[size=14pt]A Brief History of Border Walls[/size]

http://www.kcet.org/arts/artbound/counties/san-diego/border-walls-history.html




In an upcoming post, Incendiary Traces will report on its recent visit to Border Field State Park to draw the wall that exists between the United States and Mexico. For those who haven't been to the border since its construction, the wall there is actually two sets of fences built at separate times. The first row, furthest to the south, is composed of broad strokes of rusted steel laid out consecutively every six inches and reaching up towards the sky. The second resembles a prison gate made of pale metal and mesh. Encountering them for the first time, one begins to question, why? Differences between people are often superficial in daily life, but with those walls there, they become official. This bold, double vision presence upon the land seems so strange and harsh, but in concept it is nothing new. Border walls exist all over the world today.

I present below a list of historical and contemporary border walls to provide some global and historical context for understanding our own contested wall, as well as to consider the many reasons for and affects of erecting barriers along borders. Whether built to protect from perceived military, economic, social or cultural threats, border walls represent geographic national and territorial boundaries. Unlike an open border, their intent is to keep others out. As they cut across and wind their way over the land, these walls trace the symbolic lines that exist between customs, values and beliefs adopted by people of particular regions. However, in many cases the lines do not differentiate, dividing whole communities and cultural groups in the process. The construction of a wall makes tangible the very abstract notion of sovereignty, particularly for those caught living on the border. The presence of a border wall here in Southern California reminds us of the similarities that exist between the United States and other countries engaged in border conflict and control. (Note the many lives that have been lost at these borders.)

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BORDER WALLS


Pre-modern State Walls:

These walls were built on the boundaries of prototypical (pre-modern) states with centralized governments. They defined the geographic reach of imperial territories against lands occupied by decentralized tribes. This differs from our understanding of state boundaries in the modern world in which most of the entire globe lies within the territories of one state or another.


[size=4pt]A great snaking wall as seen from above. It punctuates and makes visible the undulating landscape of northern China. Screen Shot of maps.google.com.[/size]

Great Wall of China

Building Begun: 7th Century BC, continued over several centuries, primarily during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)

Construction: Stone, brick, tamped earth, wood and other materials

Total distance: approx. 13,171 miles

Over the time of the Great Wall's construction, the state we recognize today as China was surrounded by marauding nomadic tribes. The Great Wall protected the people and resources of the state from invasion by these tribes while regulating trade and immigration.

[size=4pt]Hadrian's Wall near Birdoswald Fort. The man shown here is spraying the wall with weed killer to protect the landmark from the biological weathering of stones. Image obtained from Wikimedia Commons.[/size]
http://www.kcet.org/arts/artbound/images/Border%20Walls_3.jpg
[size=4pt]The brown line illustrates the full route of Hadrian's Wall in northern England. The background map in gray shows modern counties and urban areas. Image obtained from Wikimedia Commons.
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Hadrian's Wall

Building Begun: AD 122

Construction: Stone and turf

This defensive fortification in Roman Britain was begun during the rule of Emperor Hadrian. Like the Great Wall of China, it was built to keep barbarians out of the Roman Empire and also to provide customs checkpoints for the movement of goods and people.

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Demilitarized Borders:
Demilitarized borders exist between states that no longer view one another as a threat. Both countries have since withdrawn military presence and activity from their shared boundary.

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[size=4pt]A machine gun post and bunker on the Maginot Line. Image obtained from Leger Holidays http://www.leger.co.uk/tours/fml/The_Maginot_Line/Itinerary[/size]

Maginot Line

Building Begun: 1930

Construction: Concrete, tank obstacles, artillery casemates, machine gun posts

Total Distance: approx. 240 miles (estimates vary greatly)

Named after the French Minister of War André Maginot, France constructed this permanent system of fortifications along the German and Italian borders in the run-up to World War II. The wall was mostly demilitarized after 1966. Many of the original fortifications have since been converted for other uses, including several wine cellars, a mushroom farm and a disco.



