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A panhandle or salient is an informal geographic
Political geography

Political geography is the field of human geography that is concerned with the study of both the spatially uneven outcomes of political processes and the ways in which political processes are themselves affected by spatial structures....
 term for an elongated tail-like protrusion of a geo-political entity, such as an administrative division
Administrative division

|align="right"| |}Administrative divisions are divisions of a political division. In other words, they are designated portions of a country....
 or a sovereign
Sovereignty

File:Leviathan gr.jpgSovereignty is the exclusive right to control a government, a State, a people, or oneself. A sovereign is a supreme lawmaking authority....
 state
State

A state is a political Social contract with effective sovereignty over a geographic area and representing a population. These may be nation states, State or multinational states....
 that extends into another such entity as a peninsula
Peninsula

A peninsula is a piece of Landform that is nearly surrounded by water but connected to mainland via an isthmus. Word origin: Latin paeninsula : paene, almost + insula, island....
 extends into the sea. The former "folksy" term derives from the analogous part of a cooking pan and its use is generally confined to the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
. A term used elsewhere is salient, derived from military salients.






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A panhandle or salient is an informal geographic
Political geography

Political geography is the field of human geography that is concerned with the study of both the spatially uneven outcomes of political processes and the ways in which political processes are themselves affected by spatial structures....
 term for an elongated tail-like protrusion of a geo-political entity, such as an administrative division
Administrative division

|align="right"| |}Administrative divisions are divisions of a political division. In other words, they are designated portions of a country....
 or a sovereign
Sovereignty

File:Leviathan gr.jpgSovereignty is the exclusive right to control a government, a State, a people, or oneself. A sovereign is a supreme lawmaking authority....
 state
State

A state is a political Social contract with effective sovereignty over a geographic area and representing a population. These may be nation states, State or multinational states....
 that extends into another such entity as a peninsula
Peninsula

A peninsula is a piece of Landform that is nearly surrounded by water but connected to mainland via an isthmus. Word origin: Latin paeninsula : paene, almost + insula, island....
 extends into the sea. The former "folksy" term derives from the analogous part of a cooking pan and its use is generally confined to the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
. A term used elsewhere is salient, derived from military salients. A panhandle is similar to a peninsula
Peninsula

A peninsula is a piece of Landform that is nearly surrounded by water but connected to mainland via an isthmus. Word origin: Latin paeninsula : paene, almost + insula, island....
 in shape, but unlike a peninsula it is not surrounded by water on three sides (but may have water on one or two sides, like Florida's panhandle) and connected to a geographical
Physical geography

Physical geography is one of the three major subfields of geography. Physical geography focuses on understanding the processes and patterns in the natural environment, as opposed to the cultural or built environment, the domain of human geography....
 mainland
Mainland

Mainland is usually the continental part of a region, as opposed to the islands nearby. Sometimes the residents are called "the Mainlanders". As a result of the usually larger area of mainland, there are significantly more mainlanders than islanders, and mainlander culture and politics sometimes threaten to dominate those of the islands....
, but is a land region surrounded on three sides by land regions not of the same jurisdiction. Instead, a panhandle is delimited by a land border
Border

Borders define geography boundaries of political geography or legal jurisdictions, such as governments, states or Subnational entity. They may foster the setting up of buffer zones....
 on at least two sides and extends out from the larger geographical body of the administrative unit. The panhandle shape is the result of arbitrarily drawn international or subnational boundaries, although the location of some administrative borders takes into account other considerations such as economic ties
Economic geography

Economic geography is the study of the location, distribution and spatial organization of economic activities across the Earth. The subject matter investigated is strongly influenced by the researcher's methodological approach....
 or topography
Topography

Topography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those ofplanets, Natural satellite, and asteroids. It is also the description of such surface shapes and features ....
. The state of Missouri has a protrusion with a less elongated shape, which is informally called the bootheel
Bootheel

The Missouri Bootheel is the southeasternmost part of the state of Missouri and is called the "Bootheel" because of the shape of its boundaries....
.

