The World's First Borders (And What They Teach Us Today)
Discover the ancient divides that shaped history. And how the world's first borders still resonate today.
Borders are ancient. For as long as humanity has existed, we’ve divided the world by marking territories and building boundaries. From the earliest hunter-gatherer groups who defined themselves in opposition to their neighbours, to Neolithic boundary markers hewn in stone to divide fields and early settlements; the one constant in human history is our innate desire to divide.
I’m fascinated by the earliest boundaries. The first borders were simple, often natural things. They followed rivers, streams or mountain ranges. As humanity rooted itself on the land, as hunter-gatherers built homesteads and developed static communities, people laid the foundations of early city-states that claimed ever larger swathes of territory and evolved into the earliest kingdoms and empires. From these roots, borders became ever longer, more robust, well-defined and inextricably linked to conflict.
I’m fascinated by the human need to carve asunder the land around us. Without borders, we lack definition. Without boundaries, we struggle to define our identities. But equally, I’m fascinated by the human ability to transcend the boundaries around us, be they geographical divides separating continents or the man-made rolls of razor wire dividing modern nation-states.
Borders define the 21st-century world, but while immigration checkpoints and passport controls are all modern inventions, the basic, simple concept of a borderline is as ancient as the human race. In this week’s Substack, I take a look at the world’s first borders, to see what history can tell us about the modern dividing lines defining us today.
The world’s first borders
1. The Mesopotamians
The ancient Mesopotamians passed down to us the first documented instance of a border in human history. Carved into clay cuneiform tablets in the Cradle of Civilization, Mesopotamian scribes recorded land disputes, treaties and territorial agreements between early city-states as far back as 3200 BC.
Borders always cause conflict, and these first boundaries were no exception. The first evidence of a border conflict occurred between the city-states of Lagash and Umma around 2500 BCE, where disputes over fertile farmland led to military confrontations. The Stele of the Vultures, a limestone monument discovered in southern Iraq in the late 19th century, remembers the victory of the King of Umma over Lagash in this war, a war over borders.
2. Babylonian Kudurru
The first Mesopotamian borders were marked physically by boundary stones named Kudurru, inscribed with cuneiform text to legitimise territorial claims. Rulers often sought divine approval, inscribing the names of gods to reinforce legitimacy. These early records highlight the development of legal, political, and administrative control over land, shaping early geopolitical history.
Kudurru were primarily used during the Kassite period (c. 16th–12th century BCE) in Babylonia, an empire which evolved from the Mesopotamian city-states. These carved stone monuments recorded land grants, territorial boundaries and royal decrees, serving as both legal documents and religious symbols. Originally kept in temples for protection, they acted as official records of land ownership, preventing disputes over property and often cursing those who might try to alter the boundaries in question.
3. The border between Ancient Egypt and Nubia
The First Cataract of the Nile, a shallow, rocky segment of the river close to Aswan, now in southern Egypt, marked one of the first recorded ‘international’ boundaries in history. This natural feature of the River Nile became the dividing line between Ancient Egypt and their great rivals, Nubia.
A stele at Semna, inscribed during Pharoah Senusret III’s reign, explicitly defined the Egyptian border and threatened severe punishment for any Nubian attempting to cross it without permission. This inscription represents one of the earliest documented territorial boundary laws, a tradition which continues today.
The boundary moved further south, though Nubia would eventually push back and conquer Egypt. A stark demonstration of the fluidity of boundaries. Remarkably though, the modern Sudanese-Egyptian border still follows much the same route as these ancient boundaries.
4. Western Cornwall’s Neolithic Field Boundaries
Cornwall is an ancient place. In the far west, as the Cornish peninsula narrows as it nears Land’s End, you can walk amongst some of the oldest human boundaries in Britain. West Penwith’s modern field systems are still marked by granite and slate walls that trace their origins to the first Neolithic Britons who divided the land around them.
Dating back to 3000 BCE, these ancient landscapes are defined by giant-like Tors, stone circles steep in myth and simple stone boundaries that have survived for millennia. The field systems are still farmed today, providing an insight into the enduring early social organisation, land ownership, and agricultural practices in prehistoric Britain.
5. The Treaty of Kadesh
Our old friends the ancient Egyptians were sticklers for borders. Another of the earliest examples of frontier definition is the Hittitie-Egyptian border, an international boundary between two rival empires defined by the Treaty of Kadesh around 1259 BCE.
The famous treaty was signed between Pharaoh Ramesses II and King Hattusili III of the Hittite Empire, and inscribed in both Egyptian hieroglyphs and Hittite cuneiform. The treaty established a formal boundary between their empires, likely in northern Syria, near modern-day Lebanon. It ended decades of conflict over control of strategic cities like Kadesh.
The treaty, in reality, one of the earliest known peace agreements, outlined non-aggression, mutual defence, and diplomatic relations, demonstrating an early form of border diplomacy, international law, and statecraft in the ancient world.
As history has shown, though, even the greatest of borders fails to deter those determined enough to reach the other side (a lesson people like Trump could learn from!).
There are many more ancient boundaries, marking the territories between sprawling empires like the Persians and Achaemenids, and the Greek city-states. The Romans were great builders of walls, but that’s a topic I’m saving for a whole other Substack!
You can read about these ancient dividing lines in more detail on my blog, Travel Tramp.
Borderlines in World News
The remnants of cuneiform tablets buried in the desert sands, or the crumbling, Ozymandian remains of ancient forts and dusty stele are a lingering reminder of the human need to divide. This need to enforce boundaries and divisions has never waned, as this short roundup of borderlines in the news only proves.
