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The term “periphery”, whose purpose is to characterize a type of territory, is present in both general and geographical dictionaries, but according to definitions that are not necessarily similar or concordant. Moreover, it has led to the enunciation of other terms whose meaning will need to be clarified in the context of this article. The latter shows that the univocal nature of theoretical analyses and historical studies does not provide an adequate answer to the question posed. It is therefore necessary to consider an empirical and plural approach leading to the proposal of a typology that distinguishes six varieties of peripherals territories.