Borders between peoples and nations

(1) A border is a line that marks where one country, state, or region ends and another begins. Some borders follow natural features, such as rivers, mountain ranges, lakes, or deserts. These are called natural, or physical, borders. For example, part of the border between the United States and Mexico follows the Rio Grande, and the Pyrenees Mountains separate France and Spain.

(2) Other borders are political borders that people agree on, often after a war or in a treaty, even where no physical feature exists. Some of these are geometric borders: straight lines that often follow a line of latitude or longitude. Much of the border between the United States and Canada follows the 49th parallel, the line of latitude 49° north.

(3) Natural borders are easy to see and can be easier to defend, but rivers can change course and mountains can be hard to divide exactly. Geometric borders are simple to draw on a map, but they often ignore the land and the people. A straight line can cut through a farm, a town, or a group of people who share a language and culture.

(1) A border is a line that marks where one country, state, or region ends and another begins. Some borders follow natural features, such as rivers, mountain ranges, lakes, or deserts. These are called natural, or physical, borders. For example, part of the border between the United States and Mexico follows the Rio Grande, and the Pyrenees Mountains separate France and Spain.

(2) Other borders are political borders that people agree on, often after a war or in a treaty, even where no physical feature exists. Some of these are geometric borders: straight lines that often follow a line of latitude or longitude. Much of the border between the United States and Canada follows the 49th parallel, the line of latitude 49° north.

(3) Natural borders are easy to see and can be easier to defend, but rivers can change course and mountains can be hard to divide exactly. Geometric borders are simple to draw on a map, but they often ignore the land and the people. A straight line can cut through a farm, a town, or a group of people who share a language and culture.

In the 1840s the United States set two of its longest borders by treaty. The Oregon Treaty (1846) divided the Oregon Country with Great Britain, which then ruled Canada. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) ended the Mexican–American War. (A league is an old unit of distance, about three miles.)

Source 1 — From the Oregon Treaty, Article I (1846)

From the point on the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, where the boundary laid down in existing treaties and conventions between the United States and Great Britain terminates, the line of boundary between the territories of the United States and those of her Britannic Majesty shall be continued westward along the said forty-ninth parallel of north latitude to the middle of the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver's Island…

Source 2 — From the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Article V (1848)

The boundary line between the two Republics shall commence in the Gulf of Mexico, three leagues from land, opposite the mouth of the Rio Grande, otherwise called Rio Bravo del Norte, … from thence up the middle of that river, following the deepest channel, where it has more than one, to the point where it strikes the southern boundary of New Mexico…

In the 1840s the United States set two of its longest borders by treaty. The Oregon Treaty (1846) divided the Oregon Country with Great Britain, which then ruled Canada. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) ended the Mexican–American War. (A league is an old unit of distance, about three miles.)

Source 1 — From the Oregon Treaty, Article I (1846)

From the point on the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, where the boundary laid down in existing treaties and conventions between the United States and Great Britain terminates, the line of boundary between the territories of the United States and those of her Britannic Majesty shall be continued westward along the said forty-ninth parallel of north latitude to the middle of the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver's Island…

Source 2 — From the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Article V (1848)

The boundary line between the two Republics shall commence in the Gulf of Mexico, three leagues from land, opposite the mouth of the Rio Grande, otherwise called Rio Bravo del Norte, … from thence up the middle of that river, following the deepest channel, where it has more than one, to the point where it strikes the southern boundary of New Mexico…

The map shows the Lorvan Basin, a fictional region with three countries: Medrin, Sorvat, and Kalos. Green dashed ovals show the main language spoken in each area. Tavi-speaking farmers have lived along both banks of the Ashe River for centuries, using the river for fishing, travel, and trade.

The map shows the Lorvan Basin, a fictional region with three countries: Medrin, Sorvat, and Kalos. Green dashed ovals show the main language spoken in each area. Tavi-speaking farmers have lived along both banks of the Ashe River for centuries, using the river for fishing, travel, and trade.

The map shows three countries in the Kessa Region, a fictional area. The map also shows the main language spoken in each part of the region.

The map shows three countries in the Kessa Region, a fictional area. The map also shows the main language spoken in each part of the region.

