A salient, panhandle, or bootheel is an elongated protrusion of a geopolitical entity, such as a

subnational entity Administrative divisions (also administrative units, administrative regions, subnational entities, or constituent states, as well as many similar generic terms) are geographical areas into which a particular independent sovereign state is divi ...

or a

sovereign state A sovereign state is a State (polity), state that has the highest authority over a territory. It is commonly understood that Sovereignty#Sovereignty and independence, a sovereign state is independent. When referring to a specific polity, the ter ...

. While similar to a

peninsula A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...

in shape, a salient is most often not surrounded by water on three sides. Instead, it has a land

border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

on at least two sides and extends from the larger geographical body of the administrative unit. In

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...

, the term panhandle is often used to describe a relatively long and narrow salient, such as the westernmost extensions of

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

and

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

, or the northernmost portion of

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

. Another term is bootheel, used for the

Missouri Bootheel The Missouri Bootheel is a Salient (geography), salient (protrusion) located in the southeasternmost part of the U.S. state of Missouri, extending south of 36°30′ north latitude, so called because its shape in relation to the rest of the sta ...

and New Mexico Bootheel areas.

Origin

The term ''salient'' is derived from military salients. The term "panhandle" derives from the analogous part of a cooking pan, and its use is generally confined to North America. The salient shape can be the result of arbitrarily drawn international or subnational boundaries, which serve to separate culturally unified peoples. These occurred, for instance, during European colonialisation when colonial powers competed for Africa and the

Western Hemisphere The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the 180th meridian.- The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Geopolitically, ...

, after which post-colonial borders became based on colonial divisions. In many cases these salients correspond to routes of expansion or bases for such expansion, as in Namibia and Mozambique. Other modern salients originally served to provide barriers against other colonial powers, as with Britain against Tsarist Russia in

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

. Salients may also arise when a national government shifts territory between subnational entities for internal political reasons, as with West Virginia's eastern panhandle during the Civil War. This also occurred with peripheral Tibetan-inhabited regions in Maoist China, which were split between provinces and from the

Tibet Autonomous Region The Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), often shortened to Tibet in English or Xizang in Pinyin, Hanyu Pinyin, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China. It was established in 1965 to replace the ...

. The location of administrative borders can also take into account other considerations such as economic ties, strategic needs, history or

topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...

. Even in these situations, however, salients frequently fail to follow clear and logical criteria, as seen with the

partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

and the resultant northeastern salient. Upon partition numerous majority-Muslim areas remained within Hindu India, and some non-Muslim-majority areas within the exclave of

East Pakistan East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...