colonial boundaries
Empire-drawn territorial lines
Colonial boundaries are borders established by colonizing powers, often drawn with little regard for existing ethnic, linguistic, or geographic realities.
The term appears most often in discussions of Africa and the Middle East, where European powers imposed arbitrary lines that divided communities and grouped rivals together.
These boundaries frequently persist as national borders today, blamed for ongoing conflicts: The colonial boundaries drawn at the Berlin Conference continue to shape African politics.
- border disputesConflicts over boundaries
- imperialismExtending dominion over others
- partitionBarrier separating spaces
- tribal landsIndigenous peoples' sovereign territory
- independence movementsEfforts seeking political autonomy
protectorates · resource allocation · cartography · trade barriers · annexation · Scramble for Africa · drawn on maps · sovereignty · Berlin Conference · treaties · spheres of influence · historical grievances · civil wars · international law · buffer zones · cultural assimilation · economic dependency · religious tensions
- colonialismcolonies, British Empire, colonizers, protectorate, colonists
- Australian Mapssurvey maps, regional maps, antique maps, district maps, political maps
- Colonial LouisianaNew Orleans, Louisiana Purchase, French Quarter, governors, Acadians
- Colonial BurundiGerman East Africa, German occupation, coffee plantations, cash crops, tax collection
- bordersborder, border crossing, national borders, international borders, border markers
- territoriesprovince, state, region, country, dominion
colonial boundariestraditional territories
Indigenous peoples' original homelands
tribal territories · natural boundaries · ancestral lands · geographic features
colonial, boundaries, colony, colonist, colonize, colonization, colonialism, colonialist, colonizer