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For other meanings of this term, see Heartland.

Heartland is a geopolitical term, created by Sir Halford Mackinder in his address, The Geographical Pivot of History, to the Royal Geographic Society. It refers to the continuous landmass of Eurasia measuring more than 21 million square miles. This landmass contains no waterways to the ocean and is contained by the Arctic ice cap and drainage to the north, the monsoon lands along the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, the Near East or land of the Five Seas, and Europe. This landmass is remote and inaccessible to its periphery. Mackinder argued in his address that this was the strategic region of the foremost importance in the World.

The term heartland was later redefined by David J. M. Hooson as the most vital and inner part of a functioning state. He claimed the area between Middle Volga and Lake Baykal was the Soviet heartland due to the overabundance of natural resources, and boom in population.

The term heartland is also used as a synonym for the Midwest in the U.S., or central part of any country with economic, geopolitical or cultural significance.

References

Mackinder, H. J. “The Geographical Pivot of History”. The Geographical Journal, Vol. 23, No. 4. (Apr., 1904), pp. 421-437

Hooson, David J. M. “A New Soviet Heartland?”. The Geographical Journal, Vol. 128, No.1. (Mar., 1962), pp.19-29

Ó Tuathail, Gearóid. Critical geopolitics : the politics of writing global space. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1996.