Everything about Border totally explained
Borders define
geographic boundaries of
political entities or legal jurisdictions, such as
governments,
states or
subnational administrative divisions. They may foster the setting up of
buffer zones. Some borders are fully or partially controlled, and may be crossed legally only at designated crossing points.
In the past many borders were not clearly defined lines, but were neutral zones called
marchlands. This has been reflected in recent times with the neutral zones that were set up along part of
Saudi Arabia's borders with
Kuwait and
Iraq (however, these zones no longer exist). In modern times the concept of a marchland has been replaced by that of the clearly defined and demarcated border.
For the purposes of
border control,
airports and
seaports are also classed as borders. Most countries have some form of border control to restrict or limit the movement of people, animals, plants, and goods into or out of the country. Under international law, each country is generally permitted to define the conditions which have to be met by a person to legally cross its borders by its own laws, and to prevent persons from crossing its border when this happens in violation of those laws.
In order to cross borders, the presentation of
passports and
visas or other appropriate forms of
identity document is required by some legal orders. To stay or work within a country's borders
aliens (foreign persons) may need special
immigration documents or
permits that authorise them to do so.
Moving goods across a border often requires the payment of
excise tax, often collected by
customs officials. Animals (and occasionally humans) moving across borders may need to go into
quarantine to prevent the spread of exotic or infectious diseases. Most countries prohibit carrying illegal drugs or endangered animals across their borders. Moving goods, animals or people illegally across a border, without declaring them, seeking permission, or deliberately evading official inspection constitutes
smuggling.
Border economics
The presence of borders often fosters certain economic features or anomalies. Wherever two jurisdictions come into contact, special economic opportunities arise for
border trade.
Smuggling provides a classic case; contrariwise, a border region may flourish on the provision of
excise or of
import–
export services — legal or quasi-legal, corrupt or corruption-free. Different regulations on either side of a border may encourage
services to position themselves at or near that border: thus the provision of
pornography, of
prostitution, of
alcohol and/or of
narcotics may cluster around borders, city limits, county lines,
ports and
airports. In a more planned and official context,
Special Economic Zones (SEZs) often tend to cluster near borders or ports.
Human economic traffic across borders (apart from
kidnapping), may involve mass
commuting between workplaces and residential settlements. The removal of internal barriers to
commerce, as in
France after the
French Revolution or in
Europe since the 1940s, de-emphasises border-based economic activity and fosters
free trade.
Border politics
Political borders have a variety of meanings for those whom they affect. Many borders in the world have
checkpoints where
border control agents inspect those crossing the boundary.
In much of
Europe, such controls were abolished by the
Schengen Agreement and subsequent
European Union legislation. Since the
Treaty of Amsterdam, the competence to pass laws on crossing internal and external boders within the European Union and the associated Schengen States (
Iceland,
Norway,
Switzerland, and
Liechtenstein) lies exclusively within the jurisdiction of the European Union, except where states have used a specific right to opt-out (
United Kingdom and
Ireland, which maintain a common travel area amongst themselves).
For details, see Schengen Agreement.
The
United States has notably increased measures taken in border control on the
Canada–United States border and the
United States–Mexico border during its
War on Terrorism. Some have called the 3600-km (2000-mile) US-Mexico border, "the world's longest boundary between a
First World and
Third World country."
Historic borders such as the
Great Wall of China, the
Maginot Line, and
Hadrian's Wall have played a great many roles and been marked in different ways. While the
stone walls, the Great Wall of China and the Roman Hadrian's Wall in Britain had military functions, the entirety of the Roman borders were very porous, a policy which encouraged Roman economic activity with its neighbors. On the other hand, a border like the Maginot Line was entirely military and was meant to prevent any access in what was to be
World War II to
France by its neighbor,
Germany.
Image gallery
The following pictures show in how many different ways international and regional borders can be closed off, monitored, at least marked as such, or simply unremarkable.
Image:Tijuana-san diego border deaths.jpg|Border at Tijuana, Mexico and San Diego, USA
Image:Frontera España-Marruecos, por Ceuta.jpg|Ceuta border fence between Spain and Morocco.
Image:Berlinermauer.jpg|The Berlin Wall used to be one of the most famous guarded borders in the world.
Image:Alabama the beautiful.JPG|A sign welcoming visitors to the U.S. state of Alabama.
Image:NicholasCountySignWV.jpg|Several markers designating the border between Nicholas and Greenbrier counties in West Virginia, USA along a secondary road. Notice the older stone survey markers a few meters behind the modern highway sign.
Image:OffeneGrenzeNiederndorf-Oberaudorf.jpg|A typical Schengen internal border (here near Kufstein between Germany and Austria): the traffic island marks the spot where a control post once stood; it was removed in 2000.
Image:Border flower pot.jpg|Self-illuminating Border flower pot between Burghausen, Salzach in Germany and Ach in Austria.
Image:B1 Anfang Aachen 01.jpg|A border within a closely built-up area – here near Aachen between Germany and the Netherlands: Take the left lane in the Netherlands to actually turn left in Germany.
Image:Baarle-Nassau frontière café.jpg|Border between the Netherlands and Belgium next to a street café.
Image:Eurode-Business-Center.jpg|The border between the Netherlands and Germany crosses through this building of the Eurode Business Centre in Kerkrade and Herzogenrath.
Image:Karigasniemi Finland Bridge over Inarijoki.jpg|The bridge over the Inari River in Karigasniemi, on the border of Finland and Norway.
Image:Border stone.JPG|Border stone at Passo San Giacomo between Val Formazza in Italy and Val Bedretto in Switzerland.
Image:Atyrau Europe.JPG|The "Europe Sign" in Atyrau, Kazakhstan, on the European side of the Ural River.
Image:Atyrau Asia.JPG|The "Asia Sign" in Kazakhstan, on the Asian side of the Ural River.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Border'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://border.totallyexplained.com">Border Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
