1. States & Their Shapes
Territorial Morphology - The study of states, their shapes, and the impacts.

2. How does the shape of a state affects its functioning?
Things to Consider:
How is communication within the country affected?
Where is the capital?
Is there access to resources like water for trade?
Is the country isolated from other countries?
Are there regions within the country isolated from the rest of the country?

3. Things to Consider: How is communication within the country affected?
Where is the capital?
Is there access to resources like water for trade?
Is the country isolated from other countries?
Are there regions within the country isolated from the rest of the country?

4. Compact States
A state where the distance from the center to any boundary does not vary significantly
Ideal compact state would be a circle with the capital in the center
Allows for good communications from all regions
Ex’s Bhutan Burundi, Suriname, Kenya, Uganda

5. Things to Consider: How is communication within the country affected?
Where is the capital?
Is there access to resources like water for trade?
Is the country isolated from other countries?
Are there regions within the country isolated from the rest of the country?

6. Prorupted States (Protruded)
An otherwise compact state with a large projecting extension
Proruptions are created for 2 reasons
To provide a state with access to a resource such as water (Congo stretches to Atlantic Ocean) (why Cabinda is separated from the rest of Angola)
To separate two states that would otherwise share a border (Afghanistan separates Tajikistan from Pakistan)

7. Things to Consider: How is communication within the country affected?
Where is the capital?
Is there access to resources like water for trade?
Is the country isolated from other countries?
Are there regions within the country isolated from the rest of the country?

8. Elongated States States with a long narrow shape
Only a handful of these
Ex. Chile – over 2500 miles long, but only 90 miles wide
Italy is a less extreme example 700 by 120 miles
Gambia is an elongated state on an East-West orientation (300 miles wide by15 miles long) by that is completely surrounded by Senegal
Other examples
Malawi, Vietnam

9. Things to Consider: How is communication within the country affected?
Where is the capital?
Is there access to resources like water for trade?
Is the country isolated from other countries?
Are there regions within the country isolated from the rest of the country?

10. Fragmented States
A state with several discontinuous pieces of territory
Technically, any state that has offshore islands is considered fragmented – fragmentation is particularly significant for some states
2 types:
Areas separated by water
UK, Who Else?
Areas separated by an intervening state
Brunei, Oman, Who Else?

11. The Tin Bingha Corridor

12. Things to Consider: How is communication within the country affected?
Where is the capital?
Is there access to resources like water for trade?
Is the country isolated from other countries?
Are there regions within the country isolated from the rest of the country?

13. Perforated States A state that completely surrounds another one
Italy is another example
It completely surrounds San Marino and the Vatican

14. Enclaves and Exclaves Enclave’s can be ethnic as well as political
A territorial enclave is a state, or part of a state, surrounded completely by another state.
Lesotho is an enclave territory surrounded by South Africa.
When an enclave is land that is a political extension of another state, then it is called an exclave.
Alaska is an exclave of the United States because it is cut off from the rest of the country by Canada.
Enclave’s can be ethnic as well as political
Examples?

15. Shapes of States
Shape of a state controls the length of its boundaries with other states
Shape also can influence the ease or difficulty of internal administration and can affect social unity
There are 5 basic shapes:
Compact
Prorupted (Protruded)
Elongated
Fragmented
Perforated

16. Landlocked States
A state that lacks a direct outlet to the sea because it is completely surrounded by several other countries
14 out of the 54 countries in Africa are landlocked
Only Lichtenstein and Uzbekistan are doubly landlocked in the world.
Access to a seaport is critical because it facilitates international trade
Bulky goods are usually transported by ship
Landlocked states are at the mercy of other states for the use of their seaports

17. Practice Questions
A Nation-State is most often defined by its twin attributes of sovereignty and
Religious Tolerance
Social Democracy
Ethnic Homogeneity
Economic Prosperity
A Strong Anti-terrorist policy
Spain colonized much of Central and South America, yet in the 19th century, the end result of these efforts was
a war between Spain and its territories in North Africa
a war between Central America and the largest nations in South America
a series of government strikes in Spain and Portugal
a series of revolutionary movements in Central and South America
the unification of Spain’s Central American and South American colonies

18. Western imperialist policies of the 20th and 21st centuries have been most deeply influenced by
South African imperialism
Belgian imperialism
German imperialism
Portuguese imperialism
British imperialism
The largest number of landlocked states are found in
Africa.
East Asia.
the Middle East.
Southeast Asia.
South America.

19. Complete the following analogy: a compact state is to circular as
a prorupted state is to extended.
a perforated state is to pierced.
an elongated state is to narrow
fragmented state is to pieces.
All of the above are correct.
Which country controlled the most colonial territory in 1914?
United States
Japan
Germany
France
United Kingdom