hinterland
n.n. the area of land that is far away from a city or a large town. It is usually the countryside that supports the city but is not part of it.
n. the rural or less developed area that surrounds a city or industrial center. Often used to describe the geographical and economic relationship between urban and rural regions.
The city's hinterland is mostly farmland.
The expansion of the highway allowed the city to reach its hinterland more quickly, changing the local economy.
While the coastal metropolis thrives on tourism, its hinterland remains a quiet, agricultural region where traditional farming methods have persisted for centuries.
Borrowed from German Hinterland, from hinter (“behind”) + Land (“land”), cognate to English hinder (“back, rear”) + land. First used in English in 1888 by George Chisholm in his work Handbook of Commercial Geography originally as hinderland, but the current spelling (following German) became more popular. The term is characteristic of a thalassocratic analysis of space (from the point of view of a nation with maritime supremacy, such as 19th-century Britain).