ABSTRACT
Political activities leave their impress upon the landscape, just as economic pursuits do. Deep and widely ramified impress upon the landscape is stamped by the functioning of effective central authority. Central authority usually undertakes to act for the whole of its territory in specified matters. This tends to produce uniformity in cultural impress even where the natural landscape is diverse. Central authority, to be effective, must proclaim fixed linear boundaries which can be defended against military aggression and economic penetration. Along international boundaries the landscape may be strewn with features intended by central authority to maintain security. Boundary displacements may be followed by political acts which directly or indirectly modify the landscape. In many new countries a uniform land survey, including routes, has been sketched upon the landscape antecedent to settlement. Embargoes of other sorts alter the location of items in the landscape.
