Political Geography

A boundary that was drawn across an area prior to the area becoming substantially-populated (e.g. border between Malaysia and Indonesia)

• Imperialism

• Antecedent Boundary

• Perforated state

• Prorupted state

A condition of roughly equal strength between opposing countries or allies

• Balance of Power

• City-State

• Imperialism

• Colony

An invisible line that marks the extent of a state's territory

• Boundary

• Gerrymandering

• state

• colony

A neutral state between two warring states (e.g. Mongolia, between Russia and China)

• federal state

• landlocked state

• Buffer State

• prorupted state

An attempt by one country to establish settlements and to impose its political, economical, and cultural principles in another territory

• Unitary State

• Boundary

• Colonialism

• Compact state

A territory that is legally tied to a sovereign state rather than being independent (e.g. British Virgin Islands to Great Britain)

• Colony

• Federal State

• province

• unitary state

A state in which the distance from the center to any boundary does not vary significantly (e.g. Poland)

• Compact state

• elongated state

• Federal State

• perforated state

A territory that has established a mutual agreement with another state for the benefit of each (e.g. Puerto Rico)

• gerrymandering

• Commonwealth

• federal state

• microstate

An enclosed territory with a foreign territory around it (e.g. Lesotho)

• State

• Exclave

• Enclave

• colony

A state with a long narrow shape

• Elongated state

• Fragmented state

• Landlocked state

• Perforated state