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.
Cibitoke Province, BurundiFar North Province, CameroonCongo Pedicle, Democratic Republic of the CongoKongo Central, Democratic Republic of the CongoSouthern Red Sea Region, EritreaGambela Region, EthiopiaNimba County, LiberiaNsanje District, MalawiKayes Region, MaliTete Province, MozambiqueCaprivi Strip, NamibiaCasamance, SenegalKalahari Gemsbok National Park, South AfricaNamorunyang State, South SudanBlue Nile, SudanWadi Halfa Salient, SudanKagera Region, TanzaniaMisiones, ArgentinaRoraima, BrazilSoutheast Ontario, CanadaTatshenshini-Alsek Park, British Columbia, CanadaSouthern Amazonas, ColombiaSoutheast Guainía Department, ColombiaPetén, GuatemalaTumbes Region, PeruSoutheast Alaska, Alaska, United States (see also Panhandles in the United States)Amazonas, VenezuelaWakhan Corridor, AfghanistanChittagong, BangladeshRangpur, BangladeshTanintharyi Region, Burma (Myanmar)Parrot's Beak, CambodiaLouroujina Salient, CyprusSeven Sister States, IndiaSikkim, IndiaJerusalem corridor, IsraelGalilee Panhandle, IsraelMafraq Governorate, JordanPhongsaly Province, LaosMangystau Region, KazakhstanBatken, KyrgyzstanKhövsgöl Province, MongoliaNorth Hamgyŏng, South Hamgyŏng, and Ryanggang, together comprise the "panhandle" of North KoreaPrimorsky Krai, RussiaSughd, TajikistanSouthern Thailand, ThailandHatay Province, TurkeySurxondaryo Region, UzbekistanTây Ninh Province, VietnamSyunik, ArmeniaTyrol and Vorarlberg together comprise the western "panhandle" of AustriaNeum, Bosnia and HerzegovinaVidin Province, BulgariaDubrovnik-Neretva County, CroatiaCheb District, Czech RepublicŠluknov Hook, Czech RepublicLaatre, Viljandi County, EstoniaEnontekiö, FinlandCharleville-Mézières, FranceKakheti, GeorgiaWestern Thrace, GreeceDonegal, IrelandMonaghan, IrelandProvince of Trieste, ItalyDieveniškės Appendix, LithuaniaBriceni District, MoldovaCastelré, Noord-Brabant, the NetherlandsLimburg, the NetherlandsBogatynia, PolandBryansk Oblast, RussiaGalicia, SpainCanton of Geneva, SwitzerlandCanton of Schaffhausen, SwitzerlandBernina, Inn, Lugano, Mendrisio and Porrentruy Districts, SwitzerlandBudjak, UkraineThe following locations are salients in First-level administrative subdivisions of nations.
Tafraoui, Oran Province, AlgeriaSouthwestern Saïda Province, AlgeriaNortheastern Bié Province, AngolaEastern Kgalagadi District, BotswanaBalé Province, Boucle du Mouhoun Region, Burkina FasoKouritenga Province, Centre-Est Region, Burkina FasoNorthwest Bujumbura Rural Province, BurundiNorthern Muyinga Province, BurundiOkoyo District, Cuvette Department, Republic of the CongoKimongo District, Niari Department, Republic of the CongoNorthwestern Wele-Nzas Province, Equatorial GuineaSitti Zone, Somali Region, EthiopiaHaut-Komo Department, Woleu-Ntem Province, GabonUpper Denkyira West District, Central Region, GhanaTélimélé Prefecture, Kindia Region, GuineaNortheast Mamou Prefecture, Mamou Region, GuineaWestern Isiolo County, KenyaEastern Al Wahat District, LibyaSouthern Mzimba District, Northern Region, MalawiEastern Dakhlet Nouadhibou Region, MauritaniaBoumdeid Department, Assaba Region, MauritaniaSoutheastern Tete Province, MozambiqueGossas Department, Fatick Region, SenegalSouthern Uvinza District, Kigoma Region, TanzaniaBabati, Hanang, and Mbulu Districts, Manyara Region, TanzaniaGokwe North and Gokwe South Districts, Midlands Province, ZimbabweSouthern Buenos Aires Province, ArgentinaLuis Calvo, Chuquisaca Department, BoliviaSud Cinti, Chuquisaca Department, BoliviaWhale Coast, Bahia, BrazilNorthern Mato Grosso, BrazilTriângulo Mineiro, Minas Gerais, BrazilArauco Province, Bío Bío Region, ChileSan Antonio Province, Valparaíso Region, ChileWestern Puntarenas Province, Costa RicaGuamá, Santiago de Cuba Province, CubaSouthern Hato Mayor Province, Dominican RepublicSouthern Samaná Province, Dominican RepublicCotacachi Canton, Imbabura Province, EcuadorSoutheastern Napo Province, EcuadorBalzar and El Empalme Cantons, Guayas Province, EcuadorSouthern San Miguel Department, El SalvadorNorthern East Berbice-Corentyne, GuyanaNorte, Jalisco, MexicoEastern Tabasco, MexicoSoutheastern Zacatecas, MexicoSouthern Zacatecas, MexicoChiriquí Grande District, Bocas del Toro Province, PanamaSouthern Chimán District, Panamá Province, PanamaMariato District, Veraguas Province, PanamaNorthern Tapanahony, Sipaliwini District, SurinamePáez, Apure, VenezuelaWestern Andrés Eloy Blanco Municipality, Barinas, VenezuelaArismendi Municipality, Barinas, VenezuelaPanhandles in the United States
* 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.
