hinterland

hinterland, tributary region, either rural or urban or both, that is closely linked economically with a nearby town or city.

George G. Chisholm (Handbook of Commercial Geography, 1888) transcribed the German word hinterland (land in back of), as hinderland, and used it to refer to the backcountry of a port or coastal settlement. Chisholm continued to use hinderland in subsequent editions of his Handbook, but the use of hinterland, in the same context, gained more widespread acceptance. By the early 20th century the backcountry or tributary region of a port was usually called its hinterland.

As the study of ports became more sophisticated, maritime observers identified export and import hinterlands. An export hinterland is the backcountry region from which the goods being shipped from the port originate and an import hinterland is the backcountry region for which the goods shipped to the port are destined. Export and import hinterlands have complementary forelands that lie on the seaward side of the port. An export foreland is the region to which the goods being shipped from the port are bound and an import foreland is the region from which goods being shipped to the port originate.

In the early 20th century, Andre Allix adopted the German word Umland (“land around”) to describe the economic realm of an inland town, while continuing to accept hinterland in reference to ports. Allix pointed out that umland (now a standard English term) is found in late 19th-century German dictionaries, but suggested that its use in the sense of “environs” dates back to the 15th century.

Since Allix introduced the term umland, the differences between the meanings of hinterland and umland have become less distinct. The use of hinterland began to dominate references to coastal and inland tributary regions in the mid-20th century. Central-place hexagonal trade areas are often referred to as central-place hinterlands. The term urban hinterland has become commonplace when referring to city or metropolitan tributary regions that are closely tied to the central city. An example of a metropolitan hinterland is the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) as designated by the U.S. Census Bureau. MSA’s are comprised of a central city, defined by the corporate limits; an urbanized, built-up area contiguous to the central city; and a non-urbanized area, delimited on a county basis, economically tied to the central city.