WHERE ARE STATES LOCATED?
Problems of defining states
 Almost all habitable land belongs to a country today
 In 1940, there were about 50 countries
 Today, there are 193 countries (as evidenced by United
Nations membership)
 Some places are difficult to classify
 Korea: One state or two?
 Western Sahara (Sahrawi Republic)
 Claims to polar regions

UNITED NATIONS MEMBERS
Fig. 8-1: The UN has increased from 51 members in 1945 to 191 in 2003.
Montenegro was added in 2006 and South Sudan in 2011.

ANTARCTICA: NATIONAL CLAIMS
Fig. 8-2: Antarctica is the only large landmass that is not part of a state, but several countries claim portions of it.

WHERE ARE STATES LOCATED?
Varying sizes of states
 State size varies considerably
 Largest state = Russia
 11 percent of the world’s land area
 Smallest state = Monaco
 Microstate = states with very small land areas
 About two dozen microstates

WHERE ARE STATES LOCATED?
Development of the state concept
 Ancient states
 The Fertile Crescent
 City-state
 Early European states
 Colonies
 Three motives: “God, gold, and glory”
 Today = some remaining colonies

THE FERTILE CRESCENT
Fig. 8-3: The Fertile Crescent was the site of early city-states and a succession of ancient empires.

COLONIAL POSSESSIONS, 1914
Fig. 8-4: By the outbreak of World War I, European states held colonies throughout the world, especially throughout Africa and in much of
Asia.

COLONIAL POSSESSIONS, 2003
Fig. 8-5: Most of the remaining colonies are small islands in the Pacific or Caribbean .

WHY DO BOUNDARIES BETWEEN
STATES CAUSE PROBLEMS?
Shapes of states
 Five basic shapes:
 Compact
 Pros…Cons…Examples…
 Elongated
 Pros…Cons…Examples…
 Prorupted
 Pros…Cons…Examples…
 Perforated
 Pros…Cons…Examples…
 Fragmented
 Pros…Cons…Examples…

WHY DO BOUNDARIES BETWEEN
STATES CAUSE PROBLEMS?
Landlocked states-lacks a direct outlet to the sea b/c it is completely surrounded by other countries.
Green denotes the 42 landlocked countries located in the world.
Purple denotes the 2 doubly landlocked countries in the world.

AFRICAN STATES
Fig. 8-6: Southern, central, and eastern Africa include states that are compact, elongated, prorupted, fragmented, and perforated.

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.

WHY DO BOUNDARIES BETWEEN
STATES CAUSE PROBLEMS?
Types of boundaries
 Physical
 Desert boundaries
 Mountain boundaries
 Water boundaries

PHYSICAL BOUNDARIES

WHY DO BOUNDARIES BETWEEN
STATES CAUSE PROBLEMS?
Frontier-a zone where no state exercises complete political control.
**The only regions that still have frontiers, rather than boundaries, are Antarctica and the Arabian
Peninsula.

FRONTIERS IN THE ARABIAN PENINSULA
Fig. 8-8: Several states in the Arabian Peninsula are separated by frontiers rather than precise boundaries.

WHY DO BOUNDARIES BETWEEN
STATES CAUSE PROBLEMS?
 Cultural
 Geometric boundaries
 Human features (language, religion, ethnicity)

AOZOU STRIP: A GEOMETRIC BOUNDARY
Fig. 8-9: The straight boundary between Libya and Chad was drawn by European powers, and the strip is the subject of controversy between the two countries.

DIVISION OF CYPRUS
Fig. 8-10: Cyprus has been divided into Green and Turkish portions since 1974.

WHY DO BOUNDARIES BETWEEN
STATES CAUSE PROBLEMS?
Boundaries inside states
 Unitary states-puts most power in the hands of the central gov’t.
 Example: France
 Federal states-divides power b/t a central gov’t and units of local gov’t.
 Example: Poland
 Globally, there is a trend toward federations

WHY DO BOUNDARIES BETWEEN
STATES CAUSE PROBLEMS?
Electoral geography
 Boundaries within the United States are used to create legislative districts
 Gerrymandering-process of redrawing legislative boundaries for the purpose of benefitting the party in power.
 Three types: wasted, excess, and stacked vote
 Illegal (1985 U.S. Supreme Court decision)

GERRYMANDERING: FLORIDA AND
GEORGIA
Fig. 8-11: State legislature boundaries were drawn to maximize the number of legislators for Republicans in Florida and Democrats in Georgia.

GERRYMANDERING

WHY DO STATES COOPERATE WITH
EACH OTHER?
Political and military cooperation
 The United Nations (est. 1945)
 Regional military alliances
 Balance of power
 Post–World War II: NATO or the Warsaw Pact
 Other regional organizations
 OSEC (est. 1965)
 OAS (est. 1962)
 OAU (est. 1963)
 The Commonwealth of Nations
Economic cooperation
European Union
COMECON

THE EUROPEAN UNION AND NATO
Fig. 8-12: NATO and the European Union have expanded and accepted new members as the Warsaw Pact and COMECON have disintegrated.

Figure 8-21

EUROPEAN BOUNDARY CHANGES
Fig. 8-13: Twentiethcentury boundary changes in Europe, 1914 to 2003. Germany’s boundaries changed after each world war and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

WHY HAS TERRORISM INCREASED?
Terrorism
 Systematic use of violence to intimidate a population or to coerce a government
 From the Latin word meaning “to frighten”
 Use of bombing, kidnapping, hijacking, and murder to instill fear and anxiety in a population

WHY HAS TERRORISM INCREASED?
Terrorism by individuals and organizations
 American terrorists
 September 11, 2001, attacks
 Al-Qaeda
 Jihad

WORLD TRADE CENTER
Ikonos satellite images of the World Trade Center June 30, 2000, before the attack
.

WORLD TRADE CENTER SITE
SEPTEMBER
15, 2001
Ikonos satellite images of the World Trade Center September 15, 2001, after the attack
.

WHY HAS TERRORISM INCREASED?
State support for terrorism
 Three increasing levels of involvement
 Providing sanctuary
 Supplying weapons, money, and intelligence to terrorists
 Using terrorists to plan attacks

WHY HAS TERRORISM INCREASED?
State support for terrorism
 Examples
 Libya
 Iraq
 Afghanistan
 Iran
 Pakistan

ETHNIC GROUPS IN SOUTHWEST ASIA

MAJOR TRIBES IN IRAQ