Editing Border (section)

== Classification ==
{{See also|List of countries and territories by land and maritime borders}}

=== Political borders ===
Political borders are imposed on the world through human agency.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Robinson |first=Edward Heath |url=http://www.edwardheath.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Reexamining_boundaries.pdf |title=Reexamining Fiat, Bona Fide and Force Dynamic Boundaries for Geopolitical Entities and their Placement in DOLCE |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230235301/http://www.edwardheath.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Reexamining_boundaries.pdf |archive-date=30 December 2013 |journal=[[Applied Ontology]] |date=2012 |volume=7 |pages=93–108|doi=10.3233/AO-2012-0103 }}</ref> That means that although a political border may follow a river or mountain range, such a feature does not automatically define the political border, even though it may be a major physical barrier to crossing.

Political borders are often classified by whether or not they follow conspicuous physical features on the earth. William Miles said that Britain and France traced close to 40% of the entire length of the world's international boundaries.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Miles |first1=William F. S. |title=Scars of Partition: Postcolonial Legacies in French and British Borderlands |date=2014 |publisher=U of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-0-8032-6771-8 |page=3 |quote=Anglo-French carving of colonial space is a significant geographical legacy: nearly 40 percent of the entire length of today's international boundaries were traced by Britain and France.}}</ref>

=== Natural borders ===
[[File:City Lights at Night along the France-Italy Border.JPG|thumb|A photograph of the France–Italy border at night. The southwestern end of the [[Alps]] separates the two countries.]]

{{Main|Natural border}}
Natural borders are geographical features that present natural obstacles to communication and transport. Existing political borders are often a formalization of such historical, natural obstacles.

Some geographical features that often constitute natural borders are:
* [[Ocean]]s: oceans create very costly natural borders. [[List of transcontinental countries|Very few countries]] span more than one [[continent]]. Only very large and resource-rich states are able to sustain the costs of governance across oceans for longer periods of time.
* [[River]]s: Some political borders have been formalized along natural borders formed by rivers. If a precise line is desired, it is often drawn along the [[thalweg]], the deepest line along the river.
* [[Lake]]s: larger lakes create natural borders.
* [[Forest]]s: denser jungles or forests can create strong natural borders.
* [[Mountain range]]s: Many nations have their political borders defined along mountain ranges, often along a [[drainage divide]].

Throughout history, technological advances have reduced the costs of transport and communication across the natural borders. That has reduced the significance of natural borders over time. As a result, political borders that have been formalized more recently, such as those in Africa or Americas, typically conform less to natural borders{{Citation needed|date=January 2023}} than very old borders, such as those in Europe or Asia, do.

=== Landscape borders ===
A landscape border is a mixture of political and natural borders. One example is the defensive forest created by China's [[Song dynasty]] in the eleventh century.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chen |first=Yuan Julian |title=Frontier, Fortification, and Forestation: Defensive Woodland on the Song–Liao Border in the Long Eleventh Century |date=July 2018 |journal=[[Journal of Chinese History]] |language=en |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=313–334 |doi=10.1017/jch.2018.7 |issn=2059-1632 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Such a border is political in the sense that it is human-demarcated, usually through a [[treaty]]. However, a landscape border is not demarcated by fences and walls but instead landscape features such as forests, mountains, and water bodies. It is different from a natural border, however, in the sense that the border landscape is not natural but human-engineered. Such a landscape usually differs from the borderland's natural geography and its building requires tremendous human labour and financial investment.

=== Geometric borders ===
Geometric boundaries{{citation needed|date=November 2017}} are formed by straight lines (such as lines of latitude or longitude), or occasionally arcs (Pennsylvania/Delaware), regardless of the physical and cultural features of the area. Such political boundaries are often found around the states that developed out of colonial holdings, such as in [[North America]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Winterhalter |first=Elizabeth |date=2018-10-20 |title=Why Are U.S. Borders Straight Lines? |url=https://daily.jstor.org/why-are-u-s-borders-straight-lines/ |access-date=2023-01-05 |website=JSTOR Daily |language=en-US}}</ref> [[Africa]]{{Citation needed|date=January 2023}} and the [[Middle East]]. The [[Canada–United States border]] follows the 49th parallel for roughly {{convert|2175|mi|km}} from [[Lake of the Woods]] ([[Ontario]] and [[Minnesota]]) west to the [[Pacific Ocean]].

