Mackinder, Sir Halford (1861–1947)

Sir Halford Mackinder was a leading political geographer of the early 20th century, best remembered today for his “heartland” model of global geopolitics. Mackinder was a leader in the founding of academic geography in Britain. He was appointed the first geographer at Oxford in 1887 and started its School of Geography in 1899. In addition, he helped the University of Reading in 1892 and served as director of the London School of Economics from 1903 to 1908. Mackinder combined his academic career with political pursuits, serving as a Member of Parliament from 1910 to 1922 and chair of the Imperial Shipping Committee from 1920 to 1939.

Mackinder is remembered primarily for creating political geography's most famous global geopolitical model, the heartland model. First developed in 1904, ...