What kind of boundaries do you see?

Function/Purpose• Keeping People IN

• Keeping People OUT

• Mark limits of jurisdiction – symbol of SOVEREIGNTY

• Promotes nationalism

The partition of India left both India and Pakistan devastated. The process of partition had claimed

many lives in the riots.

Why was India partitioned this way by the British?

Korea and Vietnam

Types of Boundaries Three types of

boundariesGeometricPhysicalCultural

Best boundaries are those to which all affected states agree, regardless of the rationale used to draw the line

Geometric Straight-line boundaries

that do not related to the cultural or physical features of the territories involved

Ex. North/South Korea 38th parallel

Physical (or natural) Separate territories

according to natural features in the landscape, such as mountains, deserts, or rivers

Ex. France and Spain are divided by the Pyrenees

What types of

boundaries do you see?

Types of Boundaries• Cultural

Boundaries– Mark changes in the

cultural landscape, such as boundaries that divide territories according to religion or language

– Sometimes drawn according to geometric straight lines

– Religious• Only a few cases where

religion has been used to select the actual boundary line

• Example:– South Asia, partition of

India and Pakistan– Ireland and North

Ireland– Language

• Europe best example• Idea spread during 20th

century– Versailles Conference

Cyprus “Green Line” Boundary

• Contains two nationalities– Turkish= north, eastern

• 18% of population– Greek= south

• 78% of population

• Cyprus gained independence in 1960– Constitution guaranteed

Turkish minority rights– Cyprus never peacefully

integrated the Greek and Turkish nationalities

• Series of Coups led to Turkish section declaring itself independent in 1983 – no one except Turkey

recognizes independence

• Wall constructed between two areas– Buffer zone patrolled by

UN– Accepted to EU in 2004

Boundary Evolution• Evolution

– Another way to classify boundaries depends not on how they were created, but how they evolved over time• Antecedent boundaries

– Existed before humans cultures developed into current forms

• Subsequent boundaries– Grow to divide space as

result of human interaction

• Superimposed boundaries– Forcibly put on the

landscape • Relict boundary

– No longer functions as a boundary

• Boundary Creation– Several steps on the growth

of boundaries into final form• Definition

– Phase in which the exact location of a boundary is legally described and negotiated» De Jure» De Facto

• Delimitation– Is the step when the boundary’s

definition is drawn onto a map• Demarcation

– Is the visible marking of a boundary on the landscape with a fence, line, sign, wall, or other means

• Administration– Is the enforcement by a

government or people of the boundary that has been created

Boundary disputes

• Conflicts over boundaries are divided into different categories– Can include mix of categories

• Type of Disputes – at end– Territorial Disputes

• Conflict because one state wants to annex a territory whose pop. is ethnically related to them

– Definitional disputes• Fight over the language of border

agreement in a treaty or contract– Japan and Russia

– Locational /Positional disputes• Occur when conflicting parties

agree on the definition but not on where the boundary exists on a map

– Operational /Functional disputes• Conflicts over the way a boundary

should operate or function

– Allocational /Resource boundary disputes• Fights over resources that may

be divided by the boundary

Frontiers• Frontier:

Region where no state exercises complete and political control or boundaries are weakly developed

Antarctica Saudi Arabia and Yemen

– Tangible geographic area whereas a boundary is a infinitely thin, invisible, imaginary line

– Frontier provides an area of separation but a boundary brings two neighbors into direct contact

• A frontier area is uninhabited or sparsely settled by a few isolated pioneers

• 19th Century (1800s)– Vast amounts of frontiers

• Australia• American West• Canadian North• Sub-Saharan Africa

Vice episodes #2

• April 12, 2013 – North Korea/Kashmir