Examples of frontiers are expansive deserts, marshes, oceans, frigid lands, dense forests, and rugged mountains. The inhospitable nature of frontiers impedes governmental control. Frontiers are vast unsettled or underpopulated areas that separate and protect countries from each other. FRONTIER BOUNDARIESįrontiers often function as natural boundaries. Several boundary commissions may be required to work at the setting up boundaries, employing detailed surveying and mapping information, before the involved states are satisfied. Boundary lines that use physical features are often difficult to survey. Small lakes and narrow rivers may not have any clear demarcation, unless the boundary follows the water's edge. Buoys mark the boundary line if it passes along or across a large lake. Consequently, two countries that share a natural boundary must agree on a method of marking a boundary line.Īcross open land, such as along the crest of a mountain range, a mere line of poles, stones, or cement markers usually suffices. Natural features have dimensions of length and breadth, whereas political boundaries are lines of separation. When a political boundary conforms to some feature of the physical landscape-a stream, sea, mountain, desert, watershed, lake, marsh, and so forth-it is a natural boundary. The idea of an organic state with “natural” boundaries influenced Adolf Hitler's dictatorship of GERMANY. In the early 20th century, geographers and political ideologists merged the boundary of the natural region with the political theory of the organic state. Geographers and other scholars often study landscapes within the confines of natural regions, so their boundaries are important. Natural features as political boundaries have advantages and disadvantages for various reasons that we will examine in the next section.Ī second type of natural boundary-the boundary of a natural region-separates areas with certain distinctive types of landforms, climates, ecosystems, and so on. There are also historical boundaries, which are natural, geometric, and cultural relicts of former political entities.) A natural feature, such as a river or mountain range, is a logical choice, as it is visible and tends to interfere with human movement and interaction. This boundary usually separates different ethnic groupings. There is a cultural type of boundary, as well. A boundary can be geometric, meaning it is be composed of straight-line segments and arcs. (Not all political boundaries follow natural features. GOVERNMENTS USE physical features as boundaries of political units: boundaries of countries, states, counties, cities, and so forth.
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