Hinterland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The word has been borrowed from German, where it literally means the land behind (a city, a port or similar). In German this word also describes the part of a country where only few people live and where the infrastructure is underdeveloped. The direct analogy in English is "back country". See also Bush of Alaskan and Australian usage.
By analogy, it is the area surrounding a service from which customers are attracted, also called the market area.
It was applied also to the surrounding areas of former European colonies in Africa, which, although not part of the colony itself, were influenced by the colony.