1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Hinterland

HINTERLAND (German for “the land behind”), the region lying behind a coast or river line, or a country dependent for trade or commerce on any other region. In the purely physical sense “interior” or “back country” is more commonly used, but the word has gained a distinct political significance. It first came into prominence during 1883–1885, when Germany insisted that she had a right to exercise jurisdiction in the territory behind those parts of the African coast that she had occupied. The “doctrine of the hinterland” was that the possessor of the littoral was entitled to as much of the back country as geographically, economically or politically was dependent upon the coast lands, a doctrine which, in the space of ten years, led to the partition of Africa between various European powers.