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Folia Geographica 2014, 56/1, pp. 19-45

HALFORD J. MACKINDER A JEHO TEÓRIA HEARTLANDU

HALFORD J. MACKINDER AND HIS THEORY OF HEARTLAND

Robert IŠTOK A*

Received: November 10, 2013 | Revised: December 5, 2013 | Accepted: February 2, 2014

A* University of Prešov, 17. novembra 1, 080 01 Prešov, Slovakia
robert.istok@unipo.sk (corresponding author)

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Abstract
The contribution reacts on the 110th anniversary of British geographer Halford J. Mackinder´s presentation called The Geographical Pivot of History. The lecture and the article published in the magazine The Geographical Journals, no. 4. of the 170th annual issue in the 1904 has been based for one of the most important geopolitical theories, which is connected with term Heartland as the title for midland of Eurasia. Submitted article is focusing on presentation the main ideas of theory of Heartland. It analyzes the influence of period global geopolitical situation during almost forty years of its development. Beside that, the contribution is focusing on evaluation of the ideas of H. J. Mackinder and their impact on national schools of geopolitics.

Key words
Geopolitics, Halford J. Mackinder, Heartland

SUMMARY

HALFORD J. MACKINDER AND HIS THEORY OF HEARTLAND
It already has been 110 years of the British geographer Halford J. Mackinder´s presentation called The Geographical Pivot of History. The lecture had been presented on the soil of British Royal Geographical Society on 25th January 1904 and in the same year it has been published in The Geographical Journal. Mackinder thoughts aroused considerable acclaim, consisting of concordant, but also critical opinions. However, it can be noted that for the development of geopolitical thinking his lecture meant the one of the most important milestones. Stimulating ideas also presented in his work caused that the debate focused on that idea is still alive. H. J. Mackinder formulated his theory in his three main geopolitical works. It was going on the published lecture titled The Geographical Pivot of History in 1904, the book Democratic Ideals and Reality: A Study in the Politics of Reconstruction, issued in 1919 and the article The Round World and the Winning of the Peace, published in 1943. H. J. Mackinder has created a special global geopolitical model in which introduced a number of new terms associated with the earth space. Global land divided into three concentric zones, of which the main attention was paid to the central part of the Island of the World – the inland of the Eurasia, which did not have access to warm-water seas. In his lecture in 1904 this region was called Pivot Area. Since 1919, he used the concept of Heartland. According to Mackinder, Heartland is the most extensive plain on the surface of the Earth, which has developed a system of navigable rivers estuary into the Arctic Ocean or into without runoff lakes in the interior of Eurasia. In addition, the definition in the parallel line direction West – East steppe belt extends to the North of the surrounding forests and southern deserts and mountains. According to H. J. Mackinder if the mainland of either superpower manages to penetrate the Heartland, dominate part of the inner crescent and get to the open sea coast belonging to the world’s oceans, such power can gain absolute dominance over the world and the sea power will not be able to resist its power. Several authors considered this theory as underestimated. They point to the undervalued possibilities of its application in practical politics. On the other hand, according to some authors, it was too unilaterally focused on the issue of international conflicts in their spatial dimension and has been an object of criticism. It can be stated that in the last three decades interest in evaluating the conclusions of classical geopolitical thinking is growing, correspondingly to the numerous analyses that focus mainly on two themes: adaptation of old concepts to current reality, respectively controversy with their interpretations, correcting the errors and setting them to the right way. As it has been mentioned already, there are frequent attempts to adaptation Mackinder´s concept of Heartland to the new conditions. In this regard, many ideas are bringing by the current development of international politics (e.g. rivalry for control of Central Asia). There is no doubt that works of H. J. Mackinder attracted a great response. Spaciousness conception of Heartland has become perhaps the best-known and the most commented metaphor between traditional geopolitical concepts. We can conclude that link of the ideas of the classic Anglo-Saxon geopolitics continues to the present. That suggests the current work of researchers in international relations, who in analysing the current configuration of power and also specific crises refer to the thesis of classical geopolitics, and among them also to H. J. Mackinder.

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