From Geo-Strategy to Geo-Economics

The 'Heartland' and British Imperialism Before and After MacKinder

Datos Bibliográficos

ID5099923
AutoresSarah O''Hara, Sarah L O’hara (University of Nottingham, autor de correspondencia), Sarah O'Hara, Maree Heffernan (0000-0002-5646-5670, University of Nottingham), Michael Heffernan (0000-0002-9173-2316)
Año2006
Volumen11
Número1
Páginas54-73
Fecha de publicación2006-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaGeopolitics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1465-0045 • E-ISSN: 1557-3028
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14650040500524079
OpenAlexW2115968350
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas8

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