Territorial Morphology

A self-paced tutorial

After going through and studying the slides, please ask any questions you may have

Territory • States cannot exist without territory

• Territorial Morphology – geographers study the size, shape and relative location of states?

• How does the size and shape of a state

give advantages or disadvantages to a

state?

• 5 types of territorial morphologies

COMPACT state What are the advantages & disadvantages?

COMPACT state Characteristics

• Generally equidistant from the center to the exterior borders

• If small state, then climate is much the same everywhere (can be

positive or negative)

• Compact states are generally smaller in size

• Food types and access may be limited due to smaller size of state

• Small states have fewer neighbors, which means fewer trading

partners

• Usually have a single culture (can be a positive or negative

characteristic)

• May have little or less ethnic diversity (can be positive or negative, but

is many times negative)

• Single culture usually makes for a political system that moves

faster/more efficiently (usually positive)

• Single culture can cause groupthink which can be very negative (think

Nazi Germany)

FRAGMENTED What are the advantages & disadvantages?

FRAGMENTED state Characteristics

• Physical geography is broken into pieces that are physically separated

• Climate tends to be varied (especially with larger states). This is especially

true for states which are oriented to the north and south (e.g., Philippines,

Japan)

• Food types and access are usually wide and varied

• States have many neighbors, which means multiple trading partners

• Multiple neighbors may mean more potential conflict

• Usually multiple cultures (can be positive or negative)

• People on one side of the country are very different than those on the other

side (e.g. Indonesia, Malaysia) or from north to south (e.g., U.S.)

• Usually have great ethnic diversity (can be positive or negative – it depends on

the state)

• Multiple cultures usually makes for political system moves more slowly and

inefficiently (can be negative and positive as all sides must be heard, which

slows down government)

• Multiple cultures has diversity of ideas and viewpoints (usually a positive long-

term result – but nothing getting done is sometimes the result)

ELONGATED What are the advantages & disadvantages?

ELONGATED state Characteristics

• Physical geography is very long from top to bottom or from side to side

• Climate tends to be varied (especially with larger states). This is especially

true for states which are oriented to the north and south (e.g., Chile, Thailand,

Vietnam)

• Food types and access are usually wide and varied

• States have many neighbors, which means multiple trading partners

• Multiple neighbors may mean more potential conflict

• Usually multiple cultures (can be positive or negative)

• People on one side of the country are very different than those on the other

side (e.g., Russia) or from north to south (e.g., Chile, Italy, India, Norway)

• Usually have great ethnic diversity (can be positive or negative – it depends on

the state)

• Multiple cultures usually makes for political system moves more slowly and

inefficiently (can be negative and positive as all sides must be heard, which

slows down government)

• Multiple cultures has diversity of ideas and viewpoints (usually a positive long-

term result – but nothing getting done is sometimes the result)

PRORUPT or PROTRUDED What are the advantages & disadvantages?

1. points to compact area of Thailand

2. arrow points to protrusion/proruption of Thailand

3. and 4. are the same as first and second for Myanmar

• Advantage Thailand: Note access to Gulf of Siam/S. China Sea and Andaman Sea/Bay of Bengal for Thailand

1

2

3

4

PRORUPT or PROTRUDED state Characteristics

• Physical geography has a mass or compact area with a proruption, protrusion or “tail” that extends out from the mass/compact area

• Climate tends to be varied (especially with larger states). This is especially true for states which are oriented to the north and south (e.g., Thailand, Myanmar (Burma))

• Food types and access are usually wide and varied

• May have more access to the sea (see Thailand: access to Bay of Bengal and South China Sea and Singapore’s port)

• States have many neighbors, which means multiple trading partners

• Multiple neighbors may mean more potential conflict

• Usually multiple cultures (can be positive or negative)

• People can be very different from north to south (e.g., Thailand, Myanmar)

• Usually have great ethnic diversity (can be positive or negative – it depends on the state)

• Multiple cultures usually makes for political system moves more slowly and inefficiently (can be negative and positive as all sides must be heard, which slows down government)

• Multiple cultures has diversity of ideas and viewpoints (usually a positive long-term result – but nothing getting done is sometimes the result)

PERFORATED What are the advantages & disadvantages?

PERFORATED state Characteristics

• Physical geography creates a perforation or “hole” in the

country which surrounds the country doing the perforating

(or making the “hole”)

• There is really only one true perforated state in the world

• South Africa

• South Africa is perforated by Lesotho

• Lesotho is NOT perforated. It is compact.

• Essentially, look at South Africa as a compact state for

everything else

• See next slide to make the case that, technically speaking,

there are many perforated countries

• Technically speaking – you would be right

What territorial morphology is

ITALY?

ITALY is… • Elongated – the best answer overall

• Fragmented – due to Sicily and Sardinia, which makes for another good answer

• Prorupted or Protruded – due to small, compact area of the north. The rest of Italy would be the “tail.” Technically ok, but not a good answer

• Perforated – due to The Vatican and San Marino perforating Italy – technically correct, but not much else there

• If you think Italy is perforated, how is the U.S. perforated?

Arrow 1 – Rome (Perforation), Arrow 2 – San Marino

(Perforation) – Arrow 3, Sardinia (Fragment), Arrow 4 – Sicily

(Fragment), Arrow 5 – small compact area

Exclaves & Enclaves • Exclave – bounded (non-island) piece of

territory that is part of a state but lies separated from it by territory of another state.

• Enclave – piece of territory that is surrounded by another political unit of which it is not a part (landlocked within the country which surrounds them).

• See next slide

• See page 211 in your text

• To understand, it is all about perspective

Google Azerbaijan and Armenia maps

and look what you get…

From an Armenian point-of-view

From an Azerbaijani point-of-view

Enclaves and Exclaves are all about from what perspective you are. In other

words, where are you? This is left over from the break-up of the USSR

Armenia and Azerbaijan • If you are in the Armenian capital of

Yerevan and looking to your Armenian brothers and sisters in Nagorno-Karabakh are an exclave.

• If you are in Nagorno-Karabakh and are looking back to your people in Armenia, you are an enclave (remember, you are a non-island completely surrounded)

• Nakhichevan is separated from their Azerbaijani brothers and sisters

• But, they are not an enclave because they have a border with Iran.

• They are an exclave of Azerbaijan, however

Enclaves & Exclaves

• Confused?

– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtLxZiiuaXs

A strangely shaped state Look for a toponym to tell you who colonized Gambia

Shape is not a constant for

political/economic stability or instability Norway is Elongated, but very stable

Zimbabwe is Compact, but lots of problems

Resource rich…but with many

problems

• Democratic Republic of Congo has lots of resources

• Access to the sea

• Many neighbors

• Generally compact

• But there has been systemic murder and rape that the govt has been a part of for 20 years

Very few natural resources…but wealthy

and stable

Switzerland

Japan