rimland

Political power is expressed geographically as control over people, land, and resources (for example, the heartland, Rimland, and organic theories). Territoriality is the connection of people, their culture, and their economic systems to the land.

Geopolitics is the study that analyzes geography, history and social science with reference to international politics. It examines the political and strategic significance of geography, where geography is defined in terms of the location, size, and resources of places.

Halford John Mackinder developed the Heartland theory in his 1904 essay, “The Geographical Pivot of History.” In this theory, he proposed that whoever controls the Heartland (Eastern Europe, in the case of his original theory), can eventually control the world because they can easily gain control of the World Island (Africa and Eurasia) from the fertile breadbasket of Eurasia. This will feed their people, feed their troops, and give them a strategic advantage to see where other invaders could be coming from. Have you ever played Risk? This too is about world domination. Look at the map on the next page to see a real-world example of a government applying the Heartland theory. Spykman disagreed with Mackinder and proposed the Rimland Theory. Similar world domination strategy as developed above, but this time, it is the access to the waterways that gives the advantage.

Friedrich Ratzel, a nineteenth-century German geographer, developed the organic theory. He believed that the state was organic because he believed that political bodies, such as countries, behave in a way similar to that of living organisms. More specifically, in order to survive, a political body must grow and absorb new land or die. The more it grows, the healthier it can be. This is also known as Lebensraum, which translates in German to “living space.” Adolf Hitler used Lebensraum to justify the expansion and acquisition of extra territory for Germany by any means necessary.

In your Geographer's Notebook, research (find) an example of Ratzel's organic theory, modern or historic. Describe how this is an example of Organic Theory, as you may be asked about this on the APHG exam.

(Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%D0%A5%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%82%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B4_%D0%B8_%D0%A0%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B4.jpg and https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-R35179,_Prof._Friedrich_Ratzel.jpg)