A single boundary might, upon closer inspection, reveal eons of history--from epic tales of conquest, treaties, and alliances to intimate, all-too-human stories of love, greed, and folly. None of the lines we know today were inevitable, and all might have looked quite different if not for the intricate interplay of chance and ambition. From the very first maps in Egypt to the Roman attempts to define the boundaries of civilization, from the profound shift in meaning of the Mason-Dixon Line to the secret British-French agreement to carve up the Ottoman Empire during the First World War, and from the dark consequences of Detroit's city limits to the intriguing reason why landlocked Bolivia still maintains a navy, this is a singular look at all of human history--told through its most captivating border stories.
Indie Bestseller
Shortlisted for Foyles Book of the Year, 2024
Table of Contents:
List of Maps
Introduction
PART ONE: HISTORIES
- The Unification of Upper and Lower Egypt
- The Great Wall of China and the Border as Unifier
- Why is Europe Not a Peninsula in Asia?
- The Roman Limes and the Power of the Periphery
- The Legacies of Charlemagne
- The Borders of Great Britain
- Of Feudalism, Marquises, Margraves, and Marcher Lords
- The Open Borders Policies of Genghis Khan
- Spain and Portugal Carve up the World
- Holy, Roman and an Empire
- Britain, Ireland, and the Invention of Cartographic Colonialism
- The Much Misunderstood Mason-Dixon Line
- The Local Government Reforms of Emperor Napoleon I
- The American Invasion of Mexico
- The Schleswig-Holstein Business
- ". . . Where No White Man Ever Trod"
- The Sudan-Uganda Border Commission, 1913
- European Nationalism and the United States of Greater Austria
- Britain and France Carve up the Middle East
- The Partition of Ulster, 1916-22
- The Partition of India, 1947
- The Iron Curtain and the Division of Berlin, 1945-90
PART TWO: LEGACIES
- Koenigsberg/Kaliningrad, Eastern Germany/Western Russia
- The Strange Case of Bir Tawil
- The Dangers of Gardening in the Korean DMZ
- China's Nine-dash Line and Its Discontents
- The Uncertain Borders Between Israel and Palestine
- The Siamese Twin Towns of Baarle-Hertog and Baarle-Nassau
- The US-Canada border, and the Trouble with Straight Lines
- Some Places Which Aren't Switzerland
- Some Notes on Microstates
- City Limits
- The Curse of Suburbia and the Borders of Detroit
- Washington, DC and the Square Between the States
Borders from a Land Down Under - Some Accidental Invasions
- Costa Rica, Nicaragua and the "Google Maps War"
- The Mapmaker's Dilemma
PART THREE: EXTERNALITIES
- A Brief History of the Prime Meridian
- Some Notes on Time Zones
- A Brief History of the International Date Line
- Of Maritime Boundaries and the Law of the Sea
- Some Notes on Landlocked Countries
- How the World Froze Territorial Claims in Antarctica
- The Other, Bigger, More Musical Europe
- Boundaries in the Air
- The Final Frontier
Conclusion: The End of the Line
Sources
Acknowledgements
Index
Review Quotes:
"This book is an excellent read. . . . A smorgasbord of geographical history.--GeekDad
The last decade in global politics is a reminder that history never moves in a straight line--but that hasn't ever stopped politicians and powerbrokers from trying to draw them on the maps that hang on the walls of our classrooms and corridors of power. This addictive book from the ever-curious Jonn Elledge proves that and then some. Full of stories you thought you understood and those even the nerds in your life will never have known, this clever, confounding history will help you see the world from a new angle--if you can ever put it down.--Patrick Maguire, author of Left Out
A brilliant account of how these lines on a map shape lives, destinies, and economies. You'll never look at a map in the same way again.--Stephen Bush, Financial Times columnist
All borders are artificial and every nation is an invention. Jonn Elledge provides a witty grand tour of the fascinating, disturbing, and downright bizarre decisions that made the world what it is today.--Dorian Lynskey, author of The Ministry of Truth
This is brilliant fun, explaining the modern world in enjoyably bite-sized chapters. It's exactly the book you hope it will be.--Rob Hutton, author of The Illusionist
This fascinating and surprising history of the world told through the simple lines people have drawn on maps. . . is extraordinary and unreservedly recommended.--Midwest Book Review
Totally fascinating and hugely entertaining. This book is a nerd's paradise without borders--but with jokes. Jonn Elledge has such a gift for looking at complicated bits of the world, then telling you all about them in a way that feels not like a textbook, but like an incredibly fun and interesting conversation in the pub.--Marina Hyde, author of What Just Happened?!
A novel and fascinating perspective on world history.--Bill Bryson, author of A Short History of Nearly Everything
By turns surprising, funny, bleak, ridiculous, or all four of those at once, A Brief History of the World in 47 Borders unknots some of the weird historical and geographical tangles we've managed to get ourselves into. And it's timely too, if only because our preoccupation with drawing lines never seems to abate.--Gideon Defoe, author of An Atlas of Extinct Countries
An entertaining and enlightening look at how geography, politics, and other factors influenced the lines on today's maps. . . . Elledge's approach is informative without being dry.--Afar.com
Entertaining and accessible. . . . A great, insightful and timely read that puts our modern borders into context and shows how history does, in fact, still impact today.--Travel Pulse
Elledge has an eye for entertaining stories, and can pick up political hot potatoes without burning his fingers.--The Arts Desk
Somehow, Jonn Elledge turns geo-political history into a funny, fascinating, and revealing insight not only into the world today but into the frailty and determination of the human spirit. Packed with 'I never knew that' information (the sort that you read out to anyone in the room with you), A History of the World in 47 Borders shows us that history doesn't repeat itself, but it plays out in weird ways right under our noses. He's such a lovely writer. A delight from start to finish.--Miranda Sawyer, author of Out of Time
Borders have shifted throughout the centuries, the playthings, [Elledge] points out, of ideas about the nation state, of conquest and politics, but also of increasingly accurate mapping. . . . As contemporary events show all too clearly, lines on maps still matter.-- "New Statesman"
Bloody brilliant. Someone needs to tell Jonn Elledge that the lines on maps are not supposed to be this entertaining.--Washington Independent Review of Books
Sparkling. . . In this romp around world history, Elledge introduces us to 47 of the world's oddest borders including particularly weird ones in Detroit, Kaliningrad and Bolivia.--Keen On America
Jonn Elledge's books include A Brief History of the World in 47 Borders, The Compendium of (Not Quite) Everything, and Conspiracy: A History of Boll*cks Theories, and How Not to Fall for Them. At the New Statesman he created and ran its urbanism-focused CityMetric site, spending six happy years writing about cities, maps, and borders. He lives in London.
Experiment
Pub Date: September 02, 2025
0.9" H x 7.6" L x 5.5" W
368 Pages
Paperback