The origin of the “natural border” concept harks back to these first border maps and happens

to constitute an 18

th

-century coincidence: It was not only technically easier to draw the

boundary upon a line on the map, but politically also very convenient. As they considered

themselves to be reigning over a piece of land in the name of God, the... See more

Just as they were drawing their external borders, the recently established states undertook a

concomitant reorganization of their territories in order to confirm their rule upon them, and

this was done through a process of internal division. The emerging administrative grids can be

understood as a form of political rationality aimed at ensuring... See more

A historical review reveals that the invention of physical limits is linked to the process of

sedentary settling. The action of materializing compartmentalization into space may date back

to the days when the first Sumerian cities were fortified with walls. Such a broad perspective

indicates that national borders, even if they have strongly... See more

The mythological history

of the Western world stained with blood the first tracing of a border: It is worth noting that it

was because of a sacred furrow, plowed to distinguish the soil of the city to be, Rome, from

that of its unknown exterior, that Remus was killed by his twin brother Romulus. This deed

was in reaction to Remus’ mocking of the... See more

Boundaries have been a key component of the modern territorial vocabulary. They have

origins in Euclidean thinking, which sees space as two-dimensional. They also fit in well with

Kantian rationality, which considers space and time as two symmetrical conditions of human

experience. They can be considered “a generic term for the linear spatial... See more