 Panhandles of the United States of America
State Largest city Population Area (sq. mi) Population density
(per sq. mi)
Alaska
Alaska Panhandle

The Alaska Panhandle, sometimes referred to as Southeast Alaska, is the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Alaska, which lies just west of the northern half of the Provinces and territories of Canada of British Columbia....
 		 Juneau 72,954 35,138 2
Connecticut
Connecticut Panhandle

The Connecticut Panhandle, informally known to locals as the Tail, is in southwestern Connecticut, where it abuts New York. It is contained entirely in Fairfield County, Connecticut and includes all of Greenwich, Connecticut, Stamford, Connecticut, New Canaan, Connecticut, and Darien, Connecticut, as well as part of Norwalk, Connectic...
 		 Stamford
Stamford, Connecticut

Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Connecticut, United States. According to 2007 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 118,475, making it the fourth largest city in the state....
 		 220,209 96 2,294
Florida
Florida Panhandle

The Florida Panhandle is the region of the state of Florida which includes the westernmost 16 List of counties in Florida in the state. It is a narrow strip lying between Alabama on the north and the west, Georgia also on the north, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south....
 		 Tallahassee
Tallahassee, Florida

Tallahassee is the Capital of the Florida, USA, and the county seat of Leon County, Florida. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida in 1824....
 		 1,222,492 11,304 108
Idaho
Idaho Panhandle

The Idaho Panhandle is the northern region of the U.S. State of Idaho that encompasses the ten northernmost List of Idaho counties of Benewah County, Idaho, Bonner County, Idaho, Boundary County, Idaho, Clearwater County, Idaho, Idaho County, Idaho, Kootenai County, Idaho, Latah County, Idaho, Lewis County, Idaho, Nez Perce County, Idaho, Sho...
 		 Coeur d'Alene
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

Coeur d'Alene is the county seat and largest city of Kootenai County, Idaho, Idaho, United States. It is the principal city of the Coeur d'Alene Metropolitan Statistical Area....
 		 295,160 21,013 14
Maryland
Western Maryland

Western Maryland is the portion of U.S. state of Maryland that consists of Frederick County, Maryland, Washington County, Maryland, Allegany County, Maryland, and Garrett County, Maryland counties....
 		 Frederick
Frederick, Maryland

Frederick is a city in west-central Maryland, United States. It is the county seat of Frederick County, Maryland, the largest county by area in the State of Maryland....
 		 469,376 2,194 214
Nebraska
Nebraska Panhandle

The Nebraska Panhandle is an area in the west of the state of Nebraska. A panhandle is an area extending from the rest of a political unit; the Nebraska panhandle is two-thirds as broad as the rest of the state....
 		 Scottsbluff
Scottsbluff, Nebraska

Scottsbluff is a city in Scotts Bluff County, Nebraska, Nebraska, United States. The population was 14,732 at the United States Census, 2000. Scottsbluff is the largest city in Scotts Bluff County and the 12th largest city in Nebraska, as well as being the Nebraska Panhandle largest city....
 		 90,410 14,258 6
Oklahoma
Oklahoma Panhandle

The Oklahoma Panhandle is the extreme western region of the state of Oklahoma, comprising Cimarron County, Oklahoma, Texas County, Oklahoma, and Beaver County, Oklahoma....
 		 Guymon
Guymon, Oklahoma

Guymon is a city in and the county seat of Texas County, Oklahoma, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 10,472 at the United States Census, 2000....
 		 29,112 5,687 5
Texas
Texas Panhandle

The Texas Panhandle is a region of the U.S. state of Texas consisting of the northernmost 26 List of Texas counties in the state. The panhandle is a rectangular area bordered by the state of New Mexico to the west and the state of Oklahoma to the north and east....
 		 Amarillo
Amarillo, Texas

Amarillo is the 14th-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas, the largest in the Texas Panhandle, and the county seat of Potter County, Texas. A portion of the city extends into Randall County, Texas....
 		 402,862 25,824 16
Eastern West Virginia
Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia

The Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia is a narrow stretch of territory in the northeast of the state, bordering Maryland and Virginia, United States....
 		 Martinsburg
Martinsburg, West Virginia

Martinsburg is a city in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia region of West Virginia, United States. The city's population was 14,972 at the 2000 United States Census; according to a 2007 Census Bureau estimate, Martinsburg's population was 16,450, making it the largest city in the Eastern Panhandle and the ninth largest municipality in We...
 		 212,483 3,499 61
Northern West Virginia
Northern Panhandle of West Virginia

The Northern Panhandle is a culturally and geographically distinct region in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is the state's northernmost extension, bounded by the Ohio River on the north and west, along with the state of Pennsylvania on the east....
 		 Wheeling
Wheeling, West Virginia

Wheeling is a city in Marshall County, West Virginia and Ohio County, West Virginia counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Most of the city lies in Ohio County, for which it is the county seat....
 		 141,060 601 235


  • The six Northwest Cook County, Illinois
    Cook County, Illinois

    Cook County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is the List of the most populous counties in the United States county in the United States after Los Angeles County, California....
     townships.
  • The Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway was often called the Panhandle, as it crossed the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia.
  • San Francisco, (California) Panhandle
    Panhandle (San Francisco)

    The Panhandle is a park in San Francisco, California, California that forms a panhandle with Golden Gate Park. It is long and narrow, being three-quarters of a mile long and one block wide....