=== Fiat borders ===
A generalization of the idea of geometric borders is the idea of [[:wikt:fiat|fiat]] boundaries by which is meant any sort of boundary that does not track an underlying ''bona fide'' physical discontinuity (''fiat'', [[Latin]] for "let it be done", a decision). Fiat boundaries are typically the product of human demarcation, such as in demarcating electoral districts or postal districts.<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Barry |date=1995 |chapter-url=http://ontology.buffalo.edu/smith/articles/drawing.html |chapter=On Drawing Lines on a Map |editor1-first=A. U. |editor1-last=Frank |editor2-first=W. |editor2-last=Kuhn |editor3-first=D. M. |editor3-last=Mark |title=Spatial Information Theory. Proceedings of COSIT 1995 |location=Berlin/Heidelberg/Vienna/New York/London/Tokyo |publisher=[[Springer Verlag]] |pages=475–484 |access-date=2017-01-03 |archive-date=2019-02-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190209154942/http://ontology.buffalo.edu/smith/articles/drawing.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Relic borders ===
[[File:Greatwall-SA3.jpg|thumb|The purpose of the [[Great Wall of China]] was to stop people and militaries from crossing the northern border of China. Today it is a relic border.]]

A relic border is a former boundary, which may no longer be a legal boundary at all. However, the former presence of the boundary can still be seen in the landscape. For instance, the [[Inner German border|boundary]] between [[East Germany|East]] and [[West Germany]] is no longer an international boundary, but it can still be seen because of historical markers on the landscape; it remains a cultural and economic demarcation in [[Germany]]. Other examples include the [[Vietnam Demilitarized Zone|Demilitarized Zone]] between [[North Vietnam|North]] and [[South Vietnam]] (defunct since 1975) and the border between [[Yemen Arab Republic|North]] and [[South Yemen]] (defunct since 1990). Occasionally a relic border is reconstituted in some form, for example the border between [[British Somaliland]] and [[Italian Somaliland]] ceased to exist when the two colonies merged to form the independent state of [[Somalia]] in 1960, however when the former British Somaliland declared independence in 1991 it claimed the former British-Italian line as its eastern border.<ref name="const">{{cite web |title=The Constitution of the Republic of Somaliland |publisher=[[Government of Somaliland]] |date=1 May 2001 |url=http://www.chr.up.ac.za/undp/domestic/docs/c_Somaliland.pdf |access-date=2 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227110751/http://www.chr.up.ac.za/undp/domestic/docs/c_Somaliland.pdf |archive-date=27 February 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Lines of control ===
A [[Line of Control|line of control]] (LoC) refers to a militarized buffer border between two or more nations that has yet to achieve permanent border status. LoC borders are typically under military control and are not recognized as an official international border. Formally known as a cease-fire line, an LoC was first created with the [[Simla Agreement]] between [[India]] and [[Pakistan]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.stimson.org/simla-agreement |title=Simla Agreement |work=Stimson Center |access-date=24 July 2018 |language=en |archive-date=15 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190215140447/https://www.stimson.org/simla-agreement |url-status=live }}</ref> Similar to a cease-fire line, an LoC is typically the result of war, military stalemates and unresolved land ownership conflict.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/south_asia/03/kashmir_future/html/ |title=The Future of Kashmir |work=[[BBC News]] |access-date=24 July 2018 |archive-date=19 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170319084333/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/south_asia/03/kashmir_future/html/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Maritime borders ===
{{Main|Maritime boundary}}
A maritime border is a division enclosing an area in the ocean where a nation has exclusive rights over the mineral and biological resources,<ref name="vliz_info">{{Cite web |website=[[VLIZ Maritime Boundaries Geodatabase]] |url=http://www.vliz.be/vmdcdata/marbound/info.php |title=General info |access-date=19 November 2010 |archive-date=15 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120615104053/http://www.vliz.be/vmdcdata/marbound/info.php |url-status=live }}</ref> encompassing maritime features, limits and zones.<ref name="geoscience">{{cite web |website=Geoscience Australia |url=http://www.ga.gov.au/marine/jurisdiction/definitions.jsp |title=Maritime definitions |url-status= |access-date=19 November 2010}}{{dead link|date=September 2023}}</ref> Maritime borders represent the jurisdictional borders of a [[maritime nation]]<ref>{{cite web |website=[[United States Department of State]] |url=http://www.state.gov/g/oes/ocns/opa/convention/c28187.htm |title=Maritime boundaries |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090419184424/http://www.state.gov/g/oes/ocns/opa/convention/c28187.htm |archive-date=19 April 2009 |access-date=19 November 2010}}</ref> and are recognized by the [[United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea]].

