POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY
State (aka Country)
A politically organized territory with a permanent
population, a defined territory, and a government,
and recognized as such by other states and has
sovereignty (control over its’ internal and external
affairs).
State (aka Country)
A politically organized territory with a permanent population, a
defined territory, and a government, and recognized as such by
other states
Nations
• Nation: A group of people with a common culture
living in a territory and having a strong sense of unity
Nations
• Nation: A group of people with a common culture
living in a territory and having a strong sense of unity
Kurds
Japanese
Nation-State
• A politically organized area in which nation and state occupy the same
space
• Rare in practice
• An ideal for governments as source of political loyalty and unity
Nation-State
• A politically organized area in which nation and state occupy the same
space
• Rare in practice
• An ideal for governments as source of political loyalty and unity
Japanese 98.5%, Koreans
0.5%, Chinese 0.4%, other
0.6% note: up to 230,000
Brazilians of Japanese
origin migrated to Japan in
the 1990s to work in
industries; some have
returned to Brazil (2004)
Egyptian 99.6%,
other 0.4% (2006
census)
Armenian 97.9%, Yezidi
(Kurd) 1.3%, Russian 0.5%,
other 0.3% (2001 census)
Stateless Nation
A nation with no state
Stateless Nations
Basques
Quebecois
Catalonia
State, Nation, Nation State, StatelessNation
REGIONAL POLITICAL SYSTEMS
Countries are often divided into smaller units
to make governing more efficient.
 cities, towns, villages
Smaller political units often combine to form
larger regional units, such as counties,
provinces, and states.
GEOGRAPHIC
CHARACTERISTICS OF States
1) SIZE
2) SHAPE
3) RELATIVE LOCATION
LANDLOCKED > a land (country)
surrounded by other land with no direct
outlet to the sea.
GEOGRAPHIC
CHARACTERISTICS OF
NATIONS
Landlocked
Country
Uzbekistan
Territorial Morphology
NATIONAL BOUNDARIES
• Natural Boundaries - rivers, lakes,
chains of mountains; Rio Grande
• Artificial Boundaries - fixed line
following latitude and longitude
NATIONAL BOUNDARIES
Natural Boundary –
Rio Grande River
NATIONAL BOUNDARIES
Artificial
Boundary