Bruised Borders

A tour of the world's disputed boundaries and territories

John Nelson

*Geopolitical curiosities & troubled lands* | Part 3

Border disputes are difficult things – each is unique, each has its own set of intractable issues. The nations and leaders on either side of contested borders have complex, often very personal, motivations. Solutions are difficult; mutually acceptable solutions especially so.

Some border disputes pit those who want to preserve the status quo against others who seek change via negotiation – or armed struggle. The origins of border disputes may be ancient and convoluted or acutely clear, but they tend to occur around some combination of natural resources, strategic positioning along a transportation gateway, and the more culturally complex issues of ethnic or religious identity and political loyalties.

A makeshift turf wall in southern Armenia, at its border with Azerbaijan, shields road traffic from occasional gunfire coming from across the border.

The global political order is not as stable as the tidy borders on our maps might lead us to believe. At historically notable international conferences such as Vienna in 1815, Versailles in 1919, and Potsdam in 1945, world powers have dictated the drawing of new international borders. Their goal: to carve out spheres of influence, maintain their imperial powers, and preserve the peace.

But political reality is inevitably dynamic, and the map of the world is constantly evolving despite—or sometimes because of—the will of the mighty.

Explore ongoing boundary disputes, on land and at sea, in the map below...

Cease-fire borders

Dozens of territorial disputes reflect the often-hostile relationships between neighboring countries.

Many of these disagreements have stalemated due to the actors’ fundamental differences of opinion. In some cases, the stronger of two adversaries controls a disputed area, and the prospect of resolving it to the satisfaction of the weaker side is remote.

Disputed boundaries sometimes simply reflect the separation between opposing militaries at the moment a cease-fire was brought into effect...

U.S. and North Korean negotiators map a demarcation zone during cease-fire talks in 1951. Temporary borders separating unresolved conflicts have a way of aging into unsettled permanence.

The seemingly temporary nature of the term “cease-fire” belies the fact that these demarcation lines can last for decades, separating forces along what becomes a de facto border.

Barbed wire in the Golan Heights, near the contested border between Israel and Syria.

Forces tensely amassed along a demilitarized buffer zone spanning the entire Korean peninsula have been in a stalemate since a 1953 armistice between North and South Korea.

The Joint Security Area along the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea.

The two Koreas are technically still at war. Occasional clashes continue to occur, as does an active and creative propaganda campaign.

Disputed border structures

Borders are sometimes known internationally for the structures that have come to symbolize them...

Physical barriers erected along disputed boundaries and cease-fire lines represent tangible examples of unresolved differences.

Dubbed the “Cactus Curtain”, a 17 mile fence encloses a U.S. Naval base on the island of Cuba.

In 1961 Cuban troops planted a barrier of cactus along half of the fence to discourage Cubans from seeking refuge on the base.

The West Bank wall is a security barrier constructed by Israel sectioning off primarily Palestinian areas of the West Bank. Begun in 2000, the wall will stretch 440 miles, generally along the "Green Line" armistice border of 1949.

A section of the West Bank barrier, near Giv'at Ze'ev.

Much of the barrier is multi-layered, with a "detection zone" bounded by walls on each side.

Cultural tension

Regionally clustered ethnic populations can create complex cultural, religious, and linguistic conditions within nations. Ties to neighboring countries to whom groups feel a more compelling national identity may spur efforts to annex territories or even seek full independence.

In the mountainous highlands of the Greater Caucasus, pockets of strong cultural identity are sometimes in conflict with the parent nation. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has its roots in the Russian Revolution and World War I, when external powers drew up sweeping new borders, often to the discontent of locals...

The landlocked region of Nagorno-Karabakh is populated by about 138,000 inhabitants—primarily Armenians. "Nagorno" is derived from the Russian word for mountainous, a historic nod to the topography of the region, and an apt description of the current state of unease.

Situated within the western reaches of Azerbaijan and neighboring the eastern edge of Armenia, the Nagorno-Karabakh region is the site of a decades-long ethnic conflict.

Near the end of the Soviet era, inhabitants of the region demonstrated in favor of unification with Armenia. A power vacuum following the Soviet collapse spurred a full-scale war among Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.

An Armenian tank on the outskirts of Stepanakert memorializes the war.