Maritime borders exist in the context of [[territorial waters]], [[contiguous zone]]s, and [[exclusive economic zone]]s; however, the terminology does not encompass [[lake]] or [[river]] boundaries, which are considered within the context of land boundaries.

Some maritime borders have remained indeterminate despite efforts to clarify them. This is explained by an array of factors, some of which illustrate regional problems.<ref>{{cite book |last=Valencia |first=Mark J. |date=2001 |title=Maritime Regime Building: Lessons Learned and Their Relevance for Northeast Asia |pages=149–166 |url={{Google books|ZhXN8ILQCnIC|page=149|plainurl=yes}}}}</ref>

=== Airspace borders ===
[[Airspace]] is the [[atmosphere]] located within a country's controlled international and maritime borders. All [[List of sovereign states|sovereign countries]] hold the right to regulate and protect air space under the international law of [[Air sovereignty]].<ref name="Air law">{{Cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/air-law |title=Air law |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]] |access-date=26 July 2018 |language=en |archive-date=12 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412004947/https://www.britannica.com/topic/air-law |url-status=live }}</ref> The horizontal boundaries of airspace are similar to the policies of "[[International waters|high seas]]" in maritime law. Airspace extends 12 nautical miles from the coast of a country and it holds responsibility for protecting its own airspace unless under [[NATO]] peacetime protection.<ref name="Air law"/><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://ac.nato.int/page5931922/-nato-air-policing |website=[[Allied Air Command]] |title=NATO Air Policing |publisher=[[NATO]] |access-date=28 February 2019 |archive-date=26 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190326090020/https://ac.nato.int/page5931922/-nato-air-policing |url-status=live }}</ref> With international agreement a country can assume the responsibility of protecting or controlling the atmosphere over International Airspaces such as the [[Pacific Ocean]]. The vertical boundaries of airspace are not officially set or regulated internationally. However, there is a general agreement of vertical airspace ending at the point of the [[Kármán line]].<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Reinhardt |first=Dean |date=June 2005 |title=The Vertical Limit of State Sovereignty |url=http://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a436627.pdf |archive-url=https://archive.today/20181115132014/http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a436627.pdf |url-status=live |archive-date=15 November 2018 |type=Master of Laws |publisher=[[McGill University]] |pages=3}}</ref> The Kármán line is a peak point at the altitude of 62&nbsp;mi (100&nbsp;km) above the Earth's surface, setting a boundary between the atmosphere (airspace) and [[outer space]] (which is governed by [[space law]]).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.inesap.org/bulletin20/bul20art08.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080515202422/http://www.inesap.org/bulletin20/bul20art08.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=15 May 2008 |title=Bulletin 20 – Space Weapons Ban: Thoughts on a New Treaty |date=15 May 2008 |access-date=26 July 2018}}</ref>

=== Frontier ===
{{Main|Frontier|Frontier thesis|Terra nullius}}
The frontier is a border that is open-ended to one side, identifying an expanding borderland to one side.

This type of border can be fairly abstract and has been identified as a particular state of mind<ref>{{cite journal |last=Mura |first=Andrea |year=2016 |title=National Finitude and the Paranoid Style of the One |journal=[[Contemporary Political Theory]] |volume=15 |pages=58–79 |doi=10.1057/cpt.2015.23 |s2cid=53724373 |url=https://research.gold.ac.uk/19373/1/Mura%20-%20National%20Finitude%20and%20the%20Paranoid%20Style%20of%20the%20One.pdf |access-date=2020-09-29 |archive-date=2020-09-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930021046/http://research.gold.ac.uk/19373/1/Mura%20-%20National%20Finitude%20and%20the%20Paranoid%20Style%20of%20the%20One.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> for human activity. As such frontiers have been applied to borderlands identifying and claiming them as [[terra nullius]], such as [[Marie Byrd Land]] in [[West Antarctica]], the only territory in Antarctica unclaimed by any sovereign nation.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Making claims |url=https://discoveringantarctica.org.uk/how-is-antarctica-governed/the-antarctic-treaty/making-claims/ |access-date=2023-11-29 |website=Discovering Antarctica |language=en-GB}}</ref>