heartland

heartland
    n 1: the central region of a country or continent; especially a
         region that is important to a country or to a culture
    

42 Moby Thesaurus words for "heartland":
      airspace, area, belt, confines, continental shelf, corridor,
      country, department, district, division, environs, ground,
      hinterland, inland, inlands, interior, land, midland, midlands,
      milieu, neighborhood, offshore rights, part, parts, place,
      precincts, premises, purlieus, quarter, region, salient, section,
      soil, space, terrain, territory, three-mile limit,
      twelve-mile limit, up-country, vicinage, vicinity, zone