Geopolitical Maps
Geopolitical reasoning consists of specific cases, not theories. Hence geopolitical maps provide a fundamental basis for our type of analysis. In this section, we present a selection of maps that provide a detailed graphic representation of the main geopolitical issues dealt with inside Heartland.
Maps by Laura Canali
A close look at the oil reserves, refining and transport infrastructure of the south-western Sunni area: location and names of main oil and gas fields, prospecting areas, refineries, active, shut and planned pipelines, areas subject to terrorist attacks and guerrilla, sources and routes of possible foreign infiltrations, layout of ethnic groups. View Map »
Domestic and foreign-headed population displacements taking place among the main Iraqi ethnic groups. View Map »
How a federal Iraq would look like: ethnic partitions, holy cities with special status, transborder oil fields and disputed areas. View Map »
Mapping the Jihadist network in the Middle East: main hubs, desert routes and bases, outbound and inbound terrorist routes and tribes corridors. View Map »
A close look at the oil reserves, refining and transport infrastructure of the northern Kurd area, one of Iraq's oil richest zones: location and names of main oil and gas fields; active, damaged and planned oil and gas pipelines; areas of tensions and guerrillas, layout of ethnic groups. View Map »
A close look at the oil reserves, refining and transport infrastructure of the Baghdad-Najaf-Bassora Shiite triangle, Iraq's oil richest area: location of main fields and drilling areas; refineries; functioning, damaged and planned pipelines; areas of possible disputes and layout of ethnic groups. View Map »
A visual representation of the established and estimated oil reserves in the subsoil of the Iraqi provinces, for the next 45-50 years. View Map »
An ethnic and energy map of Iraq, showing the location of main energy infrastructure and the correspondent areas of ethnic influence: Gas and oil fields; active and inactive pipelines; prospecting fields; areas of Sunni, Shiite and Turcoman presence; porous and more controlled tracts of Iraq's international border. View Map »
A geo-morphological outlook of Iran, that highlights the areas where Farsi language is mainly spoken. View Map »
A look at the hot spots on the Iranian territory, strategic to Teheran’s national security and prosperity: main industrial areas, harbors and oil fields on the Gulf coast, important economic corridors, the country’s political and religious heartland. View Map »
Main facts of the great empire that dominated the Middle East and sub-Himalayan region from 599 to 331 b.C.: main cities, administrative boundaries, major battles and military campaigns and location of main ethnic groups. View Map »
A comprehensive look at the short but magnificent civilization that, between 531 and 579 a.C., laid the basis for the following Selgiukid and Safawid empires, ancestors of Persia and of present Irania. Main cities, routes of the military expansion, trade roads and hubs, development of pre-Islamic Zoroastrian and Manicheistic credos. View Map »
Mapping in detail the Selgiukid era, that form 1036 to 1196 shaped the last of the pre-Iranian empires: main cities; regions and autonomous sultanates; territorial evolution expansion; fights with neighboring states for territorial supremacy; path of Mongols’ invasions, that marked the end of the empire.
View Map »
Where does Iran take the gas for its domestic use, and how developed is its distribution infrastructure? Main oil and gas fields, refineries and gas hubs, existing and planned domestic gas pipelines. View Map »
Mapping the many ways taken by Iran’s export-oriented gas and oil production: sea and land routes, existing and planned pipelines, role of the foreign majors operating in the country, oil partnerships with neighboring countries/areas (India, Armenia, Russia, the Gulf), Turkmenistan’s role as swing-producer.
