ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
BY MICHAEL ALLEN HOLMES
Nations and states as defi ned in modern terms, with explicit
boundaries oft en demarcated by lines of latitude and longi-
tude, did not exist in Asia and the Pacifi c region in ancient
times. Also nonexistent was the means for making maps that
could have recorded boundaries. While cartography using
parallel lines running north to south and east to west was
developed as early as the third century, standardized, widely
distributed maps would not have been available to the masses
in ancient times. In turn, borders were not necessarily viewed
as fi xed, and from India through Southeast Asia to China the
extents of city-states and kingdoms were ever in fl ux.
Th e most immediate ancient borders, then, were fortifi ca-
tions surrounding towns and cities, which in northern China
appeared as early as Neolithic times, over 4,000 years before
the Common Era, when simple ramparts were constructed
with compacted earth. Over the centuries, these walls grew
higher and more expansive, indicating communities’ needs
to defend themselves from invaders. Within the larger states
that developed, as oft en coinciding w it h geographic reg ions, a
fi ef ruled locally was known as a feng, literally referring to its
earthen boundaries. Meanwhile, stone walls were also being
constructed, particularly to the north, to prevent incursions
from the nomadic horsemen-warriors who were the forefa-
thers of the Mongols and other peoples.
Modern eastern-central China, excluding Tibet, the
northwest, and southern expanses, was unifi ed in 221 b.c.e.
with the rise to power of the Qin Dynasty. Accordingly,
the Qin emperor Prince Zheng, who became known as Shi
Huangdi, or “First Emperor,” is said to have overseen con-
struction that connected many of the northern walls to pro-
duce the Great Wall. Some historians doubt, however, that
the Qin walls were seamlessly interconnected and that it
makes sense to speak of a single “Great Wall” in Qin times.
Th ese walls were supplemented and rebuilt sporadically over
the centuries and, including all of its various branches, came
to span some 4,500 miles by the Ming Dynasty, beginning in
the 14th century c.e. Its utility ultimately proved marginal, as
successful invasions were eventually conducted by the north-
ern warriors.
Aside from the historically spectacular Great Wall, bor-
ders in the ancient world were largely defi ned by geographi-
cal formations that more naturally provided defense and
limited the transportation of both peoples and their belong-
ings. In the region of China the Gobi Desert, consisting of
formidable swaths of both sand and rock, impeded travel to
the north, especially on foot, beyond the Great Wall. Simi-
larly, the Tarim Basin, consisting largely of the Taklamakan
Desert, and surrounding marshlands, restricted travel to the
northwest, while to the west, the Tibetan Plateau naturally
isolated its own inhabitants. Th rough the Qin Dynasty and
into the Han Dynasty, which lasted from 206 b.c.e. to 220
c.e., armies undertook incursions into the southern forest-
land and jungle beyond, much of which was subject to vio-
lent monsoons, nominally extending the Chinese border to
the daunting waters of the South China Sea. Since the land
and its peoples were diffi cult to conquer, the Chinese state
incorporated the region only in that the emperor declared
this intention