Territorial Morphology

1. Territorial Morphology
College Human Geography
2011

2. What is human territoriality?
Human territoriality is the attempt to
control what goes on in a specific
geographic area
A country’s sense of property and
attachment toward its territory, expressed
by its determination to keep it inviolable
and defended

3. What does sovereignty mean?
Sovereignty is the final authority over a
territory’s political and military affairs.
Authority to rule

4. Territorial morphology refers to…
Territorial morphology refers to the size,
shape and relative location of a state
(country)
This affects the potential for
communications and conflict with
neighbors
Morphology means “the form and
structure of an organism or one of its
parts”

5. Compact States
Distance to center to
any boundary does
not vary significantly
Ideally, a circle
Beneficial for most
smaller states
because
communication is
easier
Just as likely to
experience civil war
and ethnic conflict
Sierra Leone
Rwanda
Burundi
Lesotho
Swaziland

6. Fragmented States
Includes several
discontinuous pieces
of territory
1)fragmented by
water
2)fragmented by
other states
Russia (Kaliningrad),
US (Alaska)
Cape Verde Islands
Equatorial Guinea
and
Sao Tome and Principe
Seychelles

7. Elongated States
States with a long
and narrow shape
Suffer from poor
internal
communications
Isolation of one
region from capital
Togo
Malawi

8. Protruded/Prorupt States
Otherwise compact
state with a large
projecting extension
Created for access to
a resource, such as
water
Or, created for
separation of two
states that would
otherwise share a
boundary
Somalia
Zaire

9. Perforated States
A state that
completely surrounds
another state
South Africa/Lesotho
South Africa

11. Boundaries…
a vertical plane that cuts
through the subsoil & airspace
(even outer space)
transcend soil, water, air
mark the limits of state
jurisdiction

12. Boundaries
differ in
morphological terms
Geometric: straight line
boundaries
physical-political or
natural-political: rivers
or mountains
Cultural: political-
ethnically based

13. Boundaries
are defined, delimited, and
then demarcated
Defined:legal document drawn up
Delimited:boundary put on a map
Demarcated:boundary marked on the
ground

14. Boundaries
are often a source of
dispute

15. Definitional Boundary Disputes
legal language in dispute

16. Locational Boundary Disputes
interpretation in dispute

17. Operational Boundary Disputes
functions of boundary in
dispute

18. Allocational Boundary Disputes
dispute over resources

19. Exclave and Enclave
Small outliers of territory which are
separated from the rest of the territory by
another state
The separated territory is referred to as an
exclave of the country it is associated with
If the piece of territory lies within another
country, it is known as an enclave of the
surrounding country

20. Naxcivan is an exclave of Azerbaijan

21. This is an enclave of Azerbaijan and an
exclave of Armenia

22. Genetic Boundaries: R. Hartshorne
Classifications of genetic boundaries include
antecedent types. These are boundaries that
were defined and delimited before the present-
day human landscape developed. Subsequent
boundaries develop over a long-term and
generally involve intricate international treaties.
Relict boundaries are ones that no longer exist
but have left important imprints on the cultural
landscape. A superimposed boundary is one
that is forcibly drawn.
http://www.list.org/~mdoyle/issues.html