View Map »
The worst-case scenario in the Middle East region: a conflict involving Iran, Israel, Russia and the United States. Teheran’s strong and weak points, position of main Russian and American bases, US supporting countries in the region, Israel’s retaliation power (including air strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites) and geo-strategic weaknesses. View Map »
The international network through which the Iranian theocratic regime exports its gas resources, thus financing itself: existing and planned gas pipelines, strategic gas fields, the Caspian hub, the Caucasian and Gulf partnerships, the European “Nabucco” option via Russia/Turkey/Black Sea. View Map »
Lights and shadows of Iran’s geopolitical position as big oil producer: strategic partners and allies producers, location of gas fields, land and sea routes of gas export; antagonist producers, disputed gas reserves, action of sabotage and guerrilla affecting Iran’s gas production and export. View Map »
A comparative map showing Iran’s territorial extension in two different moments of the 20th century: the 1907 Anglo-Russian agreement, that, while proclaiming Iran’s formal independence, established a de facto partition of its territory in two spheres of influence —Russian in the north, British in the south; and 1925 when, following the 1st World War, Iran’s last Quajar sovereign was deposed by Reza Khan. View Map »
The 4 Seas Europe – from Balcans Special Issue - 10/ 2005
A direct visualization of the four inner European sea systems –the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, the Eastern and Western Mediterranean –and of the Atlantic sea system, that includes the western coastal European countries. View Map »
This map highlights the isolation of the Adriatic basin from the main geo-economic land and sea networks crossing Europe and linking its seas through inner and coastal hub cities. View Map »
The accession of ten new countries
profoundly reshapes the geopolitical balances of the EU, which is reflected by the infrastructural priorities of the 25 countries: the eastward expansion of pan-European corridors and the possible new Adriatic-Baltic axis. View Map »
EU Programs – from Balcans Special Issue - 10/ 2005
An outlook of the often overlapping extents of the multiple EU aid and cooperation programs: Baltic Sea cooperation, Meda, Cadses, Adriatic cross-border cooperation, pre-accession aid and EU neighboring policy.
View Map »
A comparative map showing the main trade and smuggling routes and hubs linking main Adriatic Italian and Yugoslavian cities to the Baltic and the Black Sea basins. View Map »
A close look at Belgrade’s role as central junction of the three main routes crossing the Balcanic region: the south-north Adriatic-Baltic route, the southern west-east Adriatic-Aegean-Black Sea route, and the northwest-southeast Rhine-Danube waterway. View Map »
The cultural and economic “circulating system” of the Mediterranean basin: main universities, sea harbors and routes, east-west flows and broader geopolitical outreach. View Map »
An outline of the new containment strategy America is setting up to curb Beijing’s geopolitical expansion: allied countries –housing US bases— America can rely on; hostile ones to be checked; ambivalent or neutral states to be aware of. Most importantly, strategic countries that aren’t part of the US strategy yet, and on which Washington’s efforts face an active Chinese led counteroffensive. View Map »
Anatomy of the Chinese giant: the political and economic Heartland of the country, its huge periphery, national and international boundaries, territorial disputes involving western and southwestern borders. View Map »
A look at the main world’s oil flows that from South and North America, Asia, Africa and Australia bring gas/oil to China and India, the world’s fastest growing oil consumers: main producing areas, route of sea and land flows, China’s and India’s strategic supply areas. View Map »
Mapping the net of Chinese geopolitical interests in the highly turbulent South Chinese Sea: conflicting territorial claims, US military outposts, main oil production fields and refinement plants, crossing oil supply routes, range of Chinese sea patrol activities. View Map »
The infrastructural net that increasingly links China to India, Russia and the Central Asian countries as a bridge for cooperation and a source of frictions: existing and planned pipelines, location of main oil fields, main and secondary ports, existing “sea highways” and plans to bypass the Malacca straits bottleneck, distribution of US military bases in the Indian Ocean region.
View Map »
A glance at the Chinese military system protecting Beijing’s vital energy supplying net, in particular around the sensible Hormuz, Malacca, Sonda and Lombok straits and through the South Chinese Sea. View Map »
Military, political, economic and demographic frictions on the Asian chessboard: Beijing and Delhi’s respective alliances with neighboring countries, main territorial disputes, location and weight of the Indian and Chinese diasporas, the US military ring encompassing the Indian Ocean region. View Map »
A close look at the turbulent areas lying on the Chino-Indian Himalayan dorsal and along the Indo-Pakistani border: deployment of nuclear weapons, location and date of wars and nuclear tests, areas of Indian and Chinese expansion.
