1. Political Geography

2. States?
State-an area organized into a political unit and ruled by an established government that has control over its internal and foreign affairs.

3. Sovereignty
A state has sovereignty, meaning it has independence from control of its internal affairs by other states.

4. What happened to countries?
Country-is a synonym for the term state.

5. Shapes of States? 5 Basic shapes 1) Compact 2) Prorupted 3) Elongated
4) Fragmented
5) Perforated

6. Compact States-Efficient
The distance from the center to any boundary does not vary significantly.
Ideally shaped like a circle and capital in the center.

7. Prorupted State-Access or Disruption?
A compact state with a large projecting extension.
1) provide access to a resource (water)
2) can separate two states that would otherwise share a boundary

8. Elongated States-Potential Isolation
States with a long and narrow shape.
Suffer from poor communication

9. Fragmented States-Problematic
Includes several discontinuous pieces of territory.
Two types:
1) areas separated by water (any state w/offshore islands)
2) those separated by an intervening state

10. Perforated States A state that completely surrounds another state.
South Africa-surrounds Lesotho

11. Landlocked States
Lacks a direct outlet to the sea because it is completely surrounded by other countries.
Problems?-how to trade/transport goods?
-must rely on neighboring countries
Examples-Botswana, Zambia

12. Physical Boundaries
Mountain boundaries- effective, if difficult to cross
Problems-where to put boundary line?
Desert boundaries- hard to cross-sparsely inhabited (Africa & Asia)
Water boundaries- rivers, lakes, and oceans
Most common physical boundary

13. Cultural Boundaries Geometric- imaginary lines drawn on maps
May follow latitude/longitude lines
Religious- Ireland (Catholic), Northern Ireland (Protestant)

14. World Conflicts
Students use internet to find examples of contemporary world conflicts.
1-Find a conflict you would like to report on and tell teacher before starting research.
2-Identify the following about the conflict.
A-causes
B-states involved
C-nations of people involved
D-length of dispute (time)
E-involvement of other states or organizations
3-Students will then plot and label the locations of the conflicts on a wall map.

15. American Attitude towards genocide?

16. Sudan Genocide

17. Political Attitude?