Border wall joke

Looking at the map of the United States, both national boundaries and state boundaries are horizontal and vertical, especially the boundary between the northern United States and Canada. Except for the Great Lakes region, it is basically drawn all the way along the straight latitude to the west coast of the Pacific Ocean, while the boundary between Alaska and Canada is more like a one-size-fits-all approach. As for the States, they are painted like parallelograms, which are completely different from the provincial boundaries of Asian and European countries.

Why are all States in the United States straight lines?

Of course, the most important factor is related to the colonial history of the United States. The earliest North America, belonging to the bus colony, was occupied by almost all outstanding sailors. For example, San Francisco, which everyone is familiar with now, is called San Francisco, and a strong Spanish wind is blowing against my face. At that time, the early spheres of influence and forms of various countries were also irregular. However, since the end of 18, 13 colonies have established America. As if possessed by divine power, the United States began the war of conquering the north and the south and the territorial transaction of the nature of hard buying and hard selling.

Soon, France and Spain were overwhelmed by the young United States, and their own countries were in a mess, and they increasingly neglected the sphere of influence of North America. Therefore, after the defeat with the United States, it was not particularly hard. After taking some solatium from the United States, it was transferred to its own colony, and its sphere of influence was constantly eroded by the United States. In the same way, Mexico, which seems to have been stronger than the United States, experienced several "American-Mexican wars" after independence, from the initial attack to the defense. The territory is getting smaller and smaller, and finally it is curled up in what is now Central America.

There is a joke that Mexico has two hates-one is being occupied by the United States; Why didn't the second hatred explain everything? Otherwise, thorny issues like illegal immigration and the border wall will be insignificant. However, consider this a joke. National territorial sovereignty is a serious topic and should not be underestimated. However, in the eyes of the United States, these large territories have not been "robbed", and there are sales contracts and formal transaction contracts, which reflects the pioneering spirit and contractual spirit of the United States. After all, each state can produce purchase contracts and documents to prove its sovereignty. Although it is the result of forced purchase, it has also experienced the process of "buying and selling" transactions, and there is nothing shameful. Of course, there are also peaceful and friendly trading results, such as Alaska, which faces the Russian Far East across the sea. At that time, Tsar Alexander II almost begged the United States to buy it. Now that I think about it, Russia's liver hurts so much that the United States can laugh when it sleeps.

As you can see, the territory of the United States in the 18 and 19 centuries is mostly the result of transactions in accordance with the terms of the contract after measurement, compared with countries such as Asia and Europe with long historical and cultural origins and high population density, so it is natural to pay attention to accurate division. In addition, the United States is a "new continent", with a vast territory and a sparsely populated area. Apart from the Indians, there is almost no need to consider any national cultural traditions or make a detailed investigation. When drawing boundaries, some people will refer to mountains and rivers, but in the vast plains and hilly areas that occupy most of the area, they simply choose to draw boundaries directly with latitude and longitude as a reference. Therefore, the United States, whether it is state boundaries or international, is not the accumulation of many years of historical and cultural traditions. Almost all of them belong to the direct division of buyers and sellers on the map, directly on the latitude and longitude lines, which is simple and clear.

The most typical example is 1846, when Britain and the United States signed the Oregon Treaty, which calmly stipulated that the boundary between the United States and the western part of British North America was 49 degrees north latitude. This border has been used to this day, and neither side has set up a military base or army. Citizens of the two countries can cross the border freely. Similarly, if you are interested, you can look at the map of Africa, which is also full of horizontal and vertical shapes. Obviously, this is the product of colonialists carving up the African continent.

All provinces in our country are tortuous?

In China, a country that likes to talk about politics, it is incorrect to divide provincial boundaries without political participation. The meaning of this sentence, that is to say, the division of China provincial boundaries, has a deep political imprint.

The current division of provinces is the result of continuous development since the Yuan Dynasty. How to divide provincial boundaries:

I. Relationship with the natural environment. Before the Yuan Dynasty, the division of administrative divisions in China mainly followed the principle of "mountains and rivers are convenient", and the overlapping of administrative divisions and natural areas was beneficial to agricultural production, natural disaster resistance, transportation, economic exchange and cultural identity. Judging from the shape and convenience of mountains and rivers, it is generally the coincidence of Qin and Han Dynasties, the deviation of Wei and Jin Dynasties, the coincidence of Sui and Tang Dynasties, the deviation of Song and Yuan Dynasties, and the gradual coincidence of Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Second, the relationship with politics. The change of administrative divisions is closely related to the contradiction between the central and local governments. Two major changes in administrative divisions in history coincided with two chaotic periods of regime alternation. The division of mountains and rivers before the Yuan Dynasty easily formed separatist forces in various regions. Therefore, the Yuan Dynasty implemented a "zigzag" division, forming a first-level administrative region spanning several geographical units such as Huguang Province, Jiangxi Province and Jiangbei Province. Third, the relationship with the economy. The establishment of the first-level administrative region is mainly to facilitate the central government to collect taxes. For example, in the Song Dynasty, the road was originally designed for transshipment to supervise the transshipment tax, and its management area became a road.

Fourth, the relationship with culture. In administrative division, in addition to considering the natural environment, political and economic factors, cultural identity is also very important. For example, Jizhou in Han Dynasty is the hometown of Zhao Yan, Bingzhou is the hometown of Sanjin, Yizhou is the hometown of Bashu, and Yuzhou is the hometown of Zhongzhou. In the Tang Dynasty, Shannan East Road was the hometown of Jingchu, Shannan West Road was the hometown of Pakistan, and Jiannan Road was the hometown of Shu.

The boundaries between provinces in China are mostly handed down from ancient times. For example, the border of Jiangxi Province has been basically like this since the Tang Dynasty. How did the ancients divide these provincial boundaries? The most basic thing is to divide by mountains and rivers. For example, in the Tang Dynasty, the world was divided into ten roads, and most of them were divided in this way. North of the Yellow River and east of Taihang Mountain is Hebei Road. South of Huangnan and north of Huaihe River is Henan Road. One advantage of this division is very obvious. Usually, because the mountains and rivers are separated, there will be obvious differences in culture, economy and customs between the two sides of the mountains and rivers. Taking this as the dividing line can better ensure the consistency of these characteristics.