Why territory existed before it was governed
Before taxation, ownership, or infrastructure, territory functioned as a continuous physical system. Rivers structured settlement, slopes defined routes, and fertile soils attracted habitation. No institution was required for the territory to operate as one.
There were no cadastral units, no registries, no hydraulic authorities. Topography was observation rather than measurement, and mobility followed terrain instead of design. The landscape was not yet divided into administrative domains.
The territory had not been assigned fiscal, legal, or technical meaning. It was a single ecological reality long before it became administrable space. Fragmentation begins only when land acquires purpose.
One territory. Five scenarios.
Explore how governance begins by redefining space.
Next: Scenario II | When land became measurable
Conceptual reference: Territorial Scenarios