What Is A Relic Boundary

Types of International Boundaries | The Geography of Transport Systems — Types of International Boundaries

The precise depiction of boundaries is relatively new in human history. Earlier the availability of surveying and cartographic technologies, impediments to travel such as mount ranges, water bodies, or fifty-fifty features such as broad forests and deserts were used to dissever the territories of political entities (Antecedent boundaries). In Europe, the 1648 Peace of Westphalia gave rise to a more than territorially-based notion of the sovereign state, creating an imperative for delineating and demarcating boundaries and establishing border facilities (Subsequent boundaries).

The colonial expansion of European states in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries led to the creation of many international boundaries that endure to this day, even though they were oft drawn arbitrarily (Superimposed boundaries). As recently equally the late 19th century, European powers delineated boundaries on the map of Africa without surveys on the ground and without regard to the economy or culture of African people. Until the second half of the twentieth century, international boundaries were subject area to change arising from diplomatic agreements and military disharmonize.

In the years post-obit Earth State of war II, an international consensus arose around the territorial integrity norm, a principle that in order to prevent armed conflict, existing boundaries should exist treated as unchangeable. While this has led to the preservation of colonial-era boundaries that have negatively impacted African economical and cultural development, the frequency of wars over territory has declined. This does not mean that the political map has remained unchanged. The disintegration of states, including the Soviet Matrimony and Yugoslavia, into multiple smaller states has created new international boundaries within pre-existing boundaries. At the same time, the High german reunification in 1991 involved the dissolution of a boundary that had divided Europe for decades (Relic boundaries).