Curated category
Political geography
- Scramble for AfricaIn 1870, European powers controlled only ten percent of the African continent. Most territories lay along the coastlines where mortality rates from tropical…
- Unitary stateThe Hundred Years' War ended in 1453, leaving a scarred but unified France. National feelings emerged from the conflict to transform the nation from a feudal…
- Sovereign stateThe Peace of Westphalia in 1648 marked a turning point when European powers agreed to end the Thirty Years' War. This treaty established a system where…
- NationBenedict Anderson described a nation as an imagined political community. He noted that members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their…
- State (polity)In 1933, the Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States established four qualifications for a state: a permanent population, a defined…
- City-stateA city-state is an independent sovereign city that serves as the primary hub of political, economic, and cultural life within its contiguous territory.
- GeopoliticsThe word geopolitics first appeared in English print in 1902, coined by the Austro-Hungarian historian Emil Reich. He published his book Foundations of…
- Continental EuropeThe word Europe carries a double meaning that confuses travelers and scholars alike. Sometimes it refers to the entire landmass including islands, and other…