Why are the borders of African countries so straight?

Reading the world map, the straight national borders of African countries are clear at a glance, why are African countries so straight? How is it delineated? Does it have an impact on the tribal and social situation in African countries?

Generally speaking, the two forms are formed by combining each other on the basis of traditional customs, through friendly consultations between neighboring countries, in line with the principles of mutual understanding and mutual accommodation, and through gradual improvement. There are generally two types of specific demarcation of national boundaries: one is the natural boundary, also known as the natural boundary, which often uses the natural geographical entity as a sign to demarcate the boundary, such as:

mountains, rivers, lakes, etc.; The second is man-made boundaries, which include mathematical boundaries and cultural boundaries. Africa's nationals are purely artificial borders, the product of colonialists who have seen the continent divided. Before the colonialists invaded and partitioned, Africa had no borders, because Africa was sparsely populated, mainly nomadic people, and tribes often migrated, and any border was redundant for them; Many parts of Africa have monotonous landforms, with large areas of deserts and grasslands, such as the Sahara Desert, the largest in the world, accounting for about 1 4 of Africa's total area, and the ground lacks natural boundary markers (such as rivers, mountains, etc.); Topographic data is insufficient, so it is difficult to delineate the boundary.

After the invasion of colonialism, Africa was divided and fragmented, and 50 countries were created. At the Berlin Conference in 1885, Britain, France, Germany and other colonial powers dismembered African bodies with red pencils at the negotiating table. The Straight Frontier cuts inexorably through the settlements of many tribes, who have no regard for Africa's many tribes, religions, languages, traditions, and complex tribal conflicts.

The colonialists mostly divided the borders of Africa along longitude and latitude (for example, part of the border between Egypt and Sudan was demarcated along the 22nd parallel, while the 22nd parallel became the 700-kilometer border between Namibia and Botswana), and some used straight lines or curves to demarcate the borders of Africa, and some were divided by natural landmarks such as rivers and mountains. According to statistics:

44 of the borders of African countries are divided by longitude or latitude; The boundaries of 30 are divided by the geometric method of straight lines or curves; Only 26 of the borders are natural boundaries made up of rivers, mountains, etc. That's why Africa's national men are more straight. It can be seen that the borders of African countries are imposed by third countries and are simple, hasty and crudely demarcated by external powers.

This inevitably divides a tribe into multiple countries, or rival tribes into a single nation.

Because Africa has had no wars in historyMost of them still retained their primitive living conditions and often moved from place to place, so there were no fixed national borders, and later European countries colonized AfricaThe division was re-divided, because it was a modern division, so the national boundaries were straight horizontally and vertically, just like between the major states of the United States.

Because the topography of Africa is mainly based on plateaus and deserts, the boundaries of demarcation are not so complicated, most countries in Africa have been colonized, when the European powers came to Africa, and divided these places to colonize, and later people themselves became independent and retained this custom.

The fact that the borders of many countries in Africa are straight lines is mainly influenced by historical reasons. Africa was a colony of European powers before, and after the colonizer arrived in Africa, he carried out the enclosure movement, and his territory was his territory with one finger, which was generally straight. Later, the post-independence national painting world was also influenced by this.

This is the trace left by the colonization of those Western countries, taking the United States as an example, the borders of each of their states are basically straight lines, so African countries have such straight lines.

The result of colonialism. Africa was once a borderless continent with vast land and a sparsely populated population. It is mainly inhabited by nomadic tribes who are constantly on the move.

The landscape of African countries is generally deserts and grasslands, with few rivers and mountains. After the invasion of the colonizers, Africa was divided into fragments, giving rise to more than 50 countries, the latitude and longitude were divided by the colonists according to the national borders, accounting for 44%, such as Egypt and Sudan part of the border is divided according to the 22 degrees north latitude, there are also straight lines or curves divided by geometric methods, accounting for 30%, and there are natural signs of rivers and mountains, accounting for 26%. If you are familiar with African history, you will know that in the past, the continent had no borders.

Most people on the continent are nomads. In addition, most of Africa is desert or plain, with no clear natural boundaries such as rivers or mountains, and limited topographic data, so it is difficult to demarcate the borders.

After the <> colonizers were baptized, Africa was divided into more than 50 countries. These countries are divided according to latitude and longitude, or straight lines, but to a lesser extent according to rivers and mountains. After World War II, the African region began to become independent and followed the historical borders of the country.

Because of this, many countries in Africa have straight borders, which is one of the reasons for disputes between many African countries. With a complete absence of geographical and human considerations, Africa's borders have nothing to do with topography. The populations and ethnic groups living in Africa are also very chaotic and difficult to manage.

The same ethnic group and the same settlement are divided into two countries for no apparent reason, and the same country may be two completely different ethnic groups that are not geographically connected. This was not much of a problem during the period of imperialist rule, as it did not affect whites, and the map was easy to manage, but after independence, it caused serious border problems and endless wars on all sides.

If there are any questions, you can leave me a message in the comment area, you can comment with me, if there is something wrong, you can also interact with me more, if you like the author, you can also follow me, your like is the biggest help to me, thank you.

Africa is a very flat continent, and the coastline of Africa is also relatively straight, so the borders of many African countries are relatively straight, and there is an obvious difference with European silver search. Hungry Wild.

