The One Minute Geographer: Shoestring Countries

At least 82% of Norway’s 5.4 million people live south of the red line. Map of population density from Wikipedia. Red line and ‘Oslo’ added by the author.

We don’t hear the term much anymore but political geographers used to talk a lot about “shoestring countries” — nations that had an elongated shape. In theory, this lack of compactness could present problems in border defense, transportation expense and political difficulties in holding distant regions of a nation together. Chile, Norway and Malawi were most often cited as being shoestring countries.

More than 90% of Chile’s 19.2 million people live in the central part of the nation between the two red lines. This region includes all three of Chile’s largest metropolitan areas: Santiago, Valparaiso and Concepcion. Map from CIA World Factbook on Wikipedia. Red lines added by the author.

But form and function are different things. Just looking at simple population density and distribution tells us that in all three of these cases, a large majority (80% or more) of each nation’s population is clustered in one part of the country. Where it matters — among its inhabitants — each nation can function as if it were a relatively compact nation.

Although the country’s shape is elongated along Lake Nyasa (aka Lake Malawi), more than 85% of Malawi’s population lives south of the red line. Map from the Center for International Earth Science Information Network at Columbia University on Wikipedia. Red line added by the author.

So are there any ‘shoestring countries’ in function rather than form? Maybe. We’ll look at Canada in the next post.

Here’s the previous post about COVID Impacts on Nooks and Crannies on the US-Canada Border https://jimwfonseca.medium.com/the-one-minute-geographer-covid-impacts-on-nooks-and-crannies-on-the-us-canada-border-151fcdda7659

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