Teacher | Student
Originally produced in: Spain
Also available in: en

2. Internal borders of some European States from Ancient Times up to present time

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Presentation

European borders have changed a lot throughout History, especially the internal ones. In this project we just try to put the spot on the internal borders of Europe through a collection of maps which enable us to see the change of these limits throughout time analyzing the particular cases of Spain, Germany and The Netherlands. It is about creating a pattern or template which may help both teachers and students to have a first approach to the matter, and at the same time it may encourage us to research into our region of origin, with the aim of making us think about when our geographical area appears in Europe for the first time, when we are considered Europeans by the others and by ourselves and how the borders of our state change throughout time.

Questions

  1. What consequences have changes in the borders had throughout European History?
  2. What states are born as a result of the union of some peoples inside the same borders?
  3. What are the last states which are born due to the disintegration of other more ancient states?
  4. What are the present borders of Europe?

Display teacher's view to find the answers.

Description and Analysis

  1. Usually, wars among neighbour countries, death and destruction.
  2. Most of the European states were born due to the union, throughout history, of different peoples with some common aspects inside the same border. The most recent cases have been German an Italian unification in the 19th century, and the last German reunification in the 20th century.
  3. Most of these states can be found in Eastern Europe and the Balkan Area.
  4. From a strictly geographical point of view if we accepted that Europe finishes in the Ural Mountains the Caucasian republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia should be included inside these borders. In the south, if we consider the Mediterranean Sea as the border of Europe the Anatolian peninsula should be included with all the reservations.

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