Political Boundaries

Political Boundaries - Directions

asia

EUROPe

NORTH AMERICA

africa

Latin AMERICA

OCEANIA

Directions

Political boundary: An imaginary line that separates one political unit from another. These dboundaries often determine economics systems, cultural patterns, and political systems of various countries. Geographers are constantly evaluating political boundaries. However, in order to gain a meaningful understanding, you must understand the types of political boundaries that are used. Click on each bouncing arrow to gain a thorough understanding of each type of boundary.

Relic boundary

A relic boundary is one that no longer functions but can still be detected on the cultural landscape.

The Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 by the Soviet Union to separte East Berlin (democratic) and West Germany (communist). At the end of the cold war in 1989, the wall officially came down. However, remants still exist in Berlin.

Germany

Antecedent Boundary

Antecedent boundaries existed before the present settlement. These are often based on landforms, such as mountains.

Bolivia

Chile

The Andes Mountains

The Andes Mountains form the eastern boundary of Chile, separating it from neighboring Argentina and Bolivia.

Argentina

SuperImposed Boundary

Superimposed boundaries are drawn on an area by a conquering or colonizing power that ignores existing cultural patterns.

The Berlin Conference

In 1885, European states met in Berlin to divide up the continent of Africa among themselves, paying little to no heed to tribal territories.

Subsequent boundary

Subsequent boundaries are established after the settlement in an area. It changes as the cultural landscape changes and is drawn to accommodate developments due to a certain event, such as a war.

Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia was formed following World War I by the merger of several territories. Economic and political unrest in the 1980s led to much fighting and eventually Yugoslavia was split into separate states.

1918

1917

The Balkan region before the formation of Yugoslavia.

The Balkan Region after WWI.

Consequent Boundaries

Consequent boundaries are drawn in order to separate groups based on ethnic, linguistic, religious, or economic differences.

Pakistan

India

India and Pakistan

LOREM IPSUM

The boundary between India and current-day Pakistan was created to separate the main religions in the region, Hindu and Islam.

Geometric Boundary

Not all boundaries are created with concern for physical or cultural differences. Geometric boundaries are drawn using straight lines.

United states and canada

One of the longest geometric boundaries is the United States - Canada border. Much of the boundary was drawn at the 49th parallel, but is not as straight as it should be. There was no GPS when the border was demarcated, and the line zig zags by an average of almost 300 feet

CanAda

United States

Physical Boundary

Natural barriers between areas such as oceans, deserts, and mountains.

United states and Mexico

The Rio Grande River runs 1,255 miles along the international boundary between the United States and Mexico.

United States

Mexico