Border

A border is a line that separates two or more geographic areas. Borders can be political, natural, or cultural.

Political borders are the most common type of border. They are created and enforced by governments. Political borders can be used to define the territory of a country, state, province, county, city, or town. For example, the border between the United States and Canada is a political border.

The Swiss–Italian border. By Diego Menna 

Natural borders are created by physical features such as mountains, rivers, oceans, and deserts. Natural borders can be difficult or impossible to cross, making them effective barriers between different groups of people. For example, the Pyrenees Mountains form a natural border between France and Spain.

Cultural borders are less visible than political or natural borders, but they can be just as important. Cultural borders are created by differences in language, religion, customs, and traditions. For example, the border between the United States and Mexico is also a cultural border.

Borders are constantly changing. They can be created or moved through war, diplomacy, or natural disasters. For example, the border between Germany and Poland has changed several times over the past century.

BORDER RECORDS

The world's oldest international border is the border between Andorra and France, which was established in 1278 by the Treaty of Usurall. The treaty was signed on September 8, 1278 by the Count of Foix and the Bishop of Urgell, who were the two co-princes of Andorra. The treaty established a permanent border between the two countries, which has remained in place ever since. The border between Andorra and France is approximately 75 miles (125km) long and runs through the Pyrenees Mountains.

The border between Botswana and Zambia is the shortest border between two fully independent countries. It is approximately 135 meters (443 ft) long. The border is located in the Chobe National Park in Botswana and the Kazungula National Park in Zambia.

The world’s longest international land border is the 5,525 mile border between Canada and the USA of which 1,538 is the Canada-Alaska border. Despite being the longest international border in the world and it lacks military defense.

The longest continuous land border is the 4,254 miles between Russia and Kazakhstan.

China has the largest number of countries sharing its land borders, with 14 neighboring countries. The countries share its 22,000 kilometers (14,000 miles) land borders.

                                                                BORDER HISTORY

The concept of international borders is a relatively recent one. In the past, borders were often fluid and contested. It was not until the rise of the modern nation-state in the 17th and 18th centuries that borders became more fixed and defined.

Hadrian's Wall marked the border of Roman Britain. It was built by the Roman emperor Hadrian in the early 2nd century AD to protect the Roman province of Britannia from the Picts and other tribes to the north. The wall was approximately 73 miles long and ran from Wallsend on the River Tyne in the east to Bowness-on-Solway on the Solway Firth in the west.

Hadrian's Wall was a massive undertaking, and it took about six years to build. It was made up of a stone wall, a ditch, and a series of forts and watchtowers. The wall was also patrolled by Roman soldiers.

A Section of Hadrian's Wall

The purpose of the Great Wall of China was to stop people and militaries from crossing the northern border of China. It was built over centuries by China's emperors to protect their territory from nomadic invaders from the Eurasian Steppe. The wall was a massive undertaking, and it is estimated that it took over two million people to build it. Today it is a relic border.

The borders negotiated in 1084, after the Song-Lý War, largely remain as the current boundaries between China and Vietnam. The border between China and Vietnam is a significant border because it separates two of the largest and most populous countries in Asia. 

The Dutch founded New Amsterdam in the New World in 1624, and one of America's first border walls was built the following year to protect the settlement from Native Americans. In the early days of New Amsterdam, the border wall was an important part of the settlement's defenses. 

A border wall was constructed under orders from Director General of the Dutch West India Company, Peter Stuyvesant, at the start of the first Anglo-Dutch war soon after New Amsterdam was incorporated in 1653. The first Anglo-Dutch War ended in 1654, but over time the wall reinforced and expanded to protect against potential incursions from Native Americans, pirates, and the English. 

In 1664, the Dutch surrendered New Amsterdam to the English, and the settlement was renamed New York. The wall and its fortifications were eventually removed in 1699—it had outlived its usefulness because the city had grown well beyond the wall. The street along which the wall ran is now known as Wall Street.

New Amsterdam's wall depicted on tiles in the Wall Street subway station

The Convention of 1818, also known as the Treaty of 1818, was signed on October 20, 1818, between the United Kingdom (representing British North America, which included Canada) and the United States. This treaty had several provisions, but one of the key aspects was the resolution of the boundary dispute between British North America (Canada) and the United States.

The treaty effectively established the 49th parallel as the boundary between the two nations from the Rocky Mountains to the Lake of the Woods. It also allowed for joint occupation of the Oregon Country (present-day Oregon, Washington, and parts of Idaho and Montana) for ten years.

The Convention of 1818 is notable for its role in peacefully resolving border issues between the two nations and for setting the groundwork for their friendly relations in the years to come. It remains the border between the two countries today.

The US-Canadian Border was known by the Plains Indians as "The Medicine Line" for it's seemingly magical ability to keep US troops from crossing it.

                                                              BORDER FUN FACTS

The International Date Line between Little Diomede and Big Diomede is the border between the USA and Russia in the Bering Strait. Americans in Little Diomede can look across the 2.5 mile gap and see “tomorrow” in Big Diomede.

The entire US-Canada border is defined by a 20 ft. deforested area called "The Slash".

There is a street that is split down the middle by the USA-Canadian border, aptly named Canusa Street. On this stretch of road, the centre yellow line defines the international border and separates Beebe Plain, Vermont, in the United States on the south side of the street, from the Beebe Plain area of Stanstead, Quebec, in Canada on the north side. Crossing the street requires having to report to the border crossing office.

Derby Line is another village bisected by the Vermont-Quebec border, even cutting some houses in half. The entrance to the library/opera house, for example, is in the US but the stage is in Canada. The building is open to free use by both Canadians and Americans, provided they enter and leave from their country's respective door. 

The border between China and Nepal passes through the summit of Mount Everest.

In Hidalgo, Mexico, there's an amusement park attraction that offers visitors a fake illegal border crossing experience.

South Korea has completely Autonomous Turrets, SGR-A1 developed by Samsung, deployed along its entire 160 mile border with North Korea, making it the most militarized border in the world.

You can travel by zip wire from Spain to Portugal on the first cross-border zip line in the world.

Poland bordered with USSR, East Germany and Czechoslovakia in 1989, none of which now exist. It now borders Germany, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Russia. 

In the town of Baarle between the Netherlands and Belgium, there are border-marking street tiles with B or NL on either side of rows of crosses.

The borders between Belgium and the Netherlands are so complex that many buildings have an international border running right through them. A bank was built on top of the border so paperwork was moved from one side of the building to the other whenever one nationality’s tax inspectors came.

The only place France borders the Netherlands is in... the Caribbean. The island of Saint Martin is divided between French Saint-Martin and Dutch Sint Maarten.

Decades after the Cold War, red deer on the border between the Czech Republic and old West Germany still do not cross the divide. During the Cold War, electric fences made the Czech-German boundary impossible to pass; red deer are intent on maintaining this old boundary.

Source Daily Express