Geographic Characteristics of States
• States vary greatly in Size-some huge like Russia 6.6 m. sq.
miles, others large with 3 m. sq. miles like US, China,
Brazil, Canada-some are microstates-Vatican, Monaco,
Andorra, Grenada.
• Shape-some are compact while other are elongated or
fragmented.
• Demography-some have huge populations like China’s 1.3
billion or tiny like Iceland with 250,000.
• Organization-monarchy, democratic, dictatorship,
theocratic.
• Resources-natural and skilled population
• Development-subsistence to tertiary
• Power-both economic and military
Stateless Nations
• Sovereignty-complete control
over a territory’s political &
military affairs. Some nations do
not have their own state-this
can lead to conflict.
• Palestinians are the most well
known example-a stateless
nation in conflict with Israel
over territory.
• Kurds-about 20 million people
live in Kurdistan-which covers 6
states-since the 1991 Iraq WarKurdish Security Zone has been
virtually independent.
• Territoriality –
“the attempt by an individual or group to affect,
influence, or control people, phenomena, and
relationships, by delimiting and asserting control over a
geographic area.”
– Robert Sack
• Sovereignty –
having the last say over a territory – legally.
• Territorial Integrity –
a government has the right to keep the borders and
territory of a state in tact and free from attack.
Territory
• Territorial Morphologyshape, size & relative
location of a state.
• Compact-distance from
the geographic center
does not vary greatly.
• Fragmented-consisting
of 2 or more separate
pieces divided by water
or other territory.
• Elongated-long & thin
states.
Territory
• Prorupted-states that are
nearly compact, but have a
narrow extension.
• Perforated-having another
state lie within ones
territory.
• Exclave-an outlier of a
state located within
another.
• Enclave-the counterpart of
exclave-it lies within a
country and is
independent or ruled by
another country.
India: The Tin Bigha Corridor
Fig. 8-7: The Tin Bigha corridor fragmented two sections of the country of Bangladesh.
When it was leased to Bangladesh, a section of India was fragmented.
Landlocked Countries
• Landlocked states have a serious disadvantage in trade and
access to resources.
• Africa has more landlocked states than any other
continent. Sahel is poorly linked to the coastal ports;
Uganda linked by rail; Zimbabwe access via South African
and Mozambique ports; Rwanda & Burundi the world’s
most isolated states; Zambia & Malawi have poor
connections.
• Asia-Mongolia & Nepal are landlocked with rough terrain,
great distances and limited communication, Afghanistan,
Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia & Georgia.
• South America-Bolivia and Paraguay-lost coastline in war
• Europe-Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Slovakia,
Moldova, Belarus and Bosnia
Landlocked States
African
States
Fig. 8-6: Southern, central, and eastern Africa include states that are compact,
elongated, prorupted, fragmented, and perforated.