When we look at a map, the shapes we’re seeing can seem so...permanent. But like we’ve
talked about many times here on Crash Course Geography, a map is just a snapshot of the
Earth at a particular time. Borders shift and change and get molded into some truly weird shapes.
In fact, as much as I love watching a wispy cirrus or a chunky cumulus float by, borders
and the shapes of countries can test our imaginations just as much as clouds.
Most borders aren’t straight lines. And a lot of them seem to strike across the land
or water out of nowhere. So as geographers we might wonder how we ended up with such
wonky shapes. Because the story of how Tajikistan looks like a howling dog or Bulgaria looks
like a playful kitten is also the story of the Earth, its people, and the conflicts that
have shaped, or are still shaping the world's borders.
Like in the Caucasus Mountains between Iran and Armenia is an independent region known
as Nakhchivan. This region is beautiful, with sweeping mountain views, lovely plains, and
a good amount of sustainable agriculture. And if you squint, it kind of looks like a submarine.
Nakhchivan is technically a part of Azerbaijan, but the reason this strip of land, home to
about 450,000 people, eventually became mostly self-sufficient has a lot to do with geopolitics
and how border conflicts work.
I’m Alizé Carrère, and this is Crash Course Geography.
INTRO
Like we learned last time, geopolitics is the study of international relationships across space.
Some states have more power than others, and the attempts to have relationships across
those power differences create an uneven political landscape.
One place geopolitical relationships and power dynamics meet is at borders. Like we talked
about in episode 35, many scholars believe it was only in the 1800s that boundaries were
more likely to be precise and surveyed with detail. Before that, what are sometimes called
natural boundaries, like mountains, rivers, or lakes, would serve as loose borders. Like
the Rio Grande separating part of the US and Mexico.
But, that gets messy. A mountain doesn’t just get up and walk away, but every time
the river shifted, or if someone built a dam, or if there was a major weathering event,
then the border could change!
In contrast, a boundary that’s imposed on the land rather than following a physical
feature is called an artificial or geometric boundary. They often ignore natural or cultural
features. Though categorizing boundaries as artificial or natural is becoming less popular.
Since we’ve made borders more precise as our political systems changed, we’ve pinpointed
natural and artificial borders with coordinates. We can even use GPS, so we’re pretty sure
the 2021 version of, say, Japan really does look rather like a seahorse.
And all jokes aside, shape really does matter. The physical shape of a state can help spur
border tensions and require more effort from within the state to maintain unity.
For instance, a compact state like France has a capital, or center of power, that’s
roughly centrally located. So all parts of the country have to put in more or less the
same amount of effort to communicate and potentially access government resources.
But that’s not so easy someplace like Indonesia, which is fragmented, the Baja California Peninsula
that protrudes out, or Chile, which is elongated.
All of these shapes can lead to power imbalances, including in Nakhchivan. As a fragment of
Azerbaijan, Nakhchivan is an exclave, meaning a portion of a state separated from the main
part of the state by another country.
As geographers, we might ask why exclaves even exist, because they really seem convenient
for no one. And to do that in Nakhchivan, we have to look back at some of the history
of this land.
Both Armenia and Azerbaijan declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, but remained
in conflict over a number of regions, including Nakhchivan and the Nagorno-Karabakh region
to the east. And these conflicts are all related through the categories we break artificial
boundaries into which are all based on their relationship to the land.
For example, with Armenia and Azerbaijan, many of their boundaries were drawn for them
by the Soviet Union, and were superimposed, meaning they were drawn with no regard to
cultural traits or local power structures.
These are also considered subsequent borders, meaning they were drawn after existing settlement
patterns already existed. And if a subsequent boundary is drawn around a group for cultural
reasons, it’s called a consequent boundary.
But borders can also be antecedent, or boundaries that existed before the settlement of the
land, when it was perceived to be unsettled. And there can also be relic boundaries, or
old boundaries, with cultural remnants of previous frontiers and boundaries like the Berlin Wall.
So, as geographers we want to figure out what led to Armenia and Azerbaijan ending up with
superimposed and subsequent boundaries.
The Nagorno-Karabakh and Nakhchivan region has a history of being tied to groups with
mostly ethnically Armenian ancestry. But, at least by the 1700s, there were strong settlements
of Azeris as well, which is the main cultural group in Azerbaijan.
But neither ethnic group has had much chance at peace. First, after the Russian empire
collapsed, Armenians in the Nagorno-Karabakh area declared themselves independent. But
then the area was subject to a series of conflicts between Armenians and Azeris until the Soviet
Union incorporated the territory into its borders in 1920 .
The Soviet Union then superimposed new borders. Nagorno-Karabakh was put in Azerbaijan, even
though a majority of the population was ethnically Armenian. Though to further complicate things,
it was allowed to be a semi-autonomous state, meaning it could make some governing decisions
without approval from leaders in Azerbaijan.
At this time, Nakhchivan also became part of Azerbaijan after centuries of being claimed
by the Iranian, Russian, and Ottoman empires. Basically, by the time the Soviets controlled
the region, Nakhchivan considered itself closely tied to Azerbaijan and elected to join them,
which the Soviets agreed to.
Ultimately, with a piece put here and a piece put there, the region was fragmented, which
is when territories that are part of the same system aren’t physically connected together.
And this can create areas where control is weak. Semi-autonomous regions can also create
uncertainty since it can be confusing who’s in control when a place has most of the
power, but not all of it.
For Armenia and Azerbaijan, the consequences of fragmentation and power confusion have
been huge. Even before the Soviet Union completely broke apart, these two countries began fighting
again over control of Nagorno-Karabakh and many, many lives have been lost on both sides.
