The Borders Book
A sardonic journey through how modern national borders were carved out of empires by mapmakers, warlords, and colonizers who drew terrible lines across continents.
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Chapters
39 total- 01Prologue
- 02Chapter One - France
- 03Chapter Two - Germany
- 04Chapter Three - Italy
- 05Chapter Four - United Kingdom
- 06Chapter Five - Russia
- 07Chapter Six - The Balkans
- 08Chapter Seven - Scandinavia
- 09Chapter Eight - Turkey
- 10Chapter Nine - Israel & Palestine
- 11Chapter Ten - Iran
- 12Chapter Eleven - Iraq, Syria, & Lebanon
- 13Chapter Twelve - Saudi Arabia
- 14Chapter Thirteen - Egypt
- 15Chapter Fourteen - South Africa
- 16Chapter Fifteen - Nigeria
- 17Chapter Sixteen - Democratic Republic of the Congo
- 18Chapter Seventeen - Ethiopia
Show 21 more sections
- 19Chapter Eighteen - Random Rectangles
- 20Chapter Nineteen - China
- 21Chapter Twenty - Japan
- 22Chapter Twenty-One - India & Pakistan
- 23Chapter Twenty-Two - Bangladesh
- 24Chapter Twenty-Three - The Koreas
- 25Chapter Twenty-Four - Vietnam
- 26Chapter Twenty-Five - Taiwan
- 27Chapter Twenty-Six - Mongolia
- 28Chapter Twenty-Seven - United States
- 29Chapter Twenty-Eight - Canada
- 30Chapter Twenty-Nine - Mexico
- 31Chapter Thirty - Brazil
- 32Chapter Thirty-One - Argentina, Chile, Peru, Etc.
- 33Chapter Thirty-Two - The Carribbean
- 34Chapter Thirty-Three - The Vatican
- 35Chapter Thirty-Four - Monaco, Liechtenstein, and San Marino
- 36Chapter Thirty-Five - Andorra, Bhutan, Lesotho, Eswatini
- 37Chapter Thirty-Six - Kosovo, Palestine, Western Sahara
- 38Chapter Thirty-Seven - The UN Map
- 39Chapter Thirty-Eight - Fake Borders, Real Consequences
Edition notes and short pages
The Borders Book
The Borders Book
How the World Got Sliced
by James Johnson
Dedication
To the mapmakers, the warlords, and the drunk colonizers.
You drew some terrible lines.
I just traced them.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THIS BOOK WAS shaped by centuries of violence, conquest, confusion, and compromise —
so, thanks to… the human race, I guess.
Special thanks to everyone who ever looked at a map and said:
“Wait… why the hell is it shaped like that?”
You’re my people.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JJ HAS WRITTEN over 190 books on everything from empires to electricity, with a style that’s sharp, funny, and smarter than it looks.
He believes that history is best told like a good story — brutal, weird, and way too real to be boring.
You can more of his work at jjarchives.com
COPYRIGHT
© 2025 JAMES JOHNSON. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means — electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise — without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations used in reviews or critical articles.
This book is a work of nonfiction with a heavy dose of attitude. All historical information is sourced from public domain and verified research, but interpretations, commentary, and tone are the author’s own.
Borders are real. But they’re also fake. Proceed accordingly.