Why does Wales exist, and 46 more questions about the borders of the world, with Jonn Elledge

Country Life

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Some time between the formation of the earth, and now, some human beings decided to draw some lines on the sand somewhere to define ‘our bit’ of the earth and ‘their bit’ of the earth. We now refer to these lines as borders.

Journalist and author Jonn Elledge has always been fascinated by why and how this happens, and in this episode he joins the Country Life Podcast to talk about borders and his new book, The History of the World in 47 Borders.

Jonn's fascination with borders made him think that the smart thing to do would be to write a book about them. 47 of them, specifically, which he claims can tell us ‘the history of the world’. We invited him on to the Country Life podcast to discuss just how the border came to be, what they mean, some weird ones, and the somewhat disturbing truth about why a lot of them are simply just straight lines.

We answer important questions such as ‘why does Wales exist’, what happened during the partition of India, and why most borders are a bit nonsensical, when you think about it.

And at the heart of it all lies the great question: are national identities defined by their borders, or vice versa? To find out the answer, you’ll just have to listen — and if you get to the end and still want to know more (including the answer to the question ‘why does landlocked Bolivia still have a navy?’), you can buy his book, which is available at all good bookshops (and some bad ones).

'The History of the World in 47 Borders' can be bought online here. Follow Jonn on X/Twitter here

Episode credits

Host: James Fisher

Guest: Jonn Elledge

Editor and Producer: Toby Keel

Music: JuliusH via Pixabay

Special thanks: Adam Wilbourn

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