heartland

English

WOTD – 9 August 2023

Etymology

A map of the world heartland (indicated as “pivot area”; sense 2.1.1) from the English geographer Halford John Mackinder’s article The Geographical Pivot of History (1904).

A playground in Woodlands, a residential town in the North Region, which is regarded as being in the heartland (sense 2.1.2) of Singapore.

From heart (“(figuratively) centre, core, essence”) +‎ land.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑːtlənd/, /-lænd/
• (General American) enPR: härtʹ-lənd, IPA^(key): /ˈhɑɹtlənd/, /-ˌlænd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: heart‧land

Noun

heartland (plural heartlands)

1. Synonym of heart (“the seat of the affections or love”)
2. Also in the plural form heartlands:
   1. The interior part of a region, especially when contrasted with coastal parts or when regarded as particularly powerful or significant.
      • 1949 June 8, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 9, in Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC; republished [Australia]: Project Gutenberg of Australia, August 2001, part 2, page 172:

        [R]ound the Pole all three powers lay claim to enormous territories which in fact are largely uninhabited and unexplored: but the balance of power always remains roughly even, and the territory which forms the heartland of each super-state always remains inviolate.

      2. (specifically) In the geopolitical theory of the English geographer Halford John Mackinder (1861–1947): the interior of the world island comprising north-central Eurasia regarded as politically powerful.

         Coordinate term: rimland

      4. (specifically, Singapore, chiefly in the plural) Residential districts and planning areas outside the city centre; the new towns of Singapore collectively.
         • 2003, Anais [pseudonym], soc.culture.singapore (Usenet):

           Those in the HDB [Housing and Development Board] heartland will be able to vote in the airconditioned comfort of their community centres […]

         • 2001 March 16, Alfred Dass, Today, Singapore: Mediacorp Press, →OCLC, page 8:

           Take heart, small-time shopkeepers in the heartlands.

         • 2003 July 23, Jason Lee Boon Hong, Today, Singapore: Mediacorp Press, →OCLC, page 10:

           I applaud the organising committee's decision to hold the concert in the heartlands.

      5. (specifically, US, often attributively) The states in the centre of the United States, chiefly regarded as politically and socially conservative; also, the people living in such states collectively.

         Synonym: Middle America

   2. A region or part of a region particularly associated with or significant for a characteristic, such as an activity, a faith, support for a political party or other organization, etc.

      The home counties are the Conservative heartland.

      We stayed in the heartland of the French wine-growing regions.

Derived terms

• heartlander

Translations

synonym of heart (“seat of the affections or love”) — see heart

interior part of a region, especially when contrasted with coastal parts or when regarded as particularly powerful or significant

• Azerbaijani: ocaq (az)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 心臟地帶／心脏地带 (xīnzàngdìdài)

• Dutch: centrum (nl), kern (nl)
• Dzongkha: གཞུང (gzhung)
• Finnish: rintamaa, sydänmaa (fi), ydinalue (fi)
• French: centre (fr) m
• German: Kerngebiet (de) n, Kernland (de) m
• Irish: croíthailte m pl or f pl
• Macedonian: сре́дишен дел m (srédišen del)
• Maori: manowhenua
• Portuguese: coração (pt) m
• Spanish: corazón (es) m, núcleo (es) m
• Swedish: hjärta (sv) n, kärnland n, kärnområde n
• Ukrainian: осере́ддя n (oseréddja)
• Welsh: perfedd m, perfeddwlad f

interior of the world island comprising north-central Eurasia regarded as politically powerful

• Finnish: Euroopan sydänmaat pl
• Macedonian: please add this translation if you can

(Singapore) residential districts outside the city centre

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鄰里社区 (línlǐ shèqū)

• Finnish: keskustan ulkopuoliset alueet pl
• Macedonian: please add this translation if you can

states in the centre of the United States, chiefly regarded as politically and socially conservative; people living in such states collectively

• Finnish: Yhdysvaltain sydänmaat pl
• Macedonian: please add this translation if you can

region or part of a region particularly associated with or significant for a characteristic

• Finnish: sydänmaa (fi), ydinalue (fi)
• German: Hochburg (de) f
• Macedonian: please add this translation if you can

Further reading

• The Geographical Pivot of History on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• new towns of Singapore on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• heartland (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia