi-Periphery – Places where core & periphery processes are both occurring; places that are exploited by the core but in turn exploit the periphery

– Periphery – Processes that incorporate lower levels of education, lower salaries, and less technology; and generate less wealth than core countries in the world economy

New Vocab

• Brandt Line

Core Periphery Model

Territoriality • The modern state is an example of a common

human tendency: the need to belong to a larger group that controls its own piece of the earth, its own territory.

• AP Central: How earth’s surface should be organized

• This is called territoriality: a cultural strategy that uses power to control area and communicate that control, subjugating inhabitants and acquiring resources.

Shapes of States

• Compact States– Efficient– Theoretically round– Capital in center– Shortest possible boundaries to defend– Improved communications– Ex. Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda,

Poland, Uruguay

Shapes of States

• Elongated States– States that are long and narrow– Suffer from poor internal communication– Capital may be isolated– Ex. Chile, Norway, Vietnam, Italy, Gambia

Shapes of States

• Fragmented States– Several discontinuous pieces of territory– Technically, all states w/off shore islands– Two kinds: separated by water & separated

by an intervening state– Exclave – – Ex. Indonesia, USA, Russia, Philippines,

Azerbaijan, Angola

Shapes of States

• Prorupted States– w./large projecting extension– Sometimes natural– Sometimes to gain a resource or advantage,

such as to reach water, create a buffer zone– Ex. Thailand, Myanmar, Namibia,

Mozambique, Cameroon, Dem. Rep. of Congo

Proruption Examples

• Dem. Rep. of Congo – when Belgians colonized included Zaire River to Atlantic Ocean

• Afghanistan – when British ruled, created a 200 mi. proruption to prevent Russia from sharing border with Pakistan

• Namibia – Germans carved a proruption known as Caprivi Strip to gain access to the Zambezi River

Shapes of States

• Perforated States– A country that completely surrounds another

state– Enclave – the surrounded territory– Ex. Lesotho/South Africa, San Marino &

Vatican City/Italy

Enclaves and exclaves

• An enclave is an area surrounded by a country but not ruled by it.– It can be self-governing (Lesotho) or an

exclave of another country. – Can be problematic for the surrounding

country.– Pene-enclave—an intrusive piece of territory

with a tiny outlet such as Gambia.

Exclave • An exclave is part national territory

separated from the main body of the country to which it belongs.

• Example: Kaliningrad, separated from Russia, Cabinda from Angola, Alaska from US

• Very undesirable if a hostile power holds the intervening territory. – Defense and supplies are problematic. – Inhabitants may develop separatist ideas.– Example: Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Distribution of territory—geographic characteristics of states

• The more compact the territory, the easier it is to govern.

• Ideal shape is round or hexagonal.• Types of shapes: compact, prorupt,

elongated, fragmented and perforated (which contains an enclave).

• The most damaging territorial distributions affect a country’s cohesiveness and stability: enclaves and exclaves.

Landlocked States

• No access to major sea or ocean

• Must negotiate rights to move resources through other countries – problems exist when countries do not agree on fundamental policies

Location

• Relative location: Some states are landlocked.

Boundaries

• Natural or Physical Boundaries– Mountains– Deserts– Water – rivers, seas, lakes, oceans

Boundaries

• Physical / Natural Boundaries

• Geometric Boundaries

Boundaries

• Physical / Natural Boundaries• Geometric Boundaries• Cultural Boundaries

– Antecedent Boundaries • Malaysia/Indonesia• Canada/US

– Consequent Boundaries• Religious Boundaries

– between Ireland & N. Ireland• Language Boundaries

– Subsequent Boundaries• Yugoslavia

– Superimposed Boundaries• Indonesia/Papua New Guinea

Boundaries

• Physical / Natural Boundaries– Median-Line Principle - approach to dividing and creating

boundaries at the mid-point between two places.

• Geometric Boundaries• Cultural Boundaries

• Relict Boundaries – – North & South Vietnam

Fortified Boundaries

• Great Wall of China

• Berlin Wall

• Morocco/Western Sahara – earth berms

Cultural Regions

• Boundary definition – determining the boundary by a treaty-like agreement through actual points, latitude/longitude, or landscape

• Boundary delimitation – the boundary is drawn on the map

• Boundary demarcation – the boundary is established by steel posts, concrete pillars, fences, etc. to mark the boundary on the ground

Boundary Disputes

• Definitional: focus on legal language (e.g. median line of a river: water levels may vary)

• Locational:  definition is not in dispute, the interpretation is; allows mapmakers to delimit boundaries in various ways

• Operational: neighbors differ over the way the boundary should function (migration, smuggling) (e.g., US/Mexico)

• Allocational: disputes over rights to natural resources (gas, oil, water) (e.g., Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, in part, due to a dispute over oil rights regarding the Ramallah oil field (mostly in Iraq but straddling into Kuwait)

Ethnicities of Africa

Politics of GeographyPolitics of Geography

Effect of place on politicsEffect of place on politics

ExampleExample::Political BordersPolitical Borders

Iguazu Falls, Argentina / Paraguay

Mexico-Guatemala Border Region

Deforestation in Bolivia

• http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/content/ess05.sci.ess.earthsys.bolivia/

Spatial Organization of Territory--

How states organize their territory for administrative purposes.

Governments decide where power is localized so there is a locus of power within the state.

Power can be highly concentrated or widely diffused.

The two basic ways governments are administered are unitary and federal.

Unitary

Countries where the capital is associated with the core, and all power is concentrated in a single place, the capital.

Centralized governments, relatively few internal contrasts and a strong sense of national identity, little provincial power.Examples: France, China and newly

independent states developed out of former colonies.

Federal Power is shared between a central government

and the governments of provinces. Acknowledges and gives some powers to its

constituent parts; have strong regional government responsibilities.

Examples: the US, Canada, Germany, Australia. --One result of federalism is to lessen public

support for something so radical as secession (as in Canada).

Confederate

Devolution

• The process whereby regions within a state demand and gain political strength and growing autonomy at the expense of the central government.– Example: the Soviet Union

Regional or asymmetric federalism

• Gives some authority to subdivisions while keeping central authority in monetary policy, defense, foreign policy, etc. within the capital.– Canada: establishment of the self-governing

Nunavut territory – United Kingdom: separate status for Scotland,

Wales and Ireland.– Spain: Catalonia, Basque country.

Capital moves

The capital may be newly created or moved from another city: Karachi to Islamabad, Istanbul to Ankara.

• Forward-thrust capital city: One that is purposely placed in the interior of a country to show government’s desire to encourage more uniform development:– Brazil moved its capital from Rio de Janeiro to

Brasilia in the 1950’s.

Nigeria

100 million people speak more than 400 different languages:

•Hausa – 35 mil

•Yoruba – 25 mil

•Ibo – 20 mil

•Rest spoken by less than 1 mil

School instruction in English

Lagos: Old Capital

Abuja: New Capital

Capital of Turkey

Brazil

Size: a classification systemVery large Over 1 million square miles

Large 135,000 to 1 million square miles

Medium 60,000 to 135,000 square miles

Small 10,000 to 60,000 square miles

Very small Under 10, 000 square miles

Ministates 500 to 5,000 square miles

Microstates Under 500 square miles

Ministates

Core-Periphery • Many states have grown to their present shape

over a long time, from an original core area, which had good resources and was easily defensible.

• This area usually contains the most economically developed base, densest population and largest cities, and most developed transportation and the resources that originally supported the economy.

• Core area often is where the capital is located. It becomes the node of a functional culture region.

• The outlying area or periphery is directed toward the core, but friction can exist between the two.

• Countries which have developed from core areas are usually fairly stable countries.

• But the absence of a core can weaken a country’s national identity.

• Countries with competing core areas, such as Spain, can have problems too.