The definite article

Denis Welch asks The question. This is something to which I have given some thought to previously and now find occasion to transmit the conclusion by way of rebuttal to his extraordinary colonial paranoia. Some would have thought I would be the first to leap to these conclusions given my tenor of writing on the subject of our history, but I find myself in complete disagreement with the proprietary connotations that are thrown up on his blog Opposable Thumb:

Overall, it's hard to escape the conclusion that prefixing ‘the’ to the names of Maori regions was a way of reinforcing British ownership of, or claims to, those places. It somehow domesticated them, while also, no doubt, ameliorating the awkwardness of pronouncing Maori names straight out—without a social introduction, as it were. The ‘the’— could we say?—helped to make orderly the wilderness and straight the path of colonial annexation. Thus even the humblest part of speech was pressed into service on the side of the imperialist project.

From my observations the use of the prefix "The" to an area is usually to denote a significant geographical feature after which it is named. Thus: The Gambia, The Congo, The Waikato, The Hutt etc. is the area along a river and also its basin/catchment. It is also used to denote mountain ranges like The Urewera, The Rockies, The Alps etc. I am less certain how The Lebanon and The Levant achieve that status given Levant and Lebanon do not describe a land feature as far as I understand it.

How these naming rules have been applied in this country is another subject. Pakeha are the ones who have naming control over this matter in so far as the origins of prefacing something with "The" go, but they don't seem to know how it works.

My old paper dictionary says "The" is used to describe a unique thing and gives an example of "the Thames." So perhaps a unique, singular, geographical identifying feature is what is being said of a place needing a "The". It would be, however King Country is usually preceded by "The" and that is not a geographic feature but a political district - a rohe (the Rohe Pōtae). So does he have a point?

The High Country, The MacKenzie Country, The Coromandel are still describing geographic features. Adding a "The" denotes a distinct area of whatever character: The Far North, The West Coast etc. being after natural land forms, The King Country (and to a lesser degree The Urewera) being a realm. So perhaps a distinct territory with a dominant characteristic is what "The" really signifies. To this extent descriptions of non-land areas such as zones of latitude ("The Roaring 40s" etc.) can also have "The" applied if the area is distinguished by a dominant characteristic. But really, I have no idea how it works either.