For Nakhchivan, another consequence of border and power confusion has been self-sufficiency
and even sustainability. To support Nakhchivan, the rest of Azerbaijan has to cross through
Armenia, and that crossing was often closed due to ongoing conflict and war between the
two countries. So rather than relying on the rest of their country, Nakhchivians say they’ve
had to develop other ways to supply what they needed.
In other parts of the world with contentious borders, the territory can go through balkanization
which is a term used to describe the way states often break apart when the power holding them
together weakens. Those new states often fall along ethnic lines, creating new consequent boundaries.
Sometimes balkanization results in irredentism, which is when a country takes back land it
claims as its own, or with people of its own, like trying to reclaim and unify enclaves
and exclaves.
Which in some ways is what Armenia and Azerbaijan have been trying to do. But in areas like
Nagorno-Karabakh, where more than one ethnic or national group attempts to claim the territory,
creating borders creates conflict. The fights can be brutal as each side fights to have
control over what is seen as their homeland.
We’ve talked a lot about the Armenians and the Azeris, but conflicts like these often
involve other powers too.
The two largest political powers in the area are Russia, the former power influencing both
countries, and Turkey, who from the Ottoman Empire to today has an antagonistic history
with Armenians, but has imperial and cultural ties with the Azeris.
Both of these countries have something to gain in the outcome of this conflict that
doesn’t relate directly to how Nagorno-Karabakh or Nakhchivan are governed.
So while the Armenians and Azeris do the actual fighting, they’re also part of a proxy war,
which is when larger world powers begin to intercede in a conflict, often indirectly,
to tip the outcome in their favor.
In Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020, Turkey decided to aid Azerbaijan and gave them enough military
power that the Armenians ultimately had to sign a peace deal. The deal divides Nagorno-Karabakh,
and will give some holdings to Armenia, but Azerbaijan will keep control over areas it
deems important.
From that help, Turkey now has the gratitude of Azerbaijan...and better access to resources.
The new borders come together in such a way that Turkey can now build a road connecting
Nakhchivan to the rest of Azerbaijan and the resource rich Caspian Sea without having to
go through Armenia or Iran - all countries that can be politically complicated.
These moves also told the entire region that Turkey intends to be a geopolitical player
and be a major player in conflict and negotiation.
Russia on the other hand often supports Armenia but surprised them by largely staying out
of the 2020 conflict until it was time to talk peace. It’s another move on the geopolitical
chessboard -- one that attempts to make Russia essential to creating peace in the region.
But whether it’s part of a proxy war or not, battling over resources is a common border
conflict -- both on land and at sea. Natural borders, especially ones that involve water,
are so complicated because they move -- but they’re also incredibly valuable for trade
and resources.
So countries that border large lakes, seas, or oceans are subject to international rules
on maritime, or sea, boundaries. Basically, as you move away from shore, countries have
less and less control until you reach the high seas -- which are in fact a Real Thing
and not just the stuff of pirate lore. Anyone can roam the high seas, and the resources
there are declared a common good for all humankind.
But it takes 200 nautical miles to reach the high seas, which is a lot of distance, especially
in areas with a lot of small islands. Which means conflicts ahoy! Like in the South China Sea.
This area is a rich fishing ground, as well as home to billions of barrels of oil and
trillions of tons of natural gas. It’s also an important trade route, with about ⅓ of
global shipping traffic passing through. So if one country could control the South China
Sea, it would mean a staggering amount of economic power.
Talking about the South China Sea could be a whole episode, but the basics of what’s
been going on since 2010 go like this. In the 20-teens, China began augmenting and constructing
islands throughout this region to help bolster its claims that it owns land in the region,
and therefore can access natural resources.
But, also in the region are 6 other countries. The US has also chosen to get involved as
an ally of the Philippines and a party very interested in trade and resources.
While the South China Sea is definitely vast, the idea of one country controlling it creates
fears that this could become a place that will behave like a chokepoint, which is usually
a narrow strip of land or sea that can easily be closed by force or threat of force.
So the US claims to be securing the area so it stays open to trade.
But the Chinese claim the involvement of the US and the international community is a threat
that actually restricts the flow of goods and threatens their ability to defend themselves
and claim their historic territory, which is irredentism in action.
And there are additional complaints about military maneuvers and other claims -- which
is why parts of the South China Sea are also called the East Sea, the Nusantara Sea, the
Luzon Sea, and the North Natuna Sea.
So this body of water that I now have no idea what to call is another example of how the
threads that drive geopolitical conflicts can feel so complicated. Throw together disagreements
over identity and sovereignty with the interests of larger, more powerful countries, and sprinkle
in a dash of lucrative resources and we’ve got a recipe for conflict.
The shape of a country does matter and has a complex story to tell because power moves,
which is why the ebb and flow of conflict seems to be always shifting and moving, and
gives geographers plenty to keep track of. Next time we’ll see that ebb and flow gain
one more layer of complication as we look at how economics and politics work together
to shape the stories of Bulgaria and Germany.
Many maps and borders represent modern geopolitical divisions that have often been decided without
the consultation, permission, or recognition of the land's original inhabitants. Many geographical
place names also don't reflect the Indigenous or Aboriginal peoples languages. So we at
Crash Course want to acknowledge these peoples’ traditional and ongoing relationship with
that land and all the physical and human geographical elements of it.
We encourage you to learn about the history of the place you call home through resources
like native-land.ca and by engaging with your local Indigenous and Aboriginal nations through
the websites and resources they provide.
Thanks for watching this episode of Crash Course Geography which is filmed at the Team
Sandoval Pierce Studio and was made with the help of all these nice people. If you want
to help keep all Crash Course free for everyone, forever, you can join our community on Patreon.