View Map »
A comprehensive view of the Indian Ocean’s geostrategic balances: trade/oil/smuggling maritime and land routes, location of main conflicts, tracts of sea interested by piracy and guerrillas, areas of major mafious presence.
View Map »
A graphic visualization of the Islamic fundamentalist network stretching from Somalia and Saudi Arabia to Indonesia, through the Indian Ocean region, highlighting its transnational links and the uncontrolled areas of major fundamentalist presence. View Map »
At the origins of the United States of America: the first British and French settlements, the territorial arrangement of the 13 colonies, sequence and main happenings of the Independence War. View Map »
Going west: the United States reaches its western and southern frontiers. Stages of the western and southern expansion, with a focus on the Texan Independence process. View Map »
The States become United: dates of the State’s accession to the Federation; territorial acquisitions from Mexico; final expulsion of England and France from the continent. View Map »
Main phases and major happenings of the War that, from 1861 to 1865, opposed the Northern and the Southern States of the recently born Federation.
View Map »
The spreading of US reach in the American continents and the Far East: expeditions and interventions in Central and South America, the Caribbean, the Philippines, Japan, Guam and other Pacific islands. View Map »
Coming to America: how and how much Latin America and the Old Continent contributed to the demographic growth and cultural diversification of the United States. Numbers and phases of the European national diasporas in America; main destinations of the Hispanic and European migratory flows. View Map »
Confrontation seen from the West: US allies, Russia’s ones, non-aligned countries. US defence/offence West-wide system: military bases and facilities, number of overseas contingents, position of first defence ballistic missiles, homeland radar coverage. View Map »
What is left of the Palestinian State-to-be after the Israeli fence is finished? An overview on the state of construction works and on the new territorial lay-out of the West Bank. What the wall keeps out from Israel and which strategic settlements are taken in. View Map »
Comparing US and Israeli diverging priorities on the Centro Asian chessboard in the vital race for controlling energy sources and supply chain. The “half moon” of Israel’s strategic interests. Location of main gas and oil fields. Rivalries and alliances between the main energy competitors on the ground: Israel, Russia, US, Iran and Pakistan. View Map »
Supports and threats to the American presence in Central Asia: US air bases and main military targets; Hiszbullah and Hamas’ striking power; US allied and supporting countries. The outposts of Israeli influence in the Region and the Pandora’s box of the Iranian ethnic mosaic. View Map »
Mapping the Iranian religious and ethnic geography: a precariously balanced Iraqi-like puzzle. Areas of Sunni and Shiite influence. Location of the main ethnic groups and their influence on the existing and planned pipelines across the country. View Map »
Different meanings of the War on Terror in the American, Chinese and Russian views. The logistics of transnational terrorist networks. The international routes of nuclear material trafficking. View Map »
The worldwide American energy network: location of strategic stocks, actual and planned supply channels, present and future sources. View Map »
Quantifying the American dependence on imported oil: percentages of imports and major US refineries overseas. View Map »
A glimpse of American alliances and enemies on the world scene, within the framework of the War on Terror: old and new allies, trustable and unreliable ones, greatest competitors and biggest military threats. View Map »
Worldwide distribution of weapons of mass destruction: established nuclear, biological, and chemical arsenals; likely presence of productive capacity and/or stocks. Radius of North Korean delivery capacity. View Map »
Geography of the struggle for oil and gas supply between the world’s biggest consumers: the United States and the Eurasian countries (EU, China and India). The role of Russia as major exporter and the American military presence to secure strategic production sites. View Map »
Chinese geopolitical projection in Central and Eastern Asia: neighbouring countries and areas of direct Chinese influence; areas subject to strong economic and demographic Chinese attraction. View Map »
Mapping the nuclear, chemical and biological installations on the Iranian territory. Location and typology of the main plants. View Map »