In January 1918, during World War I, President Woodrow Wilson presented to Congress his "Fourteen Points," a plan for a lasting peace. Several points dealt with borders in Europe. Below are three of them.

IX. A readjustment of the frontiers of Italy should be effected along clearly recognizable lines of nationality.

X. The peoples of Austria-Hungary, whose place among the nations we wish to see safeguarded and assured, should be accorded the freest opportunity to autonomous development.

XIII. An independent Polish state should be erected which should include the territories inhabited by indisputably Polish populations, which should be assured a free and secure access to the sea…

In January 1918, during World War I, President Woodrow Wilson presented to Congress his "Fourteen Points," a plan for a lasting peace. Several points dealt with borders in Europe. Below are three of them.

IX. A readjustment of the frontiers of Italy should be effected along clearly recognizable lines of nationality.

X. The peoples of Austria-Hungary, whose place among the nations we wish to see safeguarded and assured, should be accorded the freest opportunity to autonomous development.

XIII. An independent Polish state should be erected which should include the territories inhabited by indisputably Polish populations, which should be assured a free and secure access to the sea…

The Partition of India

(1) For nearly 200 years, Britain ruled the Indian subcontinent. Hindus and Muslims, the two largest religious groups, had lived side by side in many regions for centuries. As independence approached after World War II, the Muslim League, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, demanded a separate state for Muslims. Its leaders feared that Muslims would be a powerless minority in a country with a Hindu majority.

(2) In 1947, Britain divided the colony into two independent countries: India, with a Hindu majority, and Pakistan, with a Muslim majority. Pakistan was made of two separate pieces of land, West Pakistan and East Pakistan, about 1,000 miles apart on opposite sides of India. A British lawyer, Cyril Radcliffe, who had never been to India before, was given about five weeks to draw the new borders.

(3) The final borders were announced only after independence. Millions of people suddenly found themselves on the "wrong" side. In one of the largest migrations in history, more than 10 million people crossed the new borders — Hindus and Sikhs moving to India, Muslims moving to Pakistan. Violence broke out, and hundreds of thousands of people were killed.

(4) The border region of Kashmir, claimed by both countries, has led to wars and tension ever since. In 1971, East Pakistan broke away and became the independent country of Bangladesh.

A Nation Without a State

(5) The Kurds are an ethnic group of tens of millions of people with their own language and culture. Most live in a mountainous region where the borders of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria meet — an area many Kurds call Kurdistan.

(6) After World War I, the victorious Allies divided the lands of the defeated Ottoman Empire. The Treaty of Sèvres (1920) included a plan that could have led to a Kurdish state. But Turkish nationalists rejected that treaty, and the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), which replaced it, made no provision for a Kurdish state. Kurds became minorities in several countries, and many have struggled for self-rule ever since. Today, Kurds in Iraq have their own regional government, but there is no independent Kurdish country.

(1) In 1884 and 1885, representatives of European powers and the United States met in Berlin, Germany, to agree on rules for claiming land in Africa. No Africans were invited to the Berlin Conference.

(2) In the following decades, European countries divided almost the entire continent among themselves. Officials often drew the borders of their colonies on maps in Europe, using rivers, lines of latitude and longitude, and straight lines between two points. By 1914, only Ethiopia and Liberia were still independent.

(3) The new borders often ignored the ways Africans lived. Some borders split a people among two or more colonies. For example, the lands of the Maasai, a herding people who share a language and culture, were divided between British East Africa (today Kenya) and German East Africa (today Tanzania). Other borders placed rival groups together inside one colony.

(4) Most African colonies won independence between the 1950s and the 1970s. In 1964, the Organization of African Unity, a group of newly independent African states, agreed to respect the borders that existed when each country became independent. Leaders feared that trying to redraw the borders would lead to endless wars.

(5) Keeping the colonial borders brought some stability, but problems remained. Several countries have suffered civil wars in which groups joined together by colonial borders fought for control of the government or for independence. In 2011, after decades of conflict, South Sudan became independent from Sudan after about 99 percent of its voters chose independence in a referendum.

(1) In 1884 and 1885, representatives of European powers and the United States met in Berlin, Germany, to agree on rules for claiming land in Africa. No Africans were invited to the Berlin Conference.

