Saturday, October 10, 2009

Political Borders

If you've read any of my other blogs and/or have known me for a while, you know that I have always liked studying maps. I spent many hours after (elementary) school with my dad looking at our atlas and globe. Both were made prior to 1989, so by the time I could actually read, many borders had changed. The USSR had broken up, some of the last parts of Africa to become independent had done so, and Yugoslavia was being divided. Then, for many years, not a lot changed. The borders that were added or subtracted were short and I got it in my head that the world was probably pretty close to its final political divisions. I was so optimistic — I figured the world was a pretty stable place, so why would the borders change further?

Although my view had changed a bit in the last few years, as I watched wars, governments, and global warming change the shapes of a number of countries, it wasn't until I watched this video on TED.com that I realized how many more border changes are likely to come.