At the beginning of the 20th century of the 19th century, Africa was a colony of the European powers, and this cluster of countries arbitrarily carved up African territories, resulting in the national borders of these countries being straight to Zheng Lao.

Because the terrain in Africa is relatively flat, many places are savannahs, and there are no carefully planned national borders, so many places are straight.

At the beginning of the 19th and 20th centuries, Africa was a colony of the European powers, and these countries wantonly carved up the territory of Africa, resulting in the national borders of these countries being straight.

It has to do with the history of Africa.

After the colonialist invasion, Africa was divided and fragmented, and more than fifty countries were created. The colonialists usually divided African borders by latitude and longitude. For example, part of the border between Egypt and the Sudan is demarcated along the 22nd parallel, while the 22nd parallel forms the 700-kilometre border between Namibia (South-West Africa) and Botswana.

There are also geometric methods that use straight lines or curves to demarcate African borders. There are also natural landmarks such as rivers and mountains that demarcate African borders. According to statistics, 44 percent of the borders of African countries are divided by longitude or latitude; Thirty percent of the boundaries are divided by the geometric method of straight lines or curves; Only 26% of the natural boundaries are made up of rivers, mountains, etc.

This division is because Africa is vast and sparsely populated, mainly nomadic peoples, and tribes often migrate, and any borders seem redundant to them; In many parts of Africa, the landform type is relatively monotonous, and the ground lacks obvious natural boundary markers (such as rivers, mountains, etc.); Topographic data is insufficient, so it is difficult to delineate the boundary. So it's simply divided by latitude, longitude and geometry.

If you look closely at the map of Africa, you will find that many African countries have straight borders, as if they had been drawn on paper, and this phenomenon is most evident on the continent north of the line from the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to Banjul, the capital of the Gambia, and the south of the line is quite curved and invisible.

First, this is closely related to the natural and human environment of Africa. Africa is known as the "plateau continent", and many areas have relatively single landform types, especially in the central and northern regions of Africa, where large areas of deserts and grasslands are distributed, while the tribes of African nomads often migrate and live in pursuit of water and grass, lacking obvious signs, and it is difficult to demarcate national boundaries (borders).

Second, this is closely related to the division of colonies and spheres of influence by colonizers in modern times. After the colonizers, mainly British, French, and German, invaded Africa, in order to protect their own vested interests, they gradually reached an agreement in repeated battles to divide the "border" according to the direction of the longitude and latitude. After World War II, the African independence movement gradually changed the face of Africa, and many emerging countries became independent, got rid of colonial rule, and "inherited" national borders from the colonizers, becoming the borders of some African countries, so they formed straight national borders.

3. In addition, there are national boundaries demarcated by the geometric method of straight lines or curves, and there are also national boundaries demarcated by natural symbols such as rivers and mountains. Countries such as Algeria and Mali and Niger, Libya and Chad and Egypt are divided in straight lines, while Congo and Tanzania and Central Africa are divided according to natural landmarks such as rivers and mountains.

There is also a theory that with the outbreak of the first industrial revolution, the steam engine was widely used as a power engine, which promoted the colonizers to further promote the "enclosure movement", and the colonists drove steam locomotives around the African continent and divided the places they passed through as their own "territory", so there was a phenomenon of straight lines.

According to statistics, about 44% of the national borders of African countries are demarcated according to latitude and longitude lines, about 30% are demarcated by geometric methods such as straight lines or curves, and only about 26% are natural boundaries composed of rivers and mountains, which shows that the national borders of African countries are either straight or show other geometric shapes are closely related to the partition of the African continent by the colonialists in those years.

However, this kind of national border ignores the humanistic, historical, and ethnic conditions of African countries, and to a certain extent, artificially separates many closely related ethnic groups and regions, but binds many hostile nations or forces together, and the evil result of this is that many regions in Africa continue to have conflicts and wars.

<> map of Africa. In fact, the reasons are not complicated, there are two main reasons.

First, before the colonialist invasion and partition of Africa, Africa had no borders in the strict sense of the word. After the colonialists invaded, they grabbed territory, divided borders on the map, and carved up the land of Africa along a certain meridian or a certain parallel, or even believing that God was not a meridian or a latitude.

After the Second World War, African countries became independent one after another, following the historical national borders, and today many African countries have formed straight national borders;

Second, the landform type in many parts of Africa is relatively monotonous, with large areas of deserts and grasslands (such as the Sahara Desert), and the ground lacks obvious natural boundary signs (such as rivers, mountains, etc.); Topographic data is insufficient, so it is difficult to delineate the boundary, and in many cases the longitude and latitude lines are directly replaced. This is one of the reasons why the national border is very straight.

According to statistics: 44% of the borders of African countries are divided by longitude or latitude; The 30% boundary is the line loss divided by the geometric method of a straight line or curve; Only 26% of the natural boundaries are made up of rivers, mountains, etc.

In addition, most of Africa's borders are straight, but it is difficult to find the exact location on the surface of the tank, so border disputes sometimes arise.

Before World War II, there were only two independent African countries, Ethiopia and Liberia, and after the war, the independent African countries were all colonies, the product of one treaty after another. Liberia was the product of the United States' efforts to deal with its own black slaves, while Ethiopia defeated the Italian colonial army.