Salient (geography)

A salient is an elongated protrusion of a geopolitical entity, such as a subnational entity or a sovereign state.

While similar to a peninsula in shape, a salient is not surrounded by water on three sides and connected to a geographical mainland. Instead, it is delimited by a land border on at least two sides and extends out from the larger geographical body of the administrative unit.

In American English the term panhandle is often used to describe a relatively long and narrow salient, such as the westernmost extension of Oklahoma. Less common descriptors include chimney (if protruding northward, as a chimney does from a roof, as with the northernmost extremity of the Virginias) and bootheel (if protruding southward, as the heel underneath a boot, such as the Missouri Bootheel).

The term salient is derived from military salients. The term "panhandle" derives from the analogous part of a cooking pan, and its use is generally confined to the United States.

The salient 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.

The following locations are salients in First-level administrative subdivisions of nations.

^* This definition includes the following counties: Bay, Calhoun, Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Taylor, Wakulla, Walton, and Washington.

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