10 Most Interesting International Borders in the World

Borders are geographic boundaries of political entities or legal jurisdictions, such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other sub-national entities. In this article culled from wizelo.com we take a look at the 10 most interesting international borders in the world.

Borders are established through agreements between political or social entities that control those areas; the creation of these agreements is called boundary delimitation.

We have them everywhere because we want to divide things up. But not all countries are alike, and not all borders are alike. Some are plain, even boring, and some are difficult to pass through, while others you might not even see.

Borders often highlight the relationship and differences between different countries, and here are some of the most spectacular and revealing ones:

1. Belgium – Netherlands

Many borders in the European Union are extremely casual, but this one definitely takes the cherry – in the town of Baarle, going from one country to the other is as easy as going from one side of a pub to the other. For touristic purposes, white crosses mark the border throughout the town, but there is no border control and no one really cares what country you’re in.

2. China – Nepal (Mount Everest)

The bright orange light is the disputed border between the two countries. It’s visible from outer space for its entire length of 1248 miles (2008 km). Sometimes, even the clouds pick sides on this border…

3. Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana – the world’s only quadripoint

This border is extremely interesting because it is considered the only border between four countries. This actually raises more questions and causes more issues than you would initially imagine – for example, do two diagonally opposite countries share a border? Indeed, the route of a ferry diagonally across the Zambezi River has in the past led to war.

4. Poland – Ukraine

I’m not exactly sure why Poland and Ukraine decided to decorate their border with some fish for the annual Land Art Festival, but it sure looks nice to me.

5. Norway – Sweden

Speaking of laid-back borders, here’s the one between Norway and Sweden – they only cut a tree-line to mark it. People often use it to ride a snowmobile in the winter.

6. Venezuela – Brazil – Guyana, Mount Roraima

Here we see Mount Roraima, one of the most spectacular features on Earth, which also serves as a triple border between the three countries of Venezuela (claiming 85% of its territory), Brazil (5%) and Guyana (10%). But this isn’t the only spectacular border in South America…

7. Mexico – United States

With 350 million legal crossings every year, this is the most frequently crossed border in the world, and this picture highlights some interesting differences between the two countries. To the right lies Tijuana, Baja California, and on the left is San Diego, California. The building in the foreground on the San Diego side is a sewage treatment plant built to clean the Tijuana River. The border is over 2000 km long, and here we see US’ barren desert on the left and bustling Mexico on the right.

8. India – Pakistan

The bright orange light is the disputed border between the two countries. It’s visible from outer space for its entire length of 1248 miles (2008 km). Sometimes, even the clouds pick sides on this border…

9. Turkey – Armenia

This rather inconspicuous river forms one of the hotter borders of the world.

10. Brazil – Argentina

The amazing Iguazú waterfalls form the natural border between Argentina and Brazil. I don’t suspect there are many people trying to cross the border illegally…