1. LARGEST TOP TEN STATES Unit 8 POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY CATEGORILLA
AND SMALLEST
STATES

2. GEOPOLITICS
GEOPOLITICS is the study of the influence of such factors as geography, economics, and demography on the politics and especially the foreign policy of a state. This chapter will study how geography interacts with politics.
Other definitions: A) those parts of geography that are dedicated to studying power, territory, sovereignty, states and governance. B) Any approach to explaining political outcomes in the world or devising political strategy by looking at or making a map.

3. DEFINING A STATE COMPARISON NATION STATE ORIGINS OF TERM BOUNDARIES
From natio
(born into a place, native)
From Staus Rei Publicae
The Roman legal code
BOUNDARIES
Cultural
Political, military
(formal region)
ORIGIN OF THE ENTITY
Evolves historically from shared identity
Datable, intentionally designed, legal
RECOGNITION
Self-identified, taught within the culture, passed by generations
By other states, taught within schools/media
MEMBERSHIP
Kinship and shared culture
Citizenship, legal
CENTRIPETAL FORCES
Artifacts, mentifacts, customs
Legal codes, ideals
LOYALTY
Nationalism (1st kind)
Nationalism (2nd and 3rd kinds)

4. DEFINING A STATE COMPARISON NATION STATE DEFINITION
A group of people with:
A common culture,
a common homeland
occupying a perceived territory
And are self-defined/identified
With shared aspirations.
An area:
Organized into a political unit,
Ruled by an established government
With SOVEREIGNTY
Occupying a defined territory
Containing a permanent population.
The terms STATE and COUNTRY are synonyms
States have defined Boundaries (a line marking the extent of a state’s territory)
Most states are divided into civil divisions (legally defined subdivisions of a state)

5. NATION STATES & STATELESS NATIONS
A state whose borders largely match the area occupied by a given nation (ethnic group), which was established as a state for that nation, and in which that nation is the clear majority.
A nation who currently has no state in which to exercise its sovereign authority. (Remember that a nation is a people that considers itself distinct from others with a history autonomy.)

6. Oddly enough, it’s hard to say how many states exist.
COUNTING
STATES
Oddly enough, it’s hard to say how many states exist.
THE NUMBER CHANGES OVER TIME
NOT EVERYONE AGREES ON WHO’S A STATE
Since about 1900, the number of states has increased over 100 with the fall of empires and the rise of nation states.
CGP Grey’s “How Many Countires are There?”
The UN reports that it has 193 member states worldwide
Coca Cola says it sells products in over 200 states worldwide
Korea reports that it exports its goods to 244 states worldwide

7. PROBLEM STATES THE KOREAS CHINA AND TAIWAN WESTERN SAHARA
The entire peninsula was a colony of Japan (sorry Henry)
After WWII, US and the USSR split it into two occupation zones along 38° N Lat. and later established separate Govs
Despite the Korean War and the DMZ along the 38th parallel, both governments are commited to reunification
In the 1940s, Nationalists and Communists fought to control China.
In 1949, the Nat’s fled to Taiwan and declared themselves the Republic of China (and mainland China’s official government)
The Communists declared the mainland the People’s Republic of China and themselves as China and Taiwan’s official government
Most African countries recognize Western Sahara as a sovereign state
Morocco claims the territory as its own and has built a wall around it to prove it
Spain controlled the area until 1976 when it withdrew and the Polisario Front declared it as the independent Sahrawi Republic

8. COLONIALISM AND IMPERIALISM
MORE MURKINESS:
COLONIALISM
AND IMPERIALISM
COLONIALISM: an existing state seizes uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land and attempts to impose political, economic and cultural control there.
Europe’s colonial motives were
GOD, GOLD AND GLORY
Colonialism mostly refers to Europe’s activities in the Americas
IMPERIALISM: an existing state attempts to impose political and economic (often cultural) control over a territory already occupied and organized by an indigenous society
Imperialism refers to Europe’s activities in Africa and Asia
Europe’s colonial/imperial activities began in the 1400s and then began to wane after WWII as many former colonies gained independence.
New states often formed along colonial lines thus adding to the number of states.

9. RISE OF NATION-STATES IN EUROPE
European Nation-States
The map or Europe has changed drastically over that last 200 years from a few, large empires to many, smaller countries (states).
As empires broke apart, the often broke into several, smaller countries/states formed as homes for various, specific ethnic groups.
So the map of the world increases and decreases in number from year to year.

10. COLONIALISM AND IMPERIALISM
MORE MURKINESS:
COLONIALISM
AND IMPERIALISM
The US State Department currently lists 43 remaining colonies worldwide with indigenous populations (although the list is contested)

11. ANYWAY… As of 2011, the UN officially recognized 193 member states.
(not 192 as in the above 2005 map)

12. 10 LARGEST STATES 1. RUSSIA 17.09 MIL SQ KM 2. CANADA 9.98 MIL SQ KM3
3. UNITED STATES
9.82 MIL SQ KM 4 10 7
4. CHINA
9.59 MIL SQ KM
5. BRAZIL
8.51 MIL SQ KM 5
6. AUSTRALIA
7.74 MIL SQ KM 6 8
7. INDIA
3.28 MIL SQ KM
8. ARGENTINA
2.78 MIL SQ KM
9. KAZAKHSTAN
2.72 MIL SQ KM
1. RUSSIA MIL SQ KM
10. ALGERIA
2.38 MIL SQ KM

13. 10 smallest states (microstates)
2. MONACO
2 MIL SQ KM 2 1
3. CORAL SEA ISLANDS
3 SQ KM 9 7 6
4. ASHLEY & CARTIER
5 SQ KM 8 5
5. SPRATLY ISLANDS
5 SQ KM 10 4
6. NAVASSA ISLAND
5 SQ KM 3
7. CLIPPERTON ISLAND
6 SQ KM
8. WAKE ISLAND
7 SQ KM
9. GIBRALTAR
7 SQ KM
1. VATICAN CITY <1 SQ KM
10. TOKELAU
12 SQ KM