Berlin Wall

Building Began: 1961

Construction: Concrete reinforced with mesh fencing, signal fencing, anti-vehicle trenches, barbed wire, dogs on long lines, "beds of nails", over 116 watchtowers, and 20 bunkers

Total Distance: approx. 96 miles

The Berlin Wall, officially referred to by the German Democratic Republic (GDR) as the "Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart," was constructed to protect the East German population from perceived fascist elements conspiring to prevent a new socialist state. On November 9, 1989, after several weeks of increasing civil unrest, the East German government announced that all GDR citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin. Over the months that followed, citizens from both sides began to dismantle the wall piece by piece. Today only a small section remains as a historical marker.

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Modern Nation-to-Nation Walls:
Nation-to-nation barriers are those that were constructed on the national boundary of two or more present day countries and are ongoing sources of conflict.

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[size=4pt]Friendship Park is one of the few sites along the border wall where citizens from both sides can see and speak to one another face-to-face. It is located at Imperial Beach, CA between the two-fence barrier that marks the U.S. and Mexico border. Image credit: Jena Lee.
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U.S. - Mexico Border Wall

Building Began: 2006

Construction: Steel and concrete (double fence in some sections)

Total Distance: approx. 640 miles (construction suspended)

In an attempt to quell the world's highest rate of illegal border crossing, increases in drug and weapons trafficking, and related violence, President George W. Bush ordered the construction of several strategically placed sections of wall along the U.S/Mexico international border. In 2010, President Barack Obama halted construction and reallocated all funding towards researching and upgrading border technology. The state of Arizona has vowed to continue construction of its portion of the fence through private online donations. Read more about the history of our border in a previous post by Susanna Newbury.

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Botswana-Zimbabwe Border

Building Began: 2003

Construction: Electric fence

Total Distance: approx. 300 miles

The official reason Botswana began building a fence along its western border with Zimbabwe is purportedly to stop the spread of foot-and-mouth disease among livestock. However, Zimbabweans believe that it is really intended to keep people from migrating into Botswana since the 2000 land reform policy in Zimbabwe resulted in an economic crisis, leaving many desperate and in search of employment.

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Indo-Bangladeshi Barrier

Building Began: 2005

Construction: Barbed wire and concrete

Total Distance (Goal): I2,116 miles

India is constructing a barrier to prevent illegal immigration and the smuggling of weapons and narcotics from Bangladesh to the Indian state of Assam. In recent years, it has been a site of particular focus for Human Rights Watch (HRW) because of the border patrol's controversial shoot on sight policy. HRW reported in 2010 that over 900 Bengladeshi, including children, had been killed by both sides along the border in the last decade alone.

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Kuwait-Iraq Barrier

Building Began: 1991

Construction: Electrified fencing, concertina wire, trenches and dirt berms

Total Distance: approx. 120 miles

After the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, international military intervention and the defeat of Iraq, the Kuwait-Iraq barrier was constructed by the United Nations Security Council to prevent future invasion by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. The separation barrier extends six miles into Iraq, three miles into Kuwait, across the full length of their mutual border from Saudi Arabia to the Persian Gulf and is guarded by hundreds of soldiers, several patrol boats, and helicopters.

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Iran Border Walls:

In July 2010, the Iranian Interior Minister, Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar announced that the country would be building walls along its entire border with Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The government has purportedly allocated 150 million dollars for this purpose.

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Pakistan-Iran Barrier

Building Began: 2007

Construction: Reinforced concrete, earth and stone embankments, deep ditches, observation towers and garrisons

Total Distance: approx. 435 miles

The Iran-Pakistan barrier is a separation barrier which Iran in the process of reconstructing and fortifying along its border with Pakistan. The Pakistani Foreign Ministry has said that Iran has the right to erect border fencing in its territory to deter drug smuggling and illegal crossings. However, the Provincial Assembly of Balochistan (Pakistan) opposes the wall. They maintain that it will create problems for the Baloch people, whose lands straddle the border region, dividing them politically and impeding trade and social activities.

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Commercial Brake: End of Part One

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKdjB4rnupg

Nice work......If only the world can chose to be one family but religion,race and greed are walls far greater than the eyes can see and too abstruse for the mind to comprehend.

theunusualmoon:
Nice work......If only the world can chose to be one family but religion,race and greed are walls far greater than the eyes can see and too abstruse for the mind to comprehend.

It's not my work. It's Jena Lee's, forgot to give credit...will add the link now.


http://www.kcet.org/arts/artbound/counties/san-diego/border-walls-history.html