(2) In the following decades, European countries divided almost the entire continent among themselves. Officials often drew the borders of their colonies on maps in Europe, using rivers, lines of latitude and longitude, and straight lines between two points. By 1914, only Ethiopia and Liberia were still independent.

(3) The new borders often ignored the ways Africans lived. Some borders split a people among two or more colonies. For example, the lands of the Maasai, a herding people who share a language and culture, were divided between British East Africa (today Kenya) and German East Africa (today Tanzania). Other borders placed rival groups together inside one colony.

(4) Most African colonies won independence between the 1950s and the 1970s. In 1964, the Organization of African Unity, a group of newly independent African states, agreed to respect the borders that existed when each country became independent. Leaders feared that trying to redraw the borders would lead to endless wars.

(5) Keeping the colonial borders brought some stability, but problems remained. Several countries have suffered civil wars in which groups joined together by colonial borders fought for control of the government or for independence. In 2011, after decades of conflict, South Sudan became independent from Sudan after about 99 percent of its voters chose independence in a referendum.

In January 1918, near the end of World War I, President Woodrow Wilson described to Congress his "Fourteen Points" for a lasting peace. Points XI and XII dealt with the Balkan states of southeastern Europe and with the Ottoman Empire, which ruled many peoples who spoke different languages.

XI. Rumania, Serbia, and Montenegro should be evacuated; occupied territories restored; Serbia accorded free and secure access to the sea; and the relations of the several Balkan states to one another determined by friendly counsel along historically established lines of allegiance and nationality; and international guarantees of the political and economic independence and territorial integrity of the several Balkan states should be entered into.

XII. The turkish portion of the present Ottoman Empire should be assured a secure sovereignty, but the other nationalities which are now under Turkish rule should be assured an undoubted security of life and an absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous development, and the Dardanelles should be permanently opened as a free passage to the ships and commerce of all nations under international guarantees.

(1) After World War I, some disputed borders were settled by a plebiscite, a vote in which the people of an area choose which country they want to belong to. In 1920, for example, voters in Schleswig chose between Germany and Denmark.

(2) The table shows the results of a plebiscite in Harnow, a fictional border region claimed by two fictional countries, Ostria and Pelland. Harnow has four districts. Before the vote, the two countries could not agree on whether the result should be counted for the whole region at once or district by district.

(1) Japan ruled Korea from 1910 until its defeat in World War II in 1945. As the war ended, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to divide Korea temporarily along the 38th parallel, the line of latitude 38° north. Soviet troops took control north of the line, and American troops took control south of it.

(2) The two powers could not agree on a plan to unite the country. In 1948, two separate governments were formed: a communist government in the North, backed by the Soviet Union, and a government in the South, backed by the United States. Each claimed to be the rightful government of all Korea.

(3) In June 1950, North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel and invaded the South, starting the Korean War. The United States and other members of the United Nations sent troops to defend South Korea, and China later sent troops to help North Korea.

(4) The fighting stopped in July 1953 with an armistice, an agreement to stop fighting. The new dividing line followed the places where the two armies stood when the fighting ended, so it crosses the 38th parallel at a slant. A Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), a strip of land about 2.5 miles wide where armies may not be stationed, runs along the line. No peace treaty has ever been signed, and families separated by the border in the 1950s were mostly unable to see each other again.

In January 1918, during World War I, President Woodrow Wilson presented to Congress his "Fourteen Points," a plan for a lasting peace. Several points dealt with borders in Europe. Below are three of them.

IX. A readjustment of the frontiers of Italy should be effected along clearly recognizable lines of nationality.

X. The peoples of Austria-Hungary, whose place among the nations we wish to see safeguarded and assured, should be accorded the freest opportunity to autonomous development.

XIII. An independent Polish state should be erected which should include the territories inhabited by indisputably Polish populations, which should be assured a free and secure access to the sea…

The Partition of India

(1) For nearly 200 years, Britain ruled the Indian subcontinent. Hindus and Muslims, the two largest religious groups, had lived side by side in many regions for centuries. As independence approached after World War II, the Muslim League, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, demanded a separate state for Muslims. Its leaders feared that Muslims would be a powerless minority in a country with a Hindu majority.