Panhandles outside the United States


Outside of the United States, the term is not in common usage, with the arguable exception of the nearby New Brunswick Panhandle. Nonetheless, some people would describe the following characteristic territorial protrusions elsewhere as a corridor or an arm extending into an administratively different territory. Such shapes of territory can be a result of linguistic (or ethnic) lines, in addition to geographic features and other reasons.

  • Wakhan Corridor
    Wakhan Corridor

    The Wakhan Corridor or Wakhan Salient is a narrow but almost impassable corridor in the Wakhan in the Badakhshan province of Afghanistan....
    , Afghanistan
  • The states of Tyrol
    Tyrol (state)

    Tyrol is a States of Austria or Bundesland, located in the west of Austria. It comprises the Austrian part of the historical region of Tyrol....
     and Vorarlberg
    Vorarlberg

    Vorarlberg is the westernmost and wealthiest States of Austria of Austria. Though it is the second smallest in terms of area , it borders three countries; Germany , Switzerland and Liechtenstein....
     together comprise the "panhandle" of Austria
  • Karakoram
    Karakoram

    Karakoram is a large mountain range spanning the borders between Pakistan, China, and India, located in the regions of Gilgit District, Ladakh, and Baltistan....
    , Pakistan
  • Misiones
    Misiones Province

    Misiones is one of the Provinces of Argentina of Argentina, located in the northeastern corner of the country in the Mesopotamia, Argentina region....
    , Argentina
  • Teknaf, Bangladesh
  • Triângulo Mineiro
    Minas Gerais

    Minas Gerais was so named for its great riches in the mining industry. It is one of the 26 states of Brazil of Brazil, the second most populous and fourth largest by area in the federation....
    , Brazil
  • Far North Province
    Far North Province

    The Far North Province, also known as the Extreme North Province , is the northernmost constituent province of Cameroon. It borders the North Province, Cameroon to the south, Chad to the east, and Nigeria to the west....
    , Cameroon
  • Tatshenshini-Alsek Park
    Tatshenshini-Alsek Park

    Tatshenshini-Alsek Park or Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Wilderness Park is a List of British Columbia provincial parks in British Columbia, Canada ....
    , British Columbia, Canada
  • New Brunswick Panhandle, New Brunswick, Canada
  • Enontekiö
    Enontekiö

    Enonteki? [] is a Municipalities of Finland in the Finland part of Lapland with approx. inhabitants. It is situated in the outermost northwest of the country and occupies a large and very sparsely populated area of about between the Sweden and Norway border....
    , Finland
  • Western Thrace
    Western Thrace

    Thrace is a geographic and historical regions of Greece of Greece, located between the Mesta River and Maritsa rivers in the northeast of the country....
    , Greece
  • Petén
    Petén (department)

    Pet?n is a Departments of Guatemala of the nation of Guatemala. It is geographically the northernmost department of Guatemala, as well as the largest in size — at 12,960 square miles it accounts for about one third of Guatemala's area....
    , Guatemala
  • Seven Sister States
    Seven Sister States

    The Seven Sister States are a region in North-East India, comprising the contiguous States of India of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura....
    , India
  • Donegal
    County Donegal

    County Donegal is a county located in the west of the Province of Ulster, in the northwest of Ireland. It is one of three counties in the Province of Ulster that do not form part of Northern Ireland....
    , Republic of Ireland
  • Batken
    Batken Province

    Batken Province is a province of Kyrgyzstan. It's capital is Batken. It is bounded on the east by Osh Province, on the south, west and north by Tajikistan and on the northeast by Uzbekistan....
    , Kyrgyzstan
  • Tenasserim, Myanmar
  • Province of Trieste
    Province of Trieste

