Why do we have counties, and boundries and who decided where the boundries were drawn,?

Question

I supose the same question applies to county's in main land Europe

Answer 1

If you are asking about England, counties are very ancient. Many are based on ancient Saxon kingdoms. Norfolk - the land of the North Folk, Suffolk, the land of the South Folk. Middlesex, Essex, Sussex - the lands of the Middle, East and South Saxons respectively.Boundaries became fixed in the 12th century. other counties in southern England reflect divisions of the Saxon Kingdom of Wessex, which created the Midland 'shires' when it conquered the Kingdom of Mercia. For more details see:- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_Counties_of_England

In 1964 there was a reorganisation of local government in the London area leading to the creation of Greater London and the disappearance of all of Middlesex. In 1974 there was a reorganisation throught the whole of the UK which led to some counties, like Rutland, disappearing as did the small counties in Wales and Scotland which were subsumed by large 'regions'. More latterly there has been a piecemeal reorganisation with, again Rutland, reappearing.

Answer 2

To condense history: in ancient times the world was mainly tribal or made up of clans. Natural terrains/languages/cultures kept most apart. They, (in the main), did not see land as territorial but belonging to God, (check up on Native American/Aboriginal history).

Warmongering nations among Europeans developed the notion of land being precious and as such fields that were open plan now became enclosed, (check up on British Agricultural Revolution).

That was the start of the idea that land is a valuable commodity. Boundaries were defined. This gave rise to the landed gentry.

The British took this land grabbing concept to the four corners of the earth causing immense misery and confusion along the way.

Answer 3

generally through war and natural features such as mountains and rivers etc. Thats why most borders are not streight lines.

Except of course in the Middle east and Africa,

In the Middle East before WWI had even finished the British an French had divided the land up between them, using a ruler an a pencil. This is the main reason why the Middle East struggles to attain peace. Borders were drawn up without considering the mixing of language, religion culture etc.

This happened in Africa as well, This time it was most european countries that divided them up.

Answer 4

I really can't think of a boundary that was not decided by a war; at least of countries. The boundaries of counties, parishes, states, etc. were generally historically decided by local residents and followed the development of communities and natural barriers or trade routes, etc.

One state whose boundaries were decided by a war is West Virginia, whose citizens remained loyal the the federal government and petitioned for separation from Virginia when that state seceded and were granted statehood as a separate entity by the federal legislature.

Answer 5

Most of the counties in the UK and Ireland are based on old saxon, celtic, angles and former inhabitants in the immemorial times, thus historical.

This applies to most countries in Europe as well.

Answer 6

in arabic countries, the borders were drawn by france, england and italy. after the world war, against the will of the people. by playing smart.

people say that because they wanted there to always be conflicts between the people of the middle east so that they wont get stronger.

donno why cant we all belong to a country called planet earth?

Answer 7

Like many different kinds of animals, humans are very territorial. In Europle boundaries are created by natural divideres and people. If you look at an elevation map of Europe, you would notice that the boundaries somewhat follows bodies of water or mountains.

Answer 8

Simple borders are the marking lines of teritory, it gives people meaning to their life as they have to protect the land they feed off, whilst protecting the people within that teritory.

Answer 9

the British,french,germans are to blame for all boundaries they colonised the world and then divided among themselves what were the spolis. when it turned bitter they left

Answer 10

We have countries because people want a plce of thier own where they can keep the ilegals out, but i guess its not working