Dictionary Definition
User Contributed Dictionary
Pronunciation
- /ˈhɪntə(ɹ)ˌlænd/ /"hInt@(r)%l
Extensive Definition
- This page is about the geographical term. For other uses, see Hinterland (disambiguation).
The hinterland is the land or
district behind the borders of a coast or river. Specifically, by
the doctrine of the hinterland, the word is applied to the inland
region lying behind a port, claimed by the state that owns the
coast. The area from which products are delivered to a port for
shipping elsewhere is that port's hinterland. Contrast foreland,
the places to which a port ships.
Etymology and usage
The word has been borrowed from German, where it literally means the land behind (a city, a port or similar). In German this word also describes the part of a country where only few people live and where the infrastructure is underdeveloped. The direct analogy in English is "back country". See also The Bush of Alaskan and Australian usage.In shipping usage, a port's
hinterland is the area that it serves, both for imports and for
exports. The size of a hinterland can depend on geography, but also
on the ease, speed, and cost of transportation between the port and
the hinterland.
By analogy, it is the area
surrounding a service from which customers are attracted, also
called the market area.
It was applied also to the
surrounding areas of former European colonies in Africa, which,
although not part of the colony itself, were influenced by the
colony.
A further sense in which the
term is commonly applied is in talking about an individual's depth
and breadth of knowledge, specifically on cultural or scholastic
matters. For instance, one could say 'X has a vast
hinterland'.
hinterland in German:
Hinterland
hinterland in Spanish:
Hinterland
hinterland in French:
Hinterland
hinterland in Italian:
Hinterland
hinterland in Portuguese:
Hinterlândia
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
airspace, area, arena, back, back country, backcountry, backdrop, background, backwash, backwater, backwoods, belt, boondock, boondocks, borderland, brush, bush, bush country, bushveld, confines, continental shelf,
corridor, country, department, distance, district, division, environs, field, forests, frontier, ground, heartland, inland, inlands, interior, land, locale, midland, midlands, milieu, mise-en-scene, neighborhood, offshore
rights, outback,
outpost, part, parts, place, precincts, premises, purlieus, quarter, rear, region, salient, scene, section, setting, soil, space, stage, stage set, stage setting,
sticks, terrain, territory, the bush, theater, three-mile limit,
timbers, twelve-mile
limit, uninhabited region, up-country, vicinage, vicinity, virgin land, virgin
territory, wasteland,
wild West, wilderness, wilds, woodlands, woods, zone