Geographic contiguity is the characteristic ingeography of political or geographical land divisions, as a group, not being interrupted by other land or water. Such divisions are referred to as beingcontiguous. In theUnited States, for example, the "48 contiguous states" excludesHawaii andAlaska, which do not share borders with otherU.S. states.[1]
Other examples of geographical contiguity might include the "contiguousEuropean Union" excluding member states such as Ireland, Sweden, Finland (betweenÅland andTurku Archipelago), Malta and Cyprus (these being non-contiguous), or the "contiguous United Kingdom" referring to all parts of the country exceptingNorthern Ireland (it being geographically non-contiguous).
Two or more contiguousmunicipalities can be consolidated into one, or one municipality can consist of many noncontiguous elements. For example, theFinancially Distressed Municipalities Act allows the commonwealth ofPennsylvania to merge contiguous municipalities to reducefinancial distress.
Geographic contiguity is important inbiology, especiallyanimal ranges. For a particular species, its habitat may be a 'contiguous range', or it might be broken, requiring periodic, typically seasonal migrations (see:Disjunct distribution). The same concept of contiguous range is true for human transportation studies in an attempt to understand census geography.[2] It also comes into play with electoral geography and politics.[3]
In United Statesreal property andmineral rights law, touching of two tracts at a common corner (ascheckerboarded land) is generally consideredcontiguous.[4]
Regions that are administered as one, but do not form a single integral landmass on the map, are referred to asnon-contiguous regions. Examples includeAngola, divided into the mainland and theCabinda exclave to the north, and variousnon-contiguous transcontinental countries. The designation is not normally used forisland nations.
The concept of geographic continuity has recently been applied to describe the Anglosphere as a non-contiguous region united by shared linguistic, cultural, and historical ties.[5] This perspective introduces a novel regional approach, emphasizing interconnectedness across geographically dispersed nations.