the term

In general, a putative State without a defined territory is impossible, for this territory is the necessary space in which the putative State exercises its sovereign power.Nevertheless, the requirement of a "defined territory" for statehood has elastically been construed so that the territory of a putative State does not need to meet or exceed a minimum size, nor does it need to be completely self-coherent or to conform to any particular form.Extra territory might be gained by states through cession from different states; by the control of an area that is terra nullius ("the land of no one"), territory not under control of some other state; or by prescription, where a state obtains an area through a long period of uncontested sovereignty.