Land

The OED (Oxford English Dictionary) defines land simply as “The solid portion of the earth's surface, as opposed to sea, water”. It is derived from the French origin term lande meaning “heath” meaning “uncultivated wasteland”. However this definition can be expanded and interpreted in many ways in terms of economics, ownership, and territory.

Land can be a very complicated and controversial issue in terms of land purchasing. Many questions come to mind when thinking of this issue, such as: Who has the right of say on who can own and purchase land? Can anyone own land? When was land first distributed as property? Was it back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and fought for territory? Dating back to the 7th century, the term land was viewed as political boundaries, separating territories. This brings up the term Native land, or in other words, homeland.

Homeland refers to ones native country or nation from which they originated. Seven years ago to the day, The United States was attacked by terrorist and as a result, The Department of Homeland Security which is “responsible for assessing the nation's vulnerabilities.” was created (in 2002). Analyzing the title, “The Department of Homeland Security”, it seems as if it means the protection of one’s native country; the protection of Native Americans, but it is really only assessing the vulnerabilities of the United States.

Property such as houses and apartments that are rented can be seen as a form of landed property. Wikipedia defines this as the “property that generates income for the owner without the owner having to do the actual work”. This interprets land as a form of capitalism by itself. This issue can be pushed even further into different mediums such as virtual reality. For example, in the virtual world of second life, it is possible for virtual land to be purchased and marketed as a form of capitalism. In the presentation for “Second Life”, we were brought to an art gallery of some sort. In this gallery, there were art work, but in order to view the art, we would have to pay. This can be interpreted as landed property on a virtual surface. This brings up the issue of land ownership and private property.

In this day and age, land purchasing and land ownership is not uncommon. People can purchase land all around the United States for low cost. Upon purchasing land, it can be then called private property. Private property is defined as “property owned by an individual”. What one person was determined to own the majority of land on earth? It would limit where people could go. Is this the same as imprisonment? Looking back on AmericanSingles.com, the limiting features practically provoked users into subscribing. This medium can be described as another form of landed property. The website owned by Sparks Networks is practically another form of capitalism itself. The site was setup at some point, and then the company relied on users to actually subscribe to the sites membership. No work was being done.

Technology has expanded the definition of the term land in many ways. A term once used to describe the surface of the earth is now used to mark territory and convey ownership not only in the real world, but in virtual worlds as well.

Wikipedia.com
OED
US Land and Ranches
Homeland Security