Unit 5 Review
Political Geography
Key Terms, Concepts, and Geographers
Political Geography- the political organization of the planet
Government is the reference to leadership and institutions that make policy and decision for a country. Politics is about who holds the power for those decisions (inside and outside borders).
The different types of boundaries are gone over in this unit.
The Different Types of Boundaries:
Physical
These are mountains, rivers, lakes, oceans, deserts, and anything else that is an actual barrier that you can touch. These limit interaction between different groups of people
Cultural
These boundaries are set by ethnic differences, especially those based on language and/or religion. One example of this kind of boundary is the one that partitioned pakistan from india in 1947 because of religious differences.
Geometric
These are the straight imaginary lines that separate countries, like the 38th parallel between north and south korea, or the boundary between the US and Canada.
Shape of States:
Compact States
Distance from the center to any boundary is about the same. Example: Hungary
Prorupted States
Like a compact state, but it has a large prorupting extension. They normally exist to reach natural resources or the ocean. Example: Thailand
Elongated states
long narrow shapes, can be this shape for economic/ political reasons. Example- Chile(, Gambia (carved out of Senegal)
usually have communication/ transportation problems because the capital is not in center.
States
Microstates- 11% of earth's surface, ex- Liechtenstien, Andorra, San Morino
small states have homogenous populations, decreases potential conflicts within the country.
small countries like Britain have lots of power beyond their size
contributing factors in determining country's power/ stability- Size