1. Political Geography The Final Chapter!
AP Human Geography
Mr. Hensley

2. States versus Nations
States have well-defined boundaries where a government has control or sovereignty over its territory
Nations are groups of people with well-defined cultural characteristics
Ex: War on Terror

3. Types of Boundaries There are three factors that influence boundaries:
Geometry (usually straight lines)
Physical or natural features (rivers and mountains)
Ethnicity or culture (usually language or religion)

4. Example of Geometry
49th parallel used as boundary for U.S. and Canada by treaty
It was agreed to before most settlement began – this is called an antecedent boundary
Antecedent boundaries are rare

5. The 49th Parallel

6. Examples of Physical Boundaries
The Mississippi and Ohio Rivers in the U.S. are commonly used as borders
India and China separated by the Himalayas
Physical boundaries are convenient, especially in ancient times

7. Examples of Cultural Boundaries
The Partition of India in 1947 split the British Dominion of India into Muslim (Pakistan) and Hindu (India) states
Borders were poorly drawn – chaos ensued
500,000 are killed in retributive genocide

8. Hindu in Red, Muslim in Green

9. Types of Border Disputes
Definitional – we disagree on where the boundary is
Locational – definition is accepted but not the interpretation
Operational – we disagree on how to handle border logistics
Allocational – we disagree on use of resources that cross borders

10. Definitional Example The states can’t agree on where the border is
Example: Republic of Texas – Mexico says the border is the Nueces, Texans say it’s the Rio Grande (it took an actual war to settle this)
Currently, Arunachal Pradesh in India is claimed by both India and China

11. Arunachal Pradesh

12. Locational Disputes
Here, the disagreement is on the definition of the border
Ex: your border is the Mississippi River – but the River can change course or overflow its banks – does this change the border?
Ex: Kentucky Bend
Enclaves and exclaves

14. Operational Example
Operational boundary disputes arise over how to handle logistics at the border
Note: no dispute over location or existence of border
Ex: U.S. and Mexico can’t agree on immigration

15. Allocational Disputes
Here, no dispute over border but a disagreement on how to handle extraction of a shared resource
Ex: mineral rights, fishing rights
Ex: Bangladesh territorial waters

16. International Law of the Sea
Starting in 1958, the United Nations has been working to establish agreements over ocean borders
Within 12 miles: considered territory of state
Within 200 miles: considered the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of that state

17. Outer Space Treaty of 1967
Space and any celestial bodies are the common heritage of all mankind
Military weapons or weapons testing in space is banned
Wealth extraction from celestial bodies is banned
Sovereign control of celestial bodies is banned (but not of objects launched)

18. Territorial Morphology
Borders give states four possible shapes:
Compact
Elongated
Fragmented
Perforated (rare)
All shapes come with their unique tradeoffs
Uruguay is a compact country, its border is equidistant from its center

19. Elongated Examples
Elongated countries are longer than they are wide – classic example is Chile (3k miles long only 90 miles wide)
Tradeoff: very difficult to defend
Tradeoff: almost always a multinational state (prone to ethnic unrest)

20. Fragmented Examples
Fragmented states have territories that are not attached to each other
Exclave: your territory but separated by another state
Exclave example: Alaska is part of the U.S. but you have to go through Canada to get to it
Tradeoffs: harder to conquer than elongated
Example: Indonesia, Japan in WW2

21. Indonesia

22. Perforated States
These are states that are completely surrounded by another state – also known as enclaves
Italy contains San Marino and Vatican City
South Africa contains Lesotho
By definition, the enclave is landlocked

23. Landlocked Disadvantages
Landlocked countries have no access to the oceans – they are dependent upon other states for that
Landlocked countries are always amongst the poorest – Africa has the most landlocked countries of any continent

24. Introducing the Great Game
How to conquer the world? Control the Heartland (Eastern Europe and western Asia)
Popularized by MacKinder in 1904
Hitler believed this theory and it caused him to commit Germany to Operation Barbarossa

25. Rimland for the Rebuttal
Nicholas Spykman believed that control of the seas would beat the armies of the Heartland
"Who controls the Rimland rules Eurasia, who rules Eurasia controls the destinies of the world.”
Rimland surrounds and contains the Heartland

26. Rimland or Heartland