science

Territory

Territory is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Territory rather than just read about it. In short: A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, i.e. an area that is under the jurisdiction of a sovereign state.

Key takeaways

Territory belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Territory to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Territory from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, i.e. an area that is under the jurisdiction of a sovereign state. As a subdivision, a territory in most countries is an organized division of an area that is controlled by a country but is not formally developed into, or incorporated into, a political unit of that country, which political units are of equal status to one another and are often referred to by words such as "provinces", "regions", or "states". In its narrower sense, it is "a geographic region, such as a colonial possession, that is dependent on an external government."

Etymology The origins of the word "territory" begin with the Proto-Indo-European root ters ('to dry'). From this emerged the Latin word terra ('earth, land') and later the Latin word territorium ('land around a town'). Territory made its debut as a word in Middle English during the 14th century. At this point the suffix -orium, which denotes place, was replaced with -ory which also expresses place.

Types Examples for different types of territory include the following:

Capital territory or federal capital territory, usually a specially designated territory where a country's seat of government is located. As such, in the federal model of government, no one state or territory takes pre-eminence because the capital lies within its borders. A capital territory can be one specific form of federal district. Dependent territory, a territory that is not an independent sovereign state, yet remains politically outside the governing state's integral area. Disputed territory, a geographic area claimed by two or more rival governments. For example, the territory of Kashmir is claimed by the governments of both India and Pakistan; for each country involved in the dispute, the whole territory is claimed as a part of the existing state. Another example is the Republic of China (commonly labeled "Taiwan"), whose sovereignty status is disputed by and territory claimed by the People's Republic of China. Federal territory, an area within the direct and usually exclusive jurisdiction of the central or national government within a federation. Maritime territory Occupied territory, a region that is under the military control of an outside power that has not gained universal recognition from the international community. Current examples are Crimea, occupied by the Russian Federation; East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights, and the West Bank, occupied by the State of Israel; Western Sahara, partially occupied by the Kingdom of Morocco. Other examples of occupied territory include the country of Kuwait after it was briefly invaded by Iraq in 1990, Iraq after the American invasion of 2003, Germany after World War II, and Kosovo after 1999. Overseas territory Unorganized territory, a region of land without a "normally" constituted system of government. This does not mean that the territory has no government at all or that it is an unclaimed territory. In practice, such territories are always sparsely populated.

Overseas territory

Overseas territory is a broad designation for a territorial entity that is separated from the country that governs it by an ocean. An overseas territory may be either a constituent part of the governing state or a dependent territory. Examples include:

The Faroe Islands and Greenland are overseas autonomous territories of the Kingdom of Denmark that are internally self-governing. Overseas France includes the five overseas collectivities of France, which are broadly autonomous territories, as well as overseas regions and overseas departments, which are essentially the same as the regions and departments in Metropolitan France. Nonetheless, all are integral parts of the French Fifth Republic. Three special municipalities of the Netherlands – Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba – are located in the Caribbean Netherlands. Apart from the Netherlands, the Kingdom of the Netherlands consists of three more constituent countries located in the Dutch Caribbean; Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten. All countries participate on a basis of equality as partners in the Kingdom. The Azores and Madeira are the Autonomous Regions of Portugal. The fourteen British Overseas Territories are dependent territories of the British Crown with varying degrees of self-governance, not parts of the United Kingdom itself nor of any of its four constituent countries. Non-contiguous U.S. territories, territories cut off from the contiguous United States by foreign land borders and are accessible by sea.

See also Ad coelum List of enclaves and exclaves Category:Territories under military occupation

References

External links Peace Palace Library – Research Guide Archived 2016-11-10 at the Wayback Machine

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Territory

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Territory claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Territory before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Territory ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Territory

In research: Territory appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Territory in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Territory is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Territories, Types of administrative division, Types of geographical division, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Territory outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Territory in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Territory means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Territory out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Territory in simple terms?

Why does Territory matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Territory?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Territory.