While not recognized by the United Nations, and technically administered as a part of Azerbaijan, the disputed territory is, in effect, self-governed. A de facto independent political entity, Nagorno-Karabakh has its own government, military, police, and social services.

"There is no alternative to independence." The reverse side of the banner reads the same phrase, in the Russian language.

Though a 1994 cease-fire is in place, both sides keep their military forces on alert along the current boundary. Exchanges of gunfire are occasional but intense; each side blames the other for provocations. Violence has occurred on a number of recent occasions , including a major flare-up that resulted in the deaths of over 100 Azerbaijani and Armenian soldiers.

Armenian soldiers in northern Artsakh, 1994.

Island disputes

Boundary disputes aren’t limited to dry land. Islands are frequently contested, not only for their land area but for the resource-rich and strategically important seas surrounding them.

The world is littered with competing claims for islands—often just patches of sand—for the strategic advantages they offer...

The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea designates an Exclusive Economic Zone of 200 nautical miles from any country's coastline, granting jurisdiction over all exploration and use of marine resources within that area.

The South Kuril Islands are claimed by both Japan and Russia (preceded by the Soviet Union). Despite a series of tentative agreements following World War II, disputes between the two countries and their allies continue, including the definition of the island group itself. Recent events have included fighter jet incursions and tense diplomatic visits meant to assert political control. Public opinion on both sides has hardened in the past decade.

The shallow waters of the eastern Persian Gulf require that large oil tankers pass through a narrow strait between a small cluster of islands – Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs. As such, they are among the most strategically vital landholdings in the Gulf.

The focus of regional disputes for centuries, the islands were seized by Iran in 1971, citing a historical precedent, after British forces ceded control of the islands to the Arab kingdoms (who would later constitute the UAE). Currently administered by Iran, the generally uninhabited islands are still claimed by the UAE, and remain a source of friction.

Happily, some multi-claimant islands enjoy a less hostile status, and are utilized as shared scientific outposts.

Claimed by the British as an overseas territory, and by Chile and Argentina as provincial territories, the South Shetland Islands, perched just off the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, are home to sixteen friendly research stations peacefully frequented by a dozen nations.

The South China Sea

Perhaps one of the hottest ongoing territorial disputes on the planet is in the South China Sea, where tensions have increased among several countries that claim exclusive rights to sections of this economically promising part of the world...

The seemingly simple fabric of coastal control rumples quickly when applied to dozens of tiny islands in a sea with many neighbors.

Photo: Swallow Reef, in the Spratly Islands of the South China Sea.

The gateway to a third of the world’s shipping, and and overlying potentially massive reserves of oil and gas, the South China Sea is coveted by several surrounding nations. Its smattering of tiny archipelagoes represents a critical foothold from which to assert economic exclusivity.

Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam all exert maritime claims on overlapping regions of the sea.

The epicenter of the dispute is the Spratly Archipelago, where many islands are claimed by three or more parties. Promising energy reserves, rich fishing grounds, strategic military positioning, and a thriving crossroads of international shipping make these remote patches of sand and coral coveted national prizes.

Vietnamese infantry marching on Spratly Island.

China's regional intentions manifest clearly in the waters around these narrow strips of sand and have contributed to a heightened risk of armed conflict.

Active patrols, naval exercises and building projects – including construction of runways and military facilities, creation of entire artificial islands, active patrols, and naval exercises – all have caused consternation among other nations in the region.

Photo: Chinese vessels work to dredge and extend a reef in the Spratly Islands.

Living borders

No map can please everyone. Drawing a political border, basic to the work of any mapmaker, is a bold act that inevitably enflames passions and tensions among those who have a stake in where – or even if – those bruised borders are drawn.

While a survey of disputed boundaries paints a picture of a world peppered with conflict and aggression, the vast majority of international borders are peaceful zones where neighboring cultures enjoy a status of mutual respect and interest.

The lines that separate us are living things – because they are drawn and redrawn by living things. Boundaries reflect the tendency of humans, and the governments they establish, to seek strategic advantage and attempt to co-opt people and regions to benefit their interests.

Humans also have a tremendous capacity for understanding, compromise, and friendship. It's this ability to balance self-interest with respect for sovereignty that makes the lines we've scratched on the globe such interesting and – mostly – wonderful things.