    The Province of Trieste is a Provinces of Italy in the autonomous Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Trieste.It has an area of 212 km?, and a total population of 242,235 ....
    , Italy
  • Hatay Province
    Hatay Province

    Hatay is a Provinces of Turkey of southern Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast, with Syria to the south and east....
    , Turkey
  • Caprivi Strip
    Caprivi Strip

    Caprivi, sometimes called the Caprivi Strip or the Okavango Strip and formally known as Itenge, is a panhandle of Namibia eastwards about 450 km , between Botswana on the south, Angola and Zambia to the north, and Okavango Region to the west....
    , Namibia
  • Limburg
    Limburg (Netherlands)

    Limburg is the southern-most of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands of the Netherlands. It is located in the southeastern part of the country and bordered by Belgium to the south and part of the west, Germany to the east, the Dutch province of North Brabant partly to the west, and the province of Gelderland to the north....
    , the Netherlands
  • Congo Pedicle
    Congo Pedicle

    The Congo Pedicle refers to the southeast salient of the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo which sticks into neighbouring Zambia almost dividing it into two lobes, like the wings of a butterfly....
    , Democratic Republic of the Congo
  • Polish Corridor
    Polish Corridor

    The Polish Corridor was a territory located in the region of Pomerelia which provided the Second Republic of Poland with access to the Baltic Sea, thus dividing the bulk of Germany from her province of East Prussia....
    , Poland
  • North Hamgyong
    North Hamgyong

    North Hamgyong is a Administrative divisions of North Korea of North Korea. The province was formed in 1896 from the northern half of the former Hamgyong Province....
    , South Hamgyong
    South Hamgyong

    South Hamgyong is a Administrative divisions of North Korea of North Korea. The province was formed in 1896 from the southern half of the former Hamgyong Province, remained a province of Korea until 1945, then became a province of North Korea....
    , and Ryanggang
    Ryanggang

    Ryanggang is a Administrative divisions of North Korea in North Korea. The province is bordered by China on the north, North Hamgyong on the east, South Hamgyong on the south, and Chagang on the west....
    , together comprise the "panhandle" of North Korea.
  • Southern Thailand
    Southern Thailand

    Southern Thailand is a distinct region of Thailand, connected with the central Thailand region by the narrow Kra Isthmus....
    , Thailand
  • Finger of the Galilee
    Finger of the Galilee

    The Finger of the Galilee is a panhandle along the Hula Valley in northern Israel. It contains the towns Metula and Kiryat Shmona and the rivers of Dan and Banias....
    , Israel


See also

  • Bootheel
    Bootheel

    The Missouri Bootheel is the southeasternmost part of the state of Missouri and is called the "Bootheel" because of the shape of its boundaries....
  • Gerrymandering
    Gerrymandering

    Gerrymandering is a form of Redistribution in which electoral district or constituency boundaries are deliberately modified for electoral advantage....
  • Chicken's Neck
    Chicken's Neck

    The Siliguri Corridor or Chicken's Neck or is a narrow stretch of land which connects India's North-East India to the rest of India. This strip of land is only 21 to 40 km in width, with the nation-state of Nepal and Bangladesh lying on either side of the corridor....
  • Border
    Border

    Borders define geography boundaries of political geography or legal jurisdictions, such as governments, states or Subnational entity. They may foster the setting up of buffer zones....
  • Political geography
    Political geography

    Political geography is the field of human geography that is concerned with the study of both the spatially uneven outcomes of political processes and the ways in which political processes are themselves affected by spatial structures....
  • Corridor
    Corridor

    A corridor is a path or guided way .Corridor may also refer to:* Polish Corridor in former West Prussia, which gave Poland access to the sea, but separated East Prussia and Free City of Danzig from the major part of Germany...
  • Strip of land
  • Enclave and exclave
    Enclave and exclave

    In political geography, an enclave is a territory whose geographical boundaries lie entirely within the boundaries of another territory.An exclave, on the other hand, is a territory legally attached to another territory with which it is not physically contiguous....
  • The Thumb
    The Thumb

    The Thumb is a region and a peninsula of Michigan, so named because the Lower Peninsula of Michigan is shaped like a mitten; thus the Thumb is the area that looks like the thumb of the mitten....
  • Salients, re-entrants and pockets
    Salients, re-entrants and pockets

    In military terms, a salient is a battlefield feature that projects into enemy territory. Therefore, the salient is surrounded by the enemy on three sides, making the troops occupying the salient vulnerable....