1. Sharing a common past and living together on a particular territory over a long period of time gives people a sense of their collective identity. 2. In a democracy - it is shared commitment to a set of political values and ideals that is the most desirable basis of a political community or a nation-state. 3. It helps them to imagine themselves as one people. 4. It is therefore not surprising that people who seethemselves as a nation speak of a homeland. 5. The territory they occupied and the land on whichthey have lived has a special significance for them - andthey claim it as their own.