1. How are boundaries established and why do boundary disputes occur?
EQ 8.3
How are boundaries established and why do boundary disputes occur?

2. Boundary – a vertical plane that cuts through the rocks below and the airspace above, dividing one state territory from another.

3. Types of boundaries/ Shapes of States
Political boundaries
Physical boundaries
Geometric boundaries
Boundaries inside states
federal states
Trend toward federal government
Electoral geography
Shapes of states
Five basic shapes
Landlocked states

4. Establishing Boundaries
Define: through treaty or legal document.
Delimit: by drawing it on a map
Demarcate: visible means of marking the boundary on the ground.
Administrate: how the boundary will be maintained

5. Great Wall of China
The wall was built in the 3rd century B.C. and extended during the following century.

6. Five basic shapes
Compact = efficient – distance from center to any boundary does not vary significantly
Good communications likely
Elongated = potential isolation – states with long or narrow shape, ex. Chile
Trouble with communications likely
Prorupted = access or disruption – large protruding extension (access to resource or separate 2 states sharing a boundary)
Fragmented = problematic – several discontinuous pieces of territory, ex. Indonesia or Russia/Kaliningrad
Separated by water or an intervening territory
Perforated = state that completely surrounds another state, ex. South Africa surrounds Lesotho
Landlocked states – lacks direct outlet to sea, surrounded by other countries—created problem of international trade

7. Cambodia: Compact

9. Namibia: Prorupted

11. Chile: Elongated

13. Indonesia: Fragmented

15. South Africa: Perforated

17. Types of boundaries Physical Cultural
Desert boundaries
Mountain boundaries
Water boundaries
Cultural
Geometric boundaries
Religious Boundaries
Language Boundaries
Ethnic Boundaries
Frontiers – a zone where no state exercises complete political authority

18. Boundaries are of two types: physical and cultural
Neither type of boundary is better or more “natural,” and many boundaries are a combination of both types.
Important physical features on Earth’s surface can make good boundaries because they are easily seen, both on a map and on the ground.
Three types of physical elements serve as boundaries between states:
mountains,
deserts,
and water.

19. Cultural Boundaries
The boundaries between some states coincide with differences in ethnicity.
Other cultural boundaries are drawn according to geometry; they simply are straight lines drawn on a map.

20. Ethnic Groups in Southwest Asia
Fig. 8-14: Ethnic boundaries do not match country boundaries, especially in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.