8.4B Development of nation states

• • Boundaries are man-made separation lines between nation states - a demarcation line 
  • The Turkey/Syria border was decided by railway lines 
  • Many national borders have arisen due to natural boundaries such as rivers, mountain ranges etc.  
  • Parts of the Mexico/US border is the Rio Grande River 
  • The Andes range between Chile and Argentina
• However, all nation boundaries were created in the past; either years, decades or centuries ago

  • The Spanish/French border was established in 1659
  • Mexico–US border in 1853–1854
• • Borders are developed through specific historical developments during a nation state's lifetime, providing they have the ability and power at the time (war, religion, marriage etc.) 
  • Belgium was created in 1830–1831 as a buffer state between Catholic France and the Protestant Netherland
• • Some borders are cultural, which mark a divide between ethnic groups or cultural identity - the Slovakia and Czech Republic border is partly cultural
  • Other borders are a result of colonial history, and many do not take into account different ethnic or religious groups, which has led to issues of sovereignty and legitimacy
• It is hard to find any national border that a European country, at some stage of its historical development, hasn't been involved in:

  • The partition of Africa by European nations in the 18th and 19th centuries does not relate to indigenous cultural and ethnic distribution
  • Space/land was divided by competing powers to distribute raw materials and water resources between themselves
  • The Egyptian and Sudanese border was drawn as a straight line by Great Britain in 1899
  • Long established ethnic regions were divided into two or more different state territories
• • Borders can be created to resolve political tensions:
  • The Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) acts as a border barrier and is a strip of land (250 km (160 mi) long and 4 km (2.5 mi) wide
  • It runs across the Korean Peninsula near the 38th parallel north and roughly divides the peninsula in half 
  • The DMZ was established as a buffer zone between North and South Korea during the Korean Armistice Agreement in 1953 
• Rwanda sovereignty problems:

  • Belgians took over after WWII, and favoured the Tutsi people
  • Led to the rebellion of the Hutus against the Tutsi and Belgian

  -> Mass killing of these between the 60s and 70s

  • 1994, president of Rwanda and Burundi were both Killed, leading to mass genocide 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutus
  • In 1994, the Hutu government fled to Zaire with 2million Hutu refugees and an interim government of national unity was created