Here are the major stories making headlines in the last few weeks:
Trump’s disgusting plan to turn Gaza into the ‘Riviera of the Middle East’
The shocking story plastered across news sites this week has been US President Donald Trump’s plans to turn Gaza into the ‘Riviera of the Middle East’. Trump, in my opinion, is treating foreign policy like another business transaction. His plan to relocate Gazans to neighbouring Arab countries and build resorts along Gaza’s devastated Mediterranean coastline is not simply a form of modern colonialism, but tantamount to ethnic cleansing,
The plan is against international law and the Geneva Convention. Al Jazeera commentator Patrick Gathara described it as a continuation of centuries of “imagined entitlement” that the West can control whatever lands it likes. If Trump goes through with his plan, he’ll soon discover it’s not as easy to force Gazans across their borders as he might believe.
Puntland and Gazan refugees
Puntland is a little-known autonomous state located on the northern tip of Somalia. The conflicted region effectively functions as a breakaway territory (similar to its neighbour, Somaliland), but has no international recognition. The statelet caught my eye this week, thanks to some unusual claims in relation to Gaza.
This unusual geopolitical oddity found itself subject to a bizarre report in The Telegraph, as the newspaper reported that Puntland was willing to take in the Gazan that Trump’s ‘Riviera’ plan would displace.
The Horn Observer, a news organisation working in the Horn of Africa, reported that “The Puntland State of Somalia has firmly denied any plans to accept Palestinians relocated from Gaza, following recent remarks by former U.S. President Donald Trump suggesting such a move.”
Could Greenland become the world’s newest nation?
Trump and the world’s borders are seemingly intertwined. The new president doubled down on his long-standing ambition to buy Greenland, again showing his desire to treat world borders like real estate.
Greenland, the world’s largest island, is seen as a geopolitical prize, with untapped resources and its proximity to the Arctic Circle placing it in the US’ crosshairs. Greenland is currently an autonomous region of the Kingdom of Denmark, but ties to Denmark were loosed by the Greenlandic Self-Government Referendum in 2008 when 75% of Greenlanders voted in favour of increased autonomy.
Trump’s wish to buy Greenland may have set the island territory on the path to independence. The Guardian reports that 85% of Greenlanders have no desire to join the USA. Neither do the majority of Greenlanders want to remain under distant Danish rule. Instead, Greenlandic Prime Minister Múte Egede suggested that an independence referendum could be held as early as April 2025.
Syria’s borders are open to travellers
I reported on the re-opening of Syria’s borders to travellers now the Assad regime has fallen. For CNN Travel, I spoke with Syrian tour guides and international tour operators championing a quick return to tourism.
Pre-Civil War, Syria welcomed as many as 10 million tourists every year, and the industry accounted for a whopping 14% of the national GDP. The war changed everything, but locals, like Ayoub, founder of Syria Scope Travel, believe tourism can now be a force for good in this war-torn country.
International airlines have resumed flights to Syria, the new government has relaxed visa requirements and tour operators have already started organising trips!
You can read more here: https://edition.cnn.com/travel/syria-tourism-war-reopening-resurgence/index.html
Where am I travelling to next?
This week I’m hitting the road. Or more specifically, I’m hopping on a Whizz Air flight to Amman, the Jordanian capital. This will be my 92nd (UN-recognised) country, and I’m excited to dig into the history and contemporary politics of this Middle Eastern nation.
Jordan is a nation of ever-evolving borderlines, some drawn in the sand by colonial powers a century ago, others more ancient, and some hotly disputed. The UNHCR estimates that 700,000 Syrian refugees reside in Jordan, while the Minority Rights Group believes there are as many as 3 million Palestinians that now call the country home. Per capita, Jordan hosts the largest number of refugees in the world.
Jordan has been shaped by its borders and by the communities forced to seek shelter within its changing boundaries. This will be the focus of my trip, and top of my list are the following:
Amman’s refugee roots. Did you know that the modern capital was established by Circassian and other refugee groups from the Caucasus when Jordan was part of the Ottoman Empire?
Winston’s Hiccup. Many of the Middle East’s ongoing problems can be traced back to the British (and other colonial powers) who established the modern borders of nation-states after the Ottoman Empire’s collapse. I’m hoping to explore ‘Winston’s Hiccup’, a line in the sand said to have been drawn by Winston Churchill that created an unnatural, desert boundary between Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
The King’s Highway. Possibly the world’s oldest road, the King’s Highway once connected North Africa with Mesopotamia. In Jordan, it roughly follows the route of the modern Highway 35, which itself runs parallel to the disputed Jordanian/West Bank/Israeli borders, on its run north to the Syrian border
Got recommendations? Let me know in the comments!
Tour of the week
Borderlines is about exploring the world through its borders and boundaries. I want to help you travel to these fascinating places too, so every week, I’ll highlight an equally fascinating tour that facilitates that.
This week, it’s a tour to Port Sudan, a Red Sea destination few have visited, at least in light of the recent Sudanese Conflict which broke out in April 2023. I visited Port Sudan just a few weeks before the fighting broke out in 2022, on a Red Sea Diving holiday. Not long after I flew out, the country descended into a brutal, and woefully unreported civil war.
I feel for the people I met, and the tour guides that showed me so much hospitality during my brief stay. Now, Young Pioneer Tours (an adventure travel company specialising in travel to emerging destinations) believes it’s safe enough to return. They’re organising a whistlestop 2-day tour of Port Sudan in late March, which hopefully marks the return of what was admittedly a very fledgling tourism industry.
Find out more here: https://www.youngpioneertours.com/tour/port-sudan-tour/
Disclaimer: Most governments, including the UK’s FCDO, advise against all travel to Sudan.
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