Shapes and Boundaries of States

Brain Burner Entry #1 How might the shape of a country (state) impact it?

Shapes of States 5 basic shapes: 1 Compact 2 Prorupted 3 Elongated 4 Fragmented 5 Perforated

Compact States: Efficient In a compact state, the distance from the center to any boundary does not vary significantly. The ideal theoretical compact state would be shaped like a circle, with the capital at the center and the shortest possible boundaries to defend. Examples: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda

Compact State - Rwanda

What would be the advantages and disadvantages of a compact state?

2. Prorupted States: Access or Disruption An otherwise compact state with a large projecting extension is a prorupted state. Proruptions are created for 2 reasons: Access to a resource such as water They can also separate two states that otherwise would share a boundary.

When the British ruled the otherwise compact state of Afghanistan, they created a long, narrow proruptions to the east that was to prevent Russia from sharing a border with Pakistan. Other examples: Thailand, Myanmar, Namibia

What would be the advantages and disadvantages of a prorupted state?

Elongated States: Potential Isolation There are a handful of elongated states, or states with a long and narrow shaped. What is the best example of an elongated state? The best example is Chile. Chile is wedged between the Pacific Coast and the Andes Mountains. Elongated states may suffer from poor internal communications. Other examples are Italy, Gambia, Malawi

The best example is Chile. Chile is wedged between the Pacific Coast and the Andes Mountains. Elongated states may suffer from poor internal communications. Other examples are Italy, Gambia, Malawi

What would be the advantages and disadvantages of a elongated state? Elongated states may suffer from poor internal communications. Other examples are Italy, Gambia, Malawi

Fragmented States: Problematic A fragmented state includes several discontinuous pieces of territory. 2 kinds: those areas separated by water, and those separated by an intervening state. The most extreme example is Indonesia, made up of 13,677 islands.

Fragmented States A difficult type of fragmentation occurs if the 2 pieces of territory are separated by another state. Imagine the difficulty of communicating between Alaska and the lower 48 if Canada were not a friendly neighbor. The division of Angola into two pieces by Congo’s proruption creates a fragmented state. Russia is fragmented by other independent states. Kalingrad is along the Baltic Sea.

What would be the advantages and disadvantages of a fragmented state? The fragmentation hinders communications makes integration of of people living on remote islands nearly impossible.

Perforated States: South Africa A state that completely surrounds another is a perforated state. The one good example is South Africa which completely surrounds the state of Lesotho. Lesotho must depend entirely on South Africa for the import and export of goods.

What would be the advantages and disadvantages of a perforated state?

Landlocked States A landlocked state lacks a direct outlet to the sea because it is completely surrounded by several other countries. They are the most common in Africa, where 14 of the 54 states have no ocean access.

What would be the advantages and disadvantages of a landlocked state? To send and receive goods by sea a landlocked state must arrange to use another country’s seaport. Zimbabwe ships more than half of its freight through the South African seaport of Durban.

Application Activity: Find an example of each state morphology using the app Google Earth. Draw the states in your notebook.

Trivia question: There are only two countries in the world which are double landlocked, which means that they are surrounded only by other landlocked countries. Can you find them? Lichtenstein and Uzbekistan.

What do you think of when you hear the word boundary?

Political Boundary- Lines created by a country to define their territory.

Two categories of boundaries used today. Physical Boundary What do you think this boundary looks like? Geometric Boundary What do you think this boundary looks like?

Physical Boundary Follow natural features on the earth. Examples include rivers, mountains, lakes. Can be easy to identify.

Geometric Boundary Straight line boundaries created by humans. Often lines of latitude and longitude. Must be surveyed to create the lines Problems occur when borders separate natural resources (water) or ethnic groups.

Antecedent Boundary Boundaries established before settlement. Allows governments to influence the population and activities in the area.

Subsequent Boundary Boundary established well after settlement.

Types of Subsequent Borders Consequent Boundary established well after settlement Generally attempts to separate ethnic groups Superimposed Boundaries not concerned with ethnic settlements. Often created by conquering country or colonizing powers

Consequent Boundary

Superimposed Boundary

Three stages of boundary development Definition- A general agreement between countries on the boundary between their territories. Delimitation- The border is plotted on the landscape. Demarcation- The boundary is marked on the landscape by walls, poles, etc.