† This definition includes the following counties: Allegany, Frederick, Garrett, and Washington
Many people in the Pacific Northwest refer to the extreme northern section of Idaho's panhandle as "The Chimney", due to its resemblance to a chimney when viewed on maps.
Although Utah, like Nebraska, has a protrusion from its otherwise straight border, it is not usually considered a panhandle.
The six northwest Cook County, Illinois townships, outside of Chicago.The Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway was often called the Panhandle, as it crossed the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia.The San Francisco Panhandle, CaliforniaWakhan District, Badakhshan Province, AfghanistanNawa District, Ghazni Province, AfghanistanChishti Sharif District, Herat Province, AfghanistanEastern Sarpang District, BhutanNorthern Mandalay Division, BurmaEastern Chuzhou, Anhui, China PRWestern Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu, China PRJiuquan, Pingliang and Qingyang, Gansu, China PRDaxing'anling Prefecture, Heilongjiang, China PRZhaotong, Yunnan, China PRKoraput and Malkangiri districts, Odisha, IndiaKota division, Rajasthan, IndiaSouthern Jhansi division, Uttar Pradesh, IndiaEast Luwu Regency, South Sulawesi, IndonesiaSemirom County, Isfahan Province, IranSouthwest Razavi Khorasan Province, IranSouthern Yazd Province, IranWadi Araba Department, Aqaba Governorate, JordanRusseifa Department, Zarqa Governorate, JordanSouthwest Panfilov District, Chuy Region, KyrgyzstanChong-Alay District, Osh Region, KyrgyzstanNabatieh District, Nabatieh Governorate, LebanonEastern Achham District, Far-Western Region, NepalWestern Surkhet District, Mid-Western Region, NepalBannu, Karak, and Kohat Divisions, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, PakistanEastern Maguindanao, PhilippinesTrincomalee District, Eastern Province, Sri LankaAl-Suqaylabiyah District, Hama Governorate, SyriaDarvoz District, Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region, TajikistanWestern Dhamar Governorate, YemenSouthern Gmunden, Upper Austria, AustriaFrederikshavn Municipality, North Denmark Region, DenmarkParikkala, South Karelia, FinlandRuokolahti, South Karelia, FinlandVarkaus, Pohjois-Savo, FinlandLower Franconia, Bavaria, GermanyOsnabrück District and City, Lower Saxony, GermanyAltenburger Land, Thuringia, GermanyNorthern Pest County, HungarySouthern Westfjords, IcelandClonlisk, County Offaly, Leinster, IrelandProvince of Rieti, Lazio, ItalyRaseiniai District Municipality, Kaunas County, LithuaniaRivierenland, Gelderland, the NetherlandsSteenwijkerland, Overijssel, the NetherlandsMourão, Évora District, PortugalVorkuta District, Komi Republic, RussiaDiessenhofen, Schlatt bei Diessenhofen, and Basadingen-Schlattingen, Frauenfeld District, Thurgau, SwitzerlandMonthey District, Valais, SwitzerlandWestern New Forest District, Hampshire, United KingdomThe area around Tring, Hertfordshire, United KingdomNewmarket, Suffolk, United KingdomNorth Cornwall, Cornwall, United KingdomBuckfastleigh, Teignbridge, United KingdomNortheastern Nadroga-Navosa Province, Western Division, FijiSouthern Anetan District, NauruRangitaiki River Valley, Bay of Plenty Region, New ZealandHunter River Valley, Otago region, New ZealandNortheastern West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea