We explain what geographical limits are and various examples of geographical limits of countries and continents.
What are geographical limits?
Geographic limits or territorial limits are the geographical coordinates that mark the beginning and end of a territory national, that is, the region of the earth's surface that is under the control of a specific State.
They should not be confused with borders, which are imaginary lines drawn to represent said limits, nor with geodesic limits, determined by the meridians and parallels of the globe. Thus, the geographical limits make up the geographical perimeter of a country or a region, that is, its exact location on the map in relation to the rest of the geographical units that exist.
For example, it can be said that the geographical limits of France are: to the northwest, it borders the English Channel; to the northeast, with Belgium and Luxembourg; to the east with Germany and Switzerland; to the southeast with Italy, Monaco and the Mediterranean Sea; to the south with Spain and Andorra; and to the west with the Atlantic Ocean.
Each country or region has, as is evident, different geographical limits, determined by its geographical location and its borders with its neighboring countries or with large topographical features (rivers, lakes, seas, mountain ranges, etc.).
Examples of geographic boundaries
Below are some examples of geographic boundaries:
Continents:
- Geographic limits of Africa: the African continent is bordered to the north by the Mediterranean Sea and the Strait of Gibraltar; to the west with the Atlantic Ocean; to the east with the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea and the Sinai (border between Egypt and Israel); and to the south with the Indian and Atlantic oceans.
- Geographic limits of America: the American continent borders to the north with the Arctic Ocean; to the west with the Pacific Ocean; to the east with the Atlantic Ocean and to the south with the confluence between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans in the Drake Passage.
- Geographic limits of Antarctica: The Antarctic continent borders on all cardinal points with the Antarctic Glacial Ocean.
- Geographic limits of Asia: the Asian continent borders to the north with the Arctic Ocean; to the east with the Pacific Ocean; to the south with the Indian Ocean and to the east with Europe, whose separation point is the Ural Mountains.
- Geographic limits of Europe: the European continent is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean; to the west with the Atlantic Ocean; to the south with the Mediterranean Sea, the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea; and to the east with Asia, whose border point is the Ural River and the Ural Mountains.
- Geographic limits of Oceania: The continent of Oceania is bordered to the north by the Philippine Sea and the Pacific Ocean; to the east with the Pacific Ocean; to the south with the Pacific Ocean and the Antarctic Glacial Ocean; and to the west with the Indian Ocean.
Countries:
- Geographic limits of Argentina: Argentine territory borders to the north with the Plurinational State of Bolivia and the Republic of Paraguay; to the east with the Federative Republic of Brazil and the Eastern Republic of Uruguay, in addition to the Atlantic Ocean; in the west with the Andes Mountains and the Republic of Chile; and to the south with the South Atlantic Ocean, the Antarctic Glacial Ocean and with the Republic of Chile.
- Geographic limits of Mexico: Mexican territory borders to the north with the United States of America for 3,152 kilometers; to the west with the Pacific Ocean; to the east with the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean; and to the south with the republics of Guatemala and Belize.
- Geographic limits of China: Chinese territory borders to the north with Mongolia and the Russian Federation; to the east with North Korea and the Pacific Ocean; to the west with the republics of Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan; and to the south with the territories of Vietnam, Laos, Burma, India, Nepal and Pakistan.
- Geographic limits of Morocco: the Moroccan territory borders to the north with the Mediterranean Sea and the Kingdom of Spain; to the east with the Republic of Algeria; to the west with the Atlantic Ocean and to the south with Western Sahara.
- Geographic boundaries of Sweden: Swedish territory borders to the north with the Kingdom of Norway and the Republic of Finland; to the east with the Republic of Finland, the Gulf of Bothnia and the Baltic Sea; to the south with the Baltic Sea and to the west with the Kattegat Strait.
Continue with: Political division
References
- “Territorial limits” in Banrepcultural (Colombia).
- “Geographical limits” at the Military Cartographic Institute (Dominican Republic).
- “Limits of the continents” in Wikipedia.
