Page 57 - Berkshire Encyclopedia Of World History Vol Two

406 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

applied to North American history. For more than a cen-
Comparative tury historians in the United States have debated the “role

of the frontier” in U.S. history. In 1893 the U.S. historian
Borders and Frederick Jackson Turner spoke of “the” frontier as a
“meeting point between savagery and civilization,” the
Frontiers “edge of free land,” and “the line of most rapid and effec-

tive Americanization.” He argued that in frontiers one
lthough people often use the terms frontier, bound- could witness in rapid succession various forms of social
Aary, and border interchangeably, and in some forms evolution such as hunting, trading, ranching, farming, and
of usage the terms can be regarded as synonyms, histo- finally manufacturing. Such characteristics of the United
rians have emphasized important distinctions between States as democracy, individualism, and idealism could,
frontiers and boundaries. Frontiers are above all zones of in his opinion, be attributed to the frontier experience.
interaction. They can arise as a result of cross-cultural Many of Turner’s conclusions have been disputed, disre-
encounters, population movements, and the absence of garded and replaced by more nuanced models of inter-
state authority or an effective monopoly of violence. action between settlers and indigenous populations in
Historian Leonard Thompson has defined a frontier North America, but the frontier still persists in popular
thusly: “In our usage, a frontier is an area of interpene- imagination and popular culture. Turner himself saw
tration between societies. It contains three elements: a ter- comparative possibilities for analyzing frontier influences
ritorial element, a zone or territory as distinct from a beyond North America: “For a moment at the frontier the
boundary line; a human element, comprising peoples of bonds of custom are broken and unrestraint is tri-
initially separate and distinct societies; and a process ele- umphant...each frontier did indeed furnish a new field
ment by which relations among such peoples commence, of opportunity, a gate of escape from the bondage of the
develop, and eventually crystallize.A frontier opens with past.” His concept of the frontier has been applied with
the first contact between members of these two societies. varying degrees of success to such diverse areas as Aus-
It closes when a single authority has established political tralia, South Africa, Russia, and the Roman empire.
and economic dominance...” (Lamar and Thompson In 1952 Walter Prescott Webb, a Texas historian who
1981, 87). had previously studied the Great Plains, published a
In contrast, boundaries are established by states to sep- study that attempted to apply the frontier model on a
arate their subjects and territories from other political global scale. The discovery of America by Columbus, in
jurisdictions. Political geographer Ladis Kristof defines a his opinion, opened up a “Great Frontier” for European
boundary as the “outer line of effective control exercised expansion. The West, he argued, enjoyed unparalleled
by the central government” (Kristof 1959, 270). Borders access to land and resources, creating an economic boom
are legal and political infrastructures created by states to that lasted for centuries.The closing of the Great Frontier,
maintain boundaries and regulate movement. Frontiers however, presented a new challenge to the West. With
and boundaries have been important factors in global land for settlement no longer available and resources no
history, but a truly global survey of their impact has not longer easily accessible,Western society, together with its
yet been written. capitalism, democracy, and individualism, faced the pos-
sibility of uncertainty.
Frontiers World historian William H. McNeill revisited the
Although the term frontier can be traced as far back as notion of the Great Frontier in 1983. He focused on
medieval Spain, it has most frequently and famously been European settler societies in certain areas of the world