Panhandle
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A panhandle is an informal geographic term for an elongated tail-like protrusion of a geo-political entity, such as a subnational entity or a sovereign state. The term derives from the analogous part of a cooking pan and its use is generally confined to the United States. A panhandle is similar to a peninsula in shape, but unlike a peninsula it is not surrounded by water on three sides and connected to a geographical mainland. Instead, a panhandle is delimited by a land border on at least one side 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 or topography. In the United States, a protrusion with a less elongated shape is informally called a bootheel.
Some panhandles in the United States:
- Alaska Panhandle
- Connecticut Panhandle
- Florida Panhandle
- Idaho Panhandle
- Maryland Panhandle
- Nebraska Panhandle
- North Carolina Panhandle
- Oklahoma Panhandle
- Texas Panhandle
- Eastern Panhandle and Northern Panhandle in West Virginia
- 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
- Southeastern Jefferson County, Arkansas
[edit] Panhandles outside the United States
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Outside of the United States, the term is not in common usage, with the arguable exception of the nearby New Brunswick Panhandle. Nonetheless, some English speakers will describe the following characteristic territorial protrusions elsewhere as a corridor, a panhandle, a handlebar, a tail or an arm extending into an administratively different territory:
- Wakhan Corridor, Afghanistan
- Misiones, Argentina
- Teknaf, Bangladesh
- Triângulo Mineiro, Brazil
- Maroua, Cameroon
- Tatshenshini-Alsek Park, British Columbia, Canada
- New Brunswick Panhandle, New Brunswick, Canada
- Dalmatia, Croatia
- Istria, Croatia
- Enontekiö, Finland
- Western Thrace, Greece
- Petén, Guatemala
- Seven Sister States, India
- Batken, Kyrgyzstan
- Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico
- Tenasserim, Myanmar
- Triest, Italy
- Antalya, Turkey
- Caprivi Strip, Namibia
- Limburg, the Netherlands
- Congo Pedicle, Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Polish Corridor, Poland
- North Hamgyŏng, South Hamgyŏng, and Ryanggang, together comprise the "panhandle" of North Korea.
- Southern Thailand, Thailand
