heartland
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heart⋅land
[hahrt-land, -luh
nd] 
| 1. | the part of a region considered essential to the viability and survival of the whole, esp. a central land area relatively invulnerable to attack and capable of economic and political self-sufficiency. |
| 2. | any central area, as of a state, nation, or continent: a vineyard in California's heartland. |
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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| heart·land (härt'lānd') n. A central region, especially one that is politically, economically, or militarily vital to a nation, region, or culture. |
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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heartland
landlocked region of central Eurasia whose control was posited by Sir Halford J. Mackinder in the early 20th century as the key to world domination in an era of declining importance for traditionally invincible sea power. Mackinder observed that the majority of the world's population resided on the Eurasian and African landmass and that control of this "world island" would lead to eventual world domination. This world island could be best controlled from the pivot area, which would guarantee self-sufficiency in food for the country dominating the region, and the pivot area's inaccessibility by sea would provide a formidable defensive barrier. The pivot area was vulnerable to land attack only by way of the plains of eastern Europe. Thus, control of eastern Europe would ensure domination of the pivot area and ultimately world domination. Mackinder's landbased theory of world power contradicted the conventional maritime theory advocated by Alfred Thayer Mahan during the 19th century. In 1919 Mackinder renamed the concept the heartland.
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