Natural vs. Artificial Borders

The oldest borders follow geography. The Pyrenees separate Spain from France. The Himalayas divide South and Central Asia. These boundaries feel inevitable because they align with physical barriers that limited human movement for millennia.

Then there are borders drawn with rulers. Africa's straight lines ignore rivers and ethnic groups. The Libya-Chad border runs over 1,000 kilometers in a nearly straight line, drawn by French and British negotiators around 1900 without consulting a single African. The earlier 1884 Berlin Conference had set the rules for this carve-up of the continent.