The origin of territoriality has been a topic of intense debate among political
geographers, anthropologists, and sociologists. Some argue that territorial behavior
is genetically encoded in humans and other species, and therefore humans are “pro-
grammed” to establish and defend territorial claims. The best known proponent of
this view was the anthropologist Robert Ardrey, who argued in his seminal work
theTerritorial Imperativethat humans are inescapably territorial like many other
animals, and that such behavior is innate. In Ardrey’s view, the array of nation-
states that now occupy most of the Earth’s surface are not only a necessary organiza-
tion of political space, they are inevitable. Many others take issue with this position,
and hold that the desire to claim and defend territory is not instinctive but rather a
learned behavior. Regardless of whether territoriality arises via “nature or nurture,”
few social scientists would suggest that such behavior is inconsequential in human
relations or history. Indeed, Robert Sack has proposed that territoriality is pervasive
in human experience, and is found on some scale in all cultures, and he suggests that
territoriality is a strategic behavior designed to exercise control over a given space.
As such, territoriality may function to reinforcecultural identityas well as nation-
alism in some groups, and the desire to control a specific space, perhaps an historic
“homeland,” becomes a key component of belonging to the group.
The expression of territoriality in space has a profound impact on human rela-
tionships. The features that delimit territoriality, such as international borders, serve
to reduce the influence ofcultural diffusionand other types of interaction, limiting
to some degree contact with, and understanding of, people who reside outside of
one’s own territorial space. Of course, violent conflict over territory is a recurrent
theme in human history, and the desire to control larger spaces has led repeatedly
to warfare andimperialism. Emotional attachment to a specific territory, especially
one that acquires the status of asacred space, can extend across many generations
and many thousands of miles, resulting in seemingly intractable and endless strug-
gle. An example is the “holy land,” where conflict from the first Crusade in 1095
to the contemporary hostility between Israel and its neighbors indicates the resil-
ience and significance of territoriality in this region. Whether the drive to control
space is part of our genetic code or a behavior we involuntarily acquire from social
conditioning, it nevertheless is an inherently geographical phenomenon, and one
that shapes virtually all aspects of the human experience.Thunderstorms
A thunderstorm is an intense convectional storm with accompanying thunder, light-
ning, andprecipitation. At any one time there are, perhaps, a couple of thousand340 Thunderstorms