Cultural Boundaries

Historically, frontiers rather than boundaries separated states. A frontier is a zone where no state exercises complete political control. It is a tangible geographic area, whereas a boundary is an infinitely thin line. Frontier areas were either uninhabited or sparsely settled. Frontiers between states have been replaced by boundaries. Modern communications systems permit countries to monitor and guard boundaries effectively, even in previously inaccessible locations.

Three Types of Boundaries

Boundaries are of three types:

• Cultural boundaries follow the distribution of cultural features.

• Geometric boundaries are based on human constructs, such as straight lines and parallels of latitude.

• Physical boundaries coincide with significant features of the natural landscape.

No other type of boundary is better or more “natural” than the others, and many boundaries are a combination of types.

Boundary locations can generate conflict, both within a country and with its neighbors. A boundary line, which must be shared by more than one state, is the only location where direct physical contact must take place between two neighboring states. Therefore, the boundary has the potential to become the focal point of conflict between them. The best boundaries are those to which all affected states agree, regardless of the rationale used to draw the line.

Cultural Boundary: Religion in Ireland

Cultural boundaries between countries have been placed where possible to separate speakers of different languages, followers of different religions, or members of different ethnicities. Religious differences often coincide with boundaries between states, but in only a few cases has religion been used to select boundary lines. The most notable example was in South Asia, when the British partitioned India into two states on the basis of religion. The predominantly Islamic portions were allocated to Pakistan, whereas the predominantly Hindu portions became the independent state of India.

Religion was also used to some extent to draw the boundary between two states on the island of Eire (Ireland). Most of the island became an independent country, but the northeast—now known as Northern Ireland—remained part of the United Kingdom. Roman Catholics comprise 84 percent of the population in the 26 counties that joined the Republic of Ireland, compared with only 41 percent in the six counties of Northern Ireland

Religious Boundary: Ireland, 1911

In 1911, the United Kingdom divided Ireland between the overwhelmingly Irish Catholic Republic of Ireland in the south and (at the time) majority Protestant Northern Ireland, which remained in the United Kingdom.

Language is an important cultural characteristic for drawing boundaries, especially in Europe. France, Portugal, and Spain are examples of European states that coalesced around distinctive languages before the nineteenth century. Germany and Italy emerged in the nineteenth century as states unified by language.

Pause & Reflect 8.4.1

Referring to Chapters 5 and 6, what other cultural boundaries run through the middle of states in Europe?

Ethnic Boundary: Cyprus

Cyprus, the third-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, contains two ethnicities: Greek and Turkish. Although the island is physically closer to Turkey, Turks comprise only 24 percent of the country’s population, whereas Greeks account for 63 percent. When Cyprus gained independence from Britain in 1960, its constitution guaranteed the Turkish minority a substantial share of elected offices and control over its own education, religion, and culture. But Cyprus has never peacefully integrated the Greek and Turkish ethnicities.

Several Greek Cypriot military officers who favored unification of Cyprus with Greece seized control of the government in 1974. Shortly after the coup, Turkey invaded Cyprus to protect the Turkish Cypriot minority. The Greek coup leaders were removed within a few months, and an elected government was restored, but the Turkish army remained on Cyprus. The northern 36 percent of the island controlled by Turkey declared itself the independent Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in 1983, but only Turkey recognizes it as a separate state

Ethnic Boundary: Cyprus

Since 1974, Cyprus has been divided into Greek and Turkish areas, separated by a United Nations buffer zone. The United Kingdom, the colonial ruler of Cyprus until 1960, maintains two military bases on the island.

A wall was constructed between the two areas, and a buffer zone patrolled by the United Nations was delineated across the entire island (Figure 8-54). Traditionally, the Greek and Turkish Cypriots had mingled, but after the wall and buffer zone were established, the two ethnicities became geographically isolated. The northern part of the island is now overwhelmingly Turkish, and the southern part is overwhelmingly Greek. Approximately one-third of the island’s Greeks were forced to move from the region controlled by the Turkish army, whereas nearly one-fourth of the Turks moved from the region now regarded as the Greek side.

Ethnic Boundary: Cyprus Green Line

The city of Nicosia is divided between the Turkish side (foreground) and Greek side (background).

The two sides have been brought closer in recent years. A portion of the wall was demolished, and after three decades, each ethnic group could again cross to the other side. The European Union accepted the entire island of Cyprus as a member in 2004.