heartlands

Noun

heartland (plural heartlands)

1. Synonym of heart (“the seat of the affections or love”).

   Synonyms:

   heart

2. The interior part of a region, especially when contrasted with coastal parts or when regarded as particularly powerful or significant.
   • [R]ound the Pole all three powers lay claim to enormous territories which in fact are largely uninhabited and unexplored: but the balance of power always remains roughly even, and the territory which forms the heartland of each super-state always remains inviolate.1949 June 8, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 9, in Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC; republished [Australia]: Project Gutenberg of Australia...
3. (specifically) In the geopolitical theory of the English geographer Halford John Mackinder (1861–1947): the interior of the world island comprising north-central Eurasia regarded as politically powerful.
4. (Singapore, in plural, specifically) Residential districts and planning areas outside the city centre; the new towns of Singapore collectively.
   • Those in the HDB [Housing and Development Board] heartland will be able to vote in the airconditioned comfort of their community centres […]2003, Anais [pseudonym], soc.culture.singapore (Usenet)
5. (US, attributive, often, specifically) The states in the centre of the United States, chiefly regarded as politically and socially conservative; also, the people living in such states collectively.

   Synonyms:

   Middle America

6. A region or part of a region particularly associated with or significant for a characteristic, such as an activity, a faith, support for a political party or other organization, etc.
   • The home counties are the Conservative heartland.