(2) In 1947, Britain divided the colony into two independent countries: India, with a Hindu majority, and Pakistan, with a Muslim majority. Pakistan was made of two separate pieces of land, West Pakistan and East Pakistan, about 1,000 miles apart on opposite sides of India. A British lawyer, Cyril Radcliffe, who had never been to India before, was given about five weeks to draw the new borders.

(3) The final borders were announced only after independence. Millions of people suddenly found themselves on the "wrong" side. In one of the largest migrations in history, more than 10 million people crossed the new borders — Hindus and Sikhs moving to India, Muslims moving to Pakistan. Violence broke out, and hundreds of thousands of people were killed.

(4) The border region of Kashmir, claimed by both countries, has led to wars and tension ever since. In 1971, East Pakistan broke away and became the independent country of Bangladesh.

A Nation Without a State

(5) The Kurds are an ethnic group of tens of millions of people with their own language and culture. Most live in a mountainous region where the borders of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria meet — an area many Kurds call Kurdistan.

(6) After World War I, the victorious Allies divided the lands of the defeated Ottoman Empire. The Treaty of Sèvres (1920) included a plan that could have led to a Kurdish state. But Turkish nationalists rejected that treaty, and the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), which replaced it, made no provision for a Kurdish state. Kurds became minorities in several countries, and many have struggled for self-rule ever since. Today, Kurds in Iraq have their own regional government, but there is no independent Kurdish country.

In January 1918, near the end of World War I, President Woodrow Wilson described to Congress his "Fourteen Points" for a lasting peace. Points XI and XII dealt with the Balkan states of southeastern Europe and with the Ottoman Empire, which ruled many peoples who spoke different languages.

XI. Rumania, Serbia, and Montenegro should be evacuated; occupied territories restored; Serbia accorded free and secure access to the sea; and the relations of the several Balkan states to one another determined by friendly counsel along historically established lines of allegiance and nationality; and international guarantees of the political and economic independence and territorial integrity of the several Balkan states should be entered into.

XII. The turkish portion of the present Ottoman Empire should be assured a secure sovereignty, but the other nationalities which are now under Turkish rule should be assured an undoubted security of life and an absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous development, and the Dardanelles should be permanently opened as a free passage to the ships and commerce of all nations under international guarantees.

(1) After World War I, some disputed borders were settled by a plebiscite, a vote in which the people of an area choose which country they want to belong to. In 1920, for example, voters in Schleswig chose between Germany and Denmark.

(2) The table shows the results of a plebiscite in Harnow, a fictional border region claimed by two fictional countries, Ostria and Pelland. Harnow has four districts. Before the vote, the two countries could not agree on whether the result should be counted for the whole region at once or district by district.

(1) Japan ruled Korea from 1910 until its defeat in World War II in 1945. As the war ended, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to divide Korea temporarily along the 38th parallel, the line of latitude 38° north. Soviet troops took control north of the line, and American troops took control south of it.

(2) The two powers could not agree on a plan to unite the country. In 1948, two separate governments were formed: a communist government in the North, backed by the Soviet Union, and a government in the South, backed by the United States. Each claimed to be the rightful government of all Korea.

(3) In June 1950, North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel and invaded the South, starting the Korean War. The United States and other members of the United Nations sent troops to defend South Korea, and China later sent troops to help North Korea.

(4) The fighting stopped in July 1953 with an armistice, an agreement to stop fighting. The new dividing line followed the places where the two armies stood when the fighting ended, so it crosses the 38th parallel at a slant. A Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), a strip of land about 2.5 miles wide where armies may not be stationed, runs along the line. No peace treaty has ever been signed, and families separated by the border in the 1950s were mostly unable to see each other again.

The map shows the Lorvan Basin, a fictional region with three countries: Medrin, Sorvat, and Kalos. Green dashed ovals show the main language spoken in each area. Tavi-speaking farmers have lived along both banks of the Ashe River for centuries, using the river for fishing, travel, and trade.

(1) After World War I, some disputed borders were settled by a plebiscite, a vote in which the people of an area choose which country they want to belong to. In 1920, for example, voters in Schleswig chose between Germany and Denmark.

(2) The table shows the results of a plebiscite in Harnow, a fictional border region claimed by two fictional countries, Ostria and Pelland. Harnow has four districts. Before the vote, the two countries could not agree on whether the result should be counted for the whole region at once or district by district.