Definition of "heartland"

heartland

/ˈhɑːtlənd/

noun
plural heartlands
1. Synonym of heart (“the seat of the affections or love”)
2. Also in the plural form heartlands:
  1. The interior part of a region, especially when contrasted with coastal parts or when regarded as particularly powerful or significant.
    Quotations
    [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; republished [Australia]: Project Gutenberg of Australia, August 2001, part 2, page 172
    (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.
    (specifically, Singapore, chiefly in the plural) Residential districts and planning areas outside the city centre; the new towns of Singapore collectively.
    Quotations
    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)
    Take heart, small-time shopkeepers in the heartlands.
    2001 March 16, Alfred Dass, Today, Singapore: Mediacorp Press, page 8
    I applaud the organising committee's decision to hold the concert in the heartlands.
    2003 July 23, Jason Lee Boon Hong, Today, Singapore: Mediacorp Press, page 10
    (specifically, US, often attributively) The states in the centre of the United States, chiefly regarded as politically and socially conservative; also, the people living in such states collectively.
  2. 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.