Territorial Morphology

1
Territorial Morphology

• Territorial size, shape and relative location

2
Development of State Concept

• Ancient city states town and its surrounding
  countryside city/agricultural land and the
  countryside/ defense
• City gain military dominance form empire
• Height of political unity Roman Empire comprised
  38 provinces Collapse due to conflict on
  frontiers and internal disputes

3
State concept

• Europe feudal system estates
• Powerful kings emerge as rulers
• Unified control of a king formed the basis for
  the development of modern states
• Colonies Territory tied to a sovereign state

4
Colonies

• France tries to assimilate its colonies and
  educate elite
• British different structures and policies protect
  diverse cultures, customs and education
• Most populous remaining colony is Puerto Rico
  least Pitcairn in south Pacific

5
Colonialism

• Effort to establish settlements and impose
  political, economic and cultural principles
• Promote Christianity
• Provide resources
• Indicator or power and position
• Began in 1400 Western Hemisphere end in early
  1800s

6
Imperialism

• Control of territory already occupied and
  organized by an indigenous society
• United Kingdom largest colonial empire
• Sun never sets
• France second though concentrated in West Africa
  and Southeast Asia
• Most African/Asian independent 1950/1960s

7
Size

• Large Greater chance of having a wide range of
  environments and resources
• Advantage for US
• USSR Vast distances over which people and
  resources distributed an obstacle
• Microstates comparative wealth of European ones

8
Shape

• Compact
• Fragmented
• Small outliers of territory that are separated
  from the state by the territory of another state
  Exclave
• Elongated
• Protruded (prorupt) areas that extends out form
  a compact core
• Perforated Enclave surrounded territory may be
  independent or not

9
Relative Location

• States in a global economic core competitive
  economic and political adv.
• Resource rich area
• States situation in relation to global
  mainstreams of activity
• Singapore crossroads
• Isolation from flow of goods

10
Boundaries

• A vertical plain that cuts through rocks below
  and airspace above
• Issue Mining resources that did not lie
  directly below national territories
• Kuwait/Iraq, Germany/France
• Airspace Hainan in China

11
Evolution of boundaries

• Definition agreement is reached on rough
  positioning/treaty document pinpoints actual
  location on the surface
• Delimitation Cartographers put the boundaries
  on a map
• Demarcation may be marked on the ground fences,
  pillars, posts. Expensive and not always done

12
Types of boundaries

• Geometric straight line boundaries
• Physical-political or natural political
• Conform to physiographic features in the
  landscape
• Nature and meaning change over time and space
  Rivers may unify as well as divide
• Stability of boundaries more to do with local
  historical and geographic circumstances than with
  physical

13
Boundaries that mark breaks in human landscape

• Cultural-political boundaries

14
Nagorno-Karabakh

• Enclave of Christian Armenia
• Totally within Muslim Azerbaijan
• Soviet planners designed specific homelands for
  sizeable ethnic and cultural minorities
• Award Armenians own territory but giving
  Azerbaijan right to administer
• Fell apart with USSR collapse

15
Evolution or genesis of boundariesHartshorne

• Antecedent across an area before well populated
• Subsequent Evolved as cultural landscape took
  place
• Consequent drawn to accommodate
• various groups religious, linguistic etc
• Superimposed Forcibly on existing cultural
  landscapes
• Relic former boundary still marked but not used