| To add to this, there are numerous well known examples. For example the Bible defined borders of "The Land of Israel" which are still fought over today: https://www.biblica.com/bible/?osis=niv:Ezekiel%2047:13%E2%8... The "Eternal Treaty" between the Hittites and Egyptians defined spheres of influence and position of various cities The Peace of Antalcidas defined the border between Greek and Persian influence and assigned various cities to different powers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_of_Antalcidas#Effects One of the biggest drivers of strict borders was tax collection: they defined who could collect tax from which subjects. This was a common source of conflict and so anywhere feudalism was practiced strong border definitions were strongly enforced. It's possible the grandparent is talking more about the idea of limiting travel across those borders. That is a more defensible position but even then it was more about the the costs of enforcement. Trade routes had very strong border enforcement because the borders were places taxes were collected for example, and there were limits on who could travel various routes. For example Venice, Genoa and the Ottoman Empire jealously protected European end of trade routes linking to the spice road. |