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Geo-strategic View of Mackinder and SpykemanGeo-strategic viewsThe Heartland
Mackinder defined the Heartland as a vast area in Eurasia, characterised by the Arctic and inland
drainage. It stretched from the Volga river to eastern Siberia and from the Himalayas to the Arctic Ocean and
covered about nine million square miles or more than twice the area of Europe. It largely drained into inland
seas and lakes and into the Arctic ocean which is frozen almost throughout the year. It was, thus, inaccessible to
ocean ships and to the sea power.
Politically, the pivot area in 1904 was entirely Russian in eastern Europe and largely Russian in Asia,
because it also included western China, part of Mongolia, Afghanistan, Baluchistan and Iran. The heartland of
1919 was, however, not the same as the pivot area of 1904, for the limit of the pivot area was extended
westward to include all of European Russia. “It included the Baltic Sea, the navigable middle and lower Danube,
the Black Sea, Asia Minor, Armenia, Persia, Tibet and Mongolia”. Thus in 1919 heartland lost its characteristic
of being an area entirely of inland and Arctic drainage.
Again in 1943, Mackinder modified the geographical contours of the heartland by excluding the eastern-
most part of Siberia. It included the whole of the Soviet Union except Lenaland.
Inner or marginal crescent
The marginal lands of Eurasia encircle the pivot area on its west, south and east, collectively referred to
by Mackinder as ‘inner or marginal crescent’. It forms a circular arc of coastlands of Eurasia from Scandinavia
to Manchuria. The marginal crescent includes whole of Europe except its Russian part, North Africa and most of
the Middle East and monsoon-lands of Asia -India, South-east Asia and the Far East.
In contrast to the heartland, the inner crescent is an area of oceanic drainage and navigable rivers. It is
therefore accessible to sea-power. Mackinder noted that in general the marginal crescent coincided with areas
of four world religions - .Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism.
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