But if you look closely, human activity has become so all-encompassing that it can be seen on any continent on Earth. The most exciting fact is that even political borders can be discerned from space, as each country has its specific land-use features.

The images below taken by astronauts and orbiting satellites show Earth’s surface, where international boundaries can be seen.

Russia – China

The map below shows the Amur River dividing the uninhabited far east of Russia from China’s deforested and densely populated lands.

China – Kazakhstan

The image created by NASA shows northwestern China nearby the city of Qoqek and the far eastern part of Kazakhstan near Lake Balqash.

Land-use policies define the boundary between the two nations. In China, land use is intense. About 11.62% of China’s land is arable. Driven by a need to provide food for 1.3 billion people, China farms just about any land suitable for agriculture. On the satellite image below, dark-green fields contrast the surrounding arid landscape, indicating irrigating agriculture.

While just 0.03 percent of Kazakhstan’s land is dedicated to permanent agriculture, it represents a tiny part of its economy. The nation has a few Post-Soviet industrial-sized farms dotted throughout on this map, but the land along the border with China is barely used.

Turkey – Syria

The territory of Turkey bordering Syria is home to many farms, which function thanks to relatively well-developed infrastructure and irrigation systems.

Brazil – Bolivia

The river, which outlines the border between northwestern Brazil State of Acre (upper left) and Pando Department in the north of Bolivia (lower right), represents a remarkable difference in land use and development methods. Brazil has cut down the rain forests here for agriculture and settlements. In contrast, Bolivia has kept its forests intact. The image was taken with the Earth-observing instrument Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER).

Argentina – Brazil – Paraguay

Argentinian deep green territory covered with woods contrasting with surrounding heavily populated parts of Brazil and Paraguay occupied with farmlands.

Belize – Guatemala

Deforestation differences between Belize and Guatemala form a straight line along their borders noticeable from space.

Guatemala has witnessed some of the highest deforestation rates in the Americas, caused mainly by converting forests into cropland and stocks pastures. From 2001 to 2019, Guatemala lost 1.48 million hectares of tree cover, equal to a 19 percent drop in tree cover after 2000.

Israel – Egypt

Below, the cosmonaut photo shows noticeable borderline marks about 50 kilometers (31 miles) of Egypt and Israel’s international border.

The contrasting colors of the land surface result from trampling by people and their cattle. Trampling disrupts the dark-colored soil crusts on the Egyptian part of the border, providing lighter-colored dune sand beneath the crusts to be opened by winds. A road also follows the boundary, making the differentiation more noticeable.

On the north side, Israel has a lot of circle-shaped fields with crops, while bordering Egypt’s landscape is emptier.

South Korea – North Korea

The most noticeable differences between North Korea and South Korea from space can be seen at night. Due to poor infrastructure and street lighting, North Korea looks like a single black spot from space at night.

Pakistan – India

The Pakistan-India border can be seen from space thanks to the 3323 kilometers (2,065 miles) long security lights all along the border.

Known as the Radcliffe Line, the border is one of the most densely militarised globally and has a fence going its whole distance to control smuggling and firearms trafficking. Thousands of soldiers are constantly on duty along the border.

United States – Mexico

The image below was taken by the Earth-observing instrument ASTER of the Terra satellite.

It features the contrast in the landscape within the United States and Mexico. On the north is the United States covered in rich farmland (red color), while on the south, the empty areas of land in Mexico are punctuated with agricultural fields.

East and West Germany

The economic activities of neighboring countries can be so different that the state border between the two countries can be seen from space even after many decades after the unification.

The most striking example is Germany. The border between East and West Germany can be seen from space, even though 30 years have passed since they were united.

On the satellite image below, you can see the differences between East and West Berlin. East Berlin used yellow sodium lights instead of mercury vapor or metal halide lights like in West Berlin, and old electrical systems are possibly not electrically compatible.

The post The countries’ borders that are visible from space appeared first on Vivid Maps.

Below are maps illustrating the most radical changes in state borders in European history.

Medieval Europe (5th-15th century)

Medieval Period began with the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. Numerous Germanic peoples created new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire.
Rome’s direct sequel, the still-substantial Byzantine Empire, remained in the Eastern Mediterranean and persisted a significant power.

Europe 1000 A.D.

Early modern Europe (late 15th century – late 18th century)

Early modern Europe is a period of European history starting with the Ottoman conquering of Constantinople in 1453, the Renaissance period in Europe, and the end of the Reconquista. Feudalism waned.

Europe, 1500 A.D.

In Europe sparked the fierce Thirty Years’ War and ended with the founding of the contemporary international system in the Peace of Westphalia.

This treaty had a significant impact on Germany by confirming the territorial sovereignty of Germany’s many political bodies, the Treaty of Westphalia increased and perpetuated german division and political weakness. Austria and Brandenburg-Prussia, however, gained international significance during the age of the treaty.

During this time distinctive nation-states firmly established the competitive nationalism of the modern world.

Map of Europe after the Peace of Westphalia, 1648

Late modern period

The late modern period begins roughly in the mid-18th century, and depending on the author either ended with the beginning of contemporary history after WW2 or even covers that period up to the current day. Distinguished historical events embraced the Industrial Revolution, the French and Russian Revolution.

Imperial Europe (1900)

Great Powers – Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Austria-Hungary and Russia are dominated in Europe.

Map of European Great Powers in 1900

Imperial Europe (1912 – 1914)

Nationalist ambitions make the Balkans unstable. Recently sovereign Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece attack the Ottomans in 1912, seeing the decay of the Turkish Ottoman Empire as a moment to increase their areas. Albania gets its independence.

Map of Europe in 1914

World War I

Revolution and civilian war plunge Russia, Germany, and Austria-Hungary into anarchy after WWI. Bourders in Europe radically changed. The Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires have disappeared, Russian and German Emparies have shrunk considerably, and a lot of smaller countries have appeared. After the revolution in Russia in 1917, the Soviet Union was created.

Europe, with new borders as determined by the Peace Conference and the Treaty of Trianon (1920)

World War II

In 1938-1939 Adolf Hitler annexed his Austria, Sudetenland, the Czech part of Czechoslovakia, and western Poland. Meanwhile, the USSR annexed eastern Poland, the Baltic States and northern Romania.

Map of European borders before WWII

After WWII, Germany dramatically decreased in size and split into East and West. While, the Soviet Union gets Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) and northern East Prussia.

Map of European borders after WWII

Communism collapsed

As the winds of the democratic revolution swept across Eastern Europe, Communist control breaks in the nation after nation.

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was the first sign of destroying the post-war borders. Then the USSR and Yugoslavia collapsed in 1991. Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia, and Macedonia are added to Europe’s map. By the end of 1992, Czechoslovakia was divided into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. There are now 22 new nations in Europe.

The map below shows the last time that each European state was part of another country.

One thousand years of state boundaries in Europe overlaid on one map

Many will find it interesting what would happen if all European countries’ pre-existing borders were put on the same map. Below, the map created by Andres Sundell shows all the borders of sovereign states in Europe in 100-year increments from 1000 to 2000.

The post Atlas of The Changing Borders of Europe appeared first on Vivid Maps.

Topology in math is the study of properties that are preserved when a shape is curved or elongated. So a circle and a square are topologically equal because they are both a simple loops. A figure eight isn’t comparable to them since it has the intersection point and two loops.

This map is showing the basic adjacency within regions, without consideration for the complicated shapes the areas take. In topology, the borders can be smoothed out, but the adjacency is a fixed property that remains no matter how much the edge is reshaped.

The map shows the topology of national borders; all information about a country’s shape and size are ignored. This leads to some interesting effects: Brunei and Indonesia are linked to Afro-Eurasia since they connected through Malaysia, even though they are on different landmasses. Exclaves have otherwise been ignored. The world is encircled by a ring of 38 island nations, as well as two pairs (Haiti/Dominican Republic and Ireland UK). East is (approximately) up.

Related posts:
– 10 of the world’s shortest borders
– When were the world’s current borders first defined

The post The topologist’s map of the world appeared first on Vivid Maps.

State borders can take different forms depending on geographical features, historical factors, and political considerations. They can be natural, such as rivers, mountains, or coastlines, which serve as physical barriers between countries. In some cases, borders are artificial lines drawn on a map, often referred to as straight-line or geometric borders, which may not correspond to any natural features.

State borders have various purposes, including regulating the movement of people, goods, and services, as well as delineating the jurisdiction of each country. They help determine which government has authority over a particular territory and establish the framework for diplomatic relations, trade agreements, and the enforcement of laws.

State boundaries have changed countless times in the history of humanity. Powerful empires emerged, conquered neighboring states, reached their peak, and dissolved into oblivion.

Imperial Density

The map below shows Imperial Density (number of Years Spent in an Empire Larger than 500,000km²) created by Reddit user Creative_Strawberry.

This map reveals that the borders of states changed most frequently in the Middle East and Eastern Asia, India, and the Mediterranean, where ancient civilizations originated and prospered.

Borders in our Era

Most of the modern world’s political borders were formed after World War I. World War II led to further shifts in political boundaries. As a result, 52.2 percent of the world’s borders were set during the 20th century.

The map below created by Reddit user PisseGui82 shows the age of the world’s borders existing nowadays.

According to this map, the political boundaries changed the most from 1900 to 1924 (32.9 percent of the political boundaries changed). The total length of the political boundaries altered during this period was 83,897 kilometers (52,131 miles), more than twice the length of the equator. The next period of political instability was from 1875 to 1899. During this period, 60,046 kilometers (37,311 miles) of political boundaries (23.6%) changed.

The world’s borders by the time period when they were formed:
1200-1499: 2,405km (0.9%)
1500-1699: 5,463km (2.1%)
1700-1724: 4,264km (1.6%)
1725-1749: 0km (0%)
1750-1774: 8,491km (3.3%)
1775-1799: 4,350km (1.7%)
1800-1824: 9,025km (3.5%)
1825-1849: 9,309km (3.6%)
1850-1874: 16,416km (6.4%)
1875-1899: 60,046km (23.6%)
1900-1924: 83,897km (32.9%)
1925-1949: 34,752km (13.6%)
1950-1974: 13,130km (5.1%)
1975-1999: 1,674km (0.6%)
2000-today: 1,189km (0.4%)
Undefined: 2,202km (0.8%)

From the beginning of the eleventh century to the middle of the twentieth century, Europe was the center of the political life of the world, which decided not only the fate of the peoples inhabiting Europe but also the peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Australia. During this period, the political boundaries in Europe changed most frequently.

1000 years of state borders in Europe overlaid on one map

On the map below are presented all the borders of sovereign states in Europe in 100-year increments from 1000 to 2000. The entire European continent is covered by the lines of extinct and existing political borders on this map. The least changed the boundaries of political entities in what is now France, England, and Sweden.

Quick facts

Andorra’s mountainous 120km (74.6 mi) border with France and Spain was fixed in a feudal charter signed on 8 September 1278, making it the oldest remaining border in the world.

The 1783 Treaty of Paris defined the borders of the fledgling United States. In part, it coincided with the New York – Quebec (Later New York / Vermont – Quebec) border which was set 20 years prior and is today the oldest border in North America.

The 1815 Congress of Vienna, concluding the Napoleonic Wars, ‘reset’ many European borders to before the conflict and thus formalized many of them for the first time.

A stretch of roughly 200 kilometers (124 mi), first established as a border by the 1422 Treaty of Melno between the Teutonic Knights and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, became an international border again in 1990, now between Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave and the Republic of Lithuania.

Internal borders of the French colonies were set at the discretion of the various governors and changed frequently, along with fluctuating administrative needs. Many were vaguely defined, and remain so after independence.

The Ottoman-Safavid War was ended by the Treaty of Zugab, signed on 17 May 1639, which defined what remains Asia’s oldest border. It currently divides Iran from Turkey and Iraq.

Originally conceived in 1916, the so-called Sykes-Picot Agreement divided the Ottoman lands between the UK and France. The plan was implemented after WWI, and its designs survive in many Middle Easter borders today.

During Britain’s 1947 partition of India, chairman of the Border Commissions Sir Cyril Radcliffe devised a line separating the Muslim from the Hindu areas to become the borders between India, Pakistan and what is today Bangladesh. The ‘Radcliffe line’ displaced 14 million people and led to three wars and several currently ongoing disputes.

Established in the 15 century, the Chinese-Korean border was formalized after a joint 1712 surveying expedition by Qin and Choson officials. A sacred mountain top between the Yalu and Tumen rivers remains disputed.

At the 1884-85 Berlin Conference, the European colonial powers divided Africa among them. These loosely defined lines became more specific as the exploration of the ‘Dark Continent’ continued, and largely remain in place as international borders today.

During the South American Revolutionary Wars, the various new republics agreed to the ‘uti possidetis’ principle, respecting the Spanish colonial borders as they were in 1810. Through various conflicts, these borders gradually eroded and today, only two small sections remain.

South Sudan’s borders are a patchwork of ill-defined colonial remnants. As preparations for the country’s independence, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in Hague decided on the disputed, oil-rich area of Abeyi on 22 July 2009, making it the world’s youngest border segment. The area remains disputed, but both claims adhere to the 2009 border.

Related post:
– Ten of the world’s shortest borders

The post The age of borders: when were the world’s current borders first defined appeared first on Vivid Maps.

International border states of the US

The U.S. shares international land borders with Canada and Mexico and sea borders with Bahamas and Cuba.

Below is the map showing the nearest country border to everywhere in the United States.

The United States – Canada border is the longest international border in the world between two countries. The terrestrial boundary (including portions of maritime boundaries in the Great Lakes and on the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic coasts) is 8,891 kilometers (5,525 mi) long, of which 2,475 kilometers (1,538 mi) is Canada’s border with Alaska.

The US-Canadian Border Overlaid on Europe

The total length of the United States – Mexico border is 3,145 kilometers (1,954 miles).

The US-Mexican Border Overlaid on Europe

US internal borders

The United States is a country of 50 states, each with its own unique boundaries and history.

Reddit User Peter Gorman chopped up 50 U.S. states and turned them into Tetris-esque blocks to make it easier to understand how states neighbor one another.

Alaska and Hawaii naturally turn out to be a solitary yellow block, U.S. states towards the shoreline, like California, Florida, Maine, South Carolina, and Washington, have two or fewer neighboring states, while those at the opposing end of the spectrum, like Missouri and Tennessee, have 8t neighbors each, in almost every direction.

Modern state boundaries

Within the U.S., there are fifty states, each of which has its borders. Many people wonder why the boundaries between some states are drawn with geometric rigor.

Generally, 6 of the most significant influences managed the states’ shapes: natural geographic barriers; the American Revolution, longitude and latitude lines; the construction of railroads and Erie Canal, and the political disagreements over the problem of slavery.

If simplified, there are two types of internal U.S. borders: natural (rivers, mountains) and man-defined.

When the boundary is natural, such as a big river, it is a pretty clear separation of a landmass. Like rivers, mountains serve as barriers dividing peoples and their political and economic interests.

But in the United States, relief and rivers and political interests, religion, and languages have not strongly influenced the creation of borders as in Europe.

Below is a map of the United States if all borders between states were drawn along rivers or mountains like in Europe.

Europeanised America: US States with natural geographic borders

When we make the boundaries ourselves, the easiest line to draw is a straight one.

The first European understanding of North America was undifferentiated, endless space, which allowed for the imposition of coolly human-centered boundaries drawn with a geometric rigor. People who drew them wanted to get it done quickly. It is clearly seen if we take the borders of the western states, which came into being long after the eastern.

Typically, very straight U.S. boundaries mean that it’s in the middle of nowhere, or it was when drawn. No one worried enough to argue about it, and so an easy straight line was made. Congress just used longitude and latitude lines to create western states.

An ideal map of the United States could look like this.

Map of the U.S. if all state borders were straight lines

The post Borders of the United States appeared first on Vivid Maps.

France’s Longest Border Is Not in Europe

Here’s something that surprises most people: France’s longest international border isn’t with any of its European neighbors – it’s with Brazil! This 730-kilometer boundary exists because of French Guiana, an overseas region of France located in South America¹.

Let’s look at all of France’s international borders, from longest to shortest:

1. Brazil – 730 km (453.60 mi)
2. Belgium – 659 km (409.48 mi)
3. Spain – 623 km (387.11 mi)
4. Switzerland – 573 km (356.05 mi)
5. Suriname – 520 km (323.11 mi)
6. Italy – 515 km (320.01 mi)
7. Germany – 448 km (278.37 mi)
8. Luxembourg – 73 km (45.36 mi)
9. Andorra – 57 km (35.42 mi)
10. Netherlands – 13 km (8.08 mi)
11. Monaco – 4 km (2.49 mi)

Unique Border Stories

The Island That Changes Nationality Every Six Months

Among France’s most fascinating border arrangements is Pheasant Island (Île des Faisans in French, Isla de los Faisanes in Spanish). Sitting in the Bidasoa River between France and Spain, this tiny island of just 2,000 square meters switches nationality every six months. It’s one of the world’s few remaining condominiums – territories jointly administered by two countries.

A Peaceful Split in the Caribbean

Saint Martin Island in the Caribbean offers another unique story. Since 1648, France and the Netherlands have peacefully shared this tropical paradise. The French side (Saint-Martin) covers about 60% of the island, while the Dutch side (Sint Maarten) occupies the rest. Today, around 77,000 people call this small island home, split almost evenly between the two sides. Despite being governed by different nations, locals move freely across the border, marked only by welcome signs and modest monuments.

A Global French Presence

Beyond metropolitan France’s European borders, French territory extends across the globe. The French Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique neighbor several island nations. French Guiana shares its rainforest borders with Brazil and Suriname. In the Indian Ocean, Réunion and Mayotte add to France’s global presence, neighboring Mauritius and the Comoros respectively.

This remarkable spread of French territory traces back to the nation’s history as a colonial power. During the 1920s and 1930s, France controlled the second-largest colonial empire in the world, covering an astounding 13.5 million square kilometers.

Have you ever visited any of these French borders? Maybe you’ve experienced the seamless border crossing on Saint Martin or spotted Pheasant Island from the banks of the Bidasoa? Share your experiences in the comments below!

The post The Surprising Geography of French Borders: From Europe to South America appeared first on Vivid Maps.

One of the most famous enclaves along this border is Märket Island, located in the Baltic Sea.

Märket is a small island, also known as a skerry, in the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland. It is remarkable for being the smallest sea island shared by two countries and for it’s unorthodox border. In 1809, at the end of a Swedish-Russian war the island was divided up in the Treaty of Frederikshamn. At the time the treaty cleanly heaved this unimportant island in two.

Decades later the Russians established a lighthouse on the island. The sea surrounding Märket is dotted with treacherous shoals and navigation in the area is difficult. This lighthouse greatly helped navigation in the Baltic, but it caused a new problem. The lighthouse was erected on the Swedish side of the island and was a low-level border dispute for many years.

Finally in 1981 both countries worked on a solution. They both wanted to share an equal amount of the land area on the island. They also wanted to keep the status quo of the sea border to preserve fishing rights. To meet both these conditions the land border became the bizarre shape that we see today.

A lighthouse, which was built on the island, is jointly maintained by both countries, and its kitchen and living room are in Sweden, while the bedrooms are in Finland.

Below is another map of Märket Island created by Patric Mcgranaghan.

The post The bizarre border between Sweden and Finland appeared first on Vivid Maps.

The length of the U.S. – Mexico border

The U.S.-Mexico border is the 10th-longest boundary separating two nations globally (3,145 km / 1,954 mi).

U.S. – Mexico border cities, from west to east

The U.S. and Mexico are neighbors who depend on each other economically and culturally.

The population of the U.S.-Mexico border region (44 U.S. counties. and 80 municipalities in Mexico) is rated to be about fifteen million residents. It includes 15 pairs of sister cities.

The map below shows U.S. – Mexico border cities, from San Diego-Tijuana in the west to Brownsville-Matamoros in the east (14 major cross-border cities).

Cities with fewer than 15 thousand inhabitants were omitted:
– Andrade, CA / Los Algodones, B.C.
– Lukeville, AZ / Sonoyta, Son.
– Sasabe, AZ / Altar, Son.
– Naco, AZ / Naco, Son.
– Columbus, NM / Palomas, Chih.

Crime on the U.S.-Mexico Border

There are 50 places where people can legitimately cross the U.S.-Mexico–United States border. But that doesn’t stop illegal immigrants.

There are an estimated 500 thousand illegal entries into the U.S. every year. Therefore, it is not surprising that there are approximately 11.5 million undocumented workers in the United States nowadays, and 87 percent of undocumented immigrants have lived in the U.S. for more than seven years.

The state border is a magnet that attracts criminals from both countries. But due to the high level of corruption in Mexico, the crime rate
in the Mexican border region is much higher than in the U.S.

The map below shows U.S.-Mexico border homicide rates per 100 thousand people per year.

The post U.S.- Mexico border from west to east appeared first on Vivid Maps.