AP: Human Geo

Unit 3

Territoriality:

 Connection of people, their culture, and their economic systems to the land.

A political & cultural strategy used by individuals, groups, or organizations to claim power over an area / land & its people & resources.

Neocolonialism:

("modern" or "new") colonialism is the indirect domination of peripheral states and their people by core states.

Core State:

-Most advanced industrial & military technology

- Complex manufacturing systems

- External political power

- Highest levels of wealth & mass consumption

Periphery State:

- Relatively little industrial development

- Simple production systems focused mainly on agriculture & raw materials

- Low levels of consumption & manufactured goods

Shatterbelts: 

Regions of continuing & persistent fragmentation due to devolution (power from central to regional gov't). (e.g. Eastern European Shatterbelt)

→ Sometimes act as buffer zones between independent states that are hostile to each other.

→ Usually have a high level of religious, linguistic and ethnic diversity.

- Hostility among the groups living there that could spark a regional conflict.

- Subject to frequent invasion, boundary change, & have low econ dev.

- Often contain an important resource that attracts world powers.

Choke Point:

A narrow feature that restricts passage to another region.

• On land, can be a valley.  At sea, is a narrow body / water (strait).

• 3 Characteristics:  (1) Occupy a strategically important location; (2) be controlled by one or a small number / countries; (3) be relied upon by a large number / countries.

Borderland:

A region straddling both sides of an international border 

where national cultures overlap and blend to varying degrees.

Frontier:

 A region at the margins of state control and settlement.

Enclave:

 A territory surrounded by a country but not ruled by it.

Exclave:

A part of a national territory separated from the main body of the country to which it belongs.

Antecedent:

A boundary that was identified before many people settled an area.

(E.g.:

- US-Canada border along the 49th parallel

- Spain & France along Pyrenees Mountains)

Subsequent:

A political boundary that developed with the cultural landscape (and usually matches ethno-national ideals).

(E.g.:

- China & Vietnam (negotiated over time & fixed with the Treaty of Tientsin in 1885)

- Many European boundaries.)

Consequent:

A type of subsequent boundary that is drawn to accommodate existing cultural differences.

(E.g.:

- Catholic Republic of Ireland & Protestant Northern Ireland (part of UK))

Superimposed:

A boundary that is placed on an area (usually by powerful "outsiders") without regard to existing boundaries / traditional ethnic divisions. (Often lead to conflict, civil war and even genocide.)

(E.g.:

- Rwanda & Burundi (Belgium))

Relic:

A boundary that no longer exists/functions as an international border.

(E.g.:

Hadrian's Wall (built by Romans to divide the NW frontier from Scottish invasion)

- Berlin Wall (Divided E and W Germany between 1961-1991)

Geometric:

A boundary that has regular, often perfectly straight, lines drawn without regard for an area's physical or cultural features (can be superimposed or antecedent).

(E.g.:

- US Border along the 49th parallel.)

Boundaries:

• give every state a specific shape (morphology).

  • Shapes can give a state advantages or disadvantages.

COMPACT:

Round-ish shape 

+ Reduced transportation needs

+ Easier defense & communication

(e.g

- Belgium)

PRORUPT/PROTRUDED:

Round or square with long extension

+ Can create access to a resource or act as a buffer

Example:

- Namibia

ELONGATED:

Long, narrow shape + Long coastline, many climates

- Capital at one end can be problematic

Example:

- Chile

FRAGMENTED:

: A state with territory divided into many separate segments

- Transportation within state is difficult

- Difficult to maintain unity

Example:

- Philippines

PERFORATED:

State totally surrounds another state

+ Can create access to a resource or act as a buffer

Example:

- Italy (surrounds San Marino & Vatican City)

POLITICAL ENTITY:

Systems of governing authority organized as power structures such as nation-states, city-states, kingdoms, etc .

SOVEREIGNTY: 

The ability of a state to govern its territory free from control of its internal affairs by other states.

• A state is managed by it’s national gov’t, laws, army, and leaders → good ex. of a formal or uniform region

• Taiwan (open your book to page 194 and read "The Example of China".  Is Taiwan sovereign?

SELF-DETERMINATION:

The concept that ethnicities have the right to govern themselves.

NATION STATE: 

A state whose territory corresponds to that occupied by a particular nation.

• Japan, Iceland, Korea, Egypt, Denmark

STATE

An area organized into a political unit and ruled by an established government that has control over its internal and foreign affairs.  Virtually all habitable land is organized into states.  States have:

• Defined territory on the Earth’s surface

• A permanent population

• Sovereignty (independence from control of its internal affairs by other states)

NATION:

 A large group of people who are unified by common cultural characteristics, such as language and ethnicity, or a shared history.

NATION-STATE:

 A state whose territory corresponds to that occupied by a particular nation.  In modern times, this concept developed after WW1 in Europe, when language was used as the principal criteria for identifying ethnic groups.

MULTINATIONAL STATE:

A state that contains more than one nation.

STATELESS NATION: 

A national group that is spread out over multiple states where that group is always the minority and has little political power.

MULTISTATE NATION:

A situation in which a national group has a state of its own AND also spreads across its borders into other countries.

• Koreans

• Germans

AUTONOMOUS & SEMI-AUTONOMOUS REGIONS: 

 Defined areas within a state that have some degree of self-government.

• Native American Reservations

• Cook Islands

• Macau

COLONIALISM: 

An attempt by one country to establish settlements and to impose its political, economic, and cultural principles in another territory.  (In West:  Spain, France, Great Britain, Portugal)

DEVOLUTION: 

The transfer of power from a national to a subnational - often local - government (such as in a federal system).  Can also be used to refer to the breakup of a large state (Balkanization)

COLONY: 

 A territory that is legally tied to a sovereign state rather than being completely independent.

Current colonies:

• Puerto Rico (a Commonwealth of the USA; Puerto Ricans are citizens of the US, but do not participate in US elections or have a voting member of Congress);

• Greenland (an autonomous unit within the Kingdom of Denmark; Greenland runs its internal affairs while Denmark controls foreign affairs and defense);

• Hong Kong & Macao (special administrative regions within the People’s Republic of China; they have some autonomy in economic matters, but China controls foreign affairs and defense).

Demarcated:

physically marked or represented on the landscape