Did anyone in this thread about "fiat" boundaries mention the
Roman Limes that stretched across western central Europe? It was
demarcated by putting watchtowers up in many places and trenches
between the towers. Messages were passed up and down the line by
signals from tower to tower. What was south of the line was Roman and
what was north was considered barbaric. It doesn't follow any
particular marking on the ground in many places. The portion I know
well, in the German state of Hessen runs diagonally across open
fields, up and across the Taunus mountain range, and was more or less
established wherever the troops stopped advancing. The Germans
rebuilt the stockade-like wooden fortress near the town of
Taunusstein, and from the museum, it becomes clear this was a real
border that stretched hundreds of KM on the continent. If I remember
right, Hadrian's wall was just a continuation of it across the British
Isles. I don't recall that Hadrian's wall particularly followed along
geographically convenient elements such as streams, etc.
I didn't look anything up before writing this, it's from memory, and
may be sketchy, but on balance, I think it is a proper example to make
in response to the question put out by David (below).
Len Nadybal
Washington DC
--- In BoundaryPoint@y..., David Mark <dmark@g...> wrote:
> I guess my colleague's claim is that there were few if any
demarcated
> boundaries that wandered across the landscape independent of
landscape
> features in the old days. I bet there are few walls that formed
> international boundaries.
>
> For sake of argument, let's say straight for 1 km or more.
>
> But I'd like to hear about even a curvy international birder that
did not
> follow features of the landscape such as ridges or streams.
>
> David
>
> On Wed, 5 Dec 2001 orc@o... wrote:
>
> > just to be sure what you mean david
> >
> > would this include any straight line segment between any 2 markers
> >
> > & do you care whether it is still on an extant boundary
> >
> > because i imagine parts of many ancient walls would qualify
> >
> > m
> >
> >
> >
> > --- In BoundaryPoint@y..., David Mark <dmark@g...> wrote:
> >
> > >
> >
> > > What do you think is the oldest example of a purely "fiat"
international
> >
> > > boundary? A purely fiat boudnary is one which is drawn
independently of
> >
> > > any features on the earth's surface-- a straight line, an arc of
a circle,
> >
> > > etc. Can anyone give an example of such a boundary from ancient
times?
> >
> > > By international we mean a boundary between two independent
kingdoms or
> >
> > > realms. Negotiated, demarked boudnaries that follow drainage
divides or
> >
> > > rivers don't count. I suspect that the Romans had them, perhaps
earlier
> >
> > > groups, but cannot cite an example. My colleague suggests that
they began
> >
> > > in the 'colonial' period of the last 500-600 years. (The oldest
of thise
> >
> > > would be interesting too.)
> >
> > >
> >
> > > David
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
> >
> >
> >