From Geo-Strategy to Geo-Economics

The 'Heartland' and British Imperialism Before and After MacKinder

Bibliographic Data

ID5099923
AuthorsSarah O''Hara, Sarah L O’hara (University of Nottingham, corresponding author), Sarah O'Hara, Maree Heffernan (0000-0002-5646-5670, University of Nottingham), Michael Heffernan (0000-0002-9173-2316)
Year2006
Volume11
Issue1
Pages54-73
Publication date2006-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueGeopolitics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1465-0045 • E-ISSN: 1557-3028
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14650040500524079
OpenAlexW2115968350
LanguageEN
Citations received8

In this paper we examine the changing perception of Central Asia and the Caucasus to Imperial Britain from the mid nineteenth to the mid twentieth centuries and consider the importance of Mackinder's 1904 paper ‘The Geographical Pivot of History’ to this process. In it we argue that Central Asia and the Caucasus are seen first as an important buffer zone essential to keeping the Russia aggressors at bay and ensuring Britain's continued dominance of India. By the end of the nineteenth century, however, the region had emerged as a major source of raw materials, particularly oil, and as such was no longer seen as merely a buffer zone, but a considerable prize in itself. Mackinder's paper, which emerged at a critical point in this transition, served as an important synthesis of these long-standing and widely shared British concerns about the region and provided a clear and concise assessment of the region's geo-strategic and geo-economic importance and as such its global significance

Ancient history · Central asia · Economic geography · Economic history · Economics · Economy · Geography · Geopolitics · Political science · Politics · Historical Economic and Social Studies · History · Law · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East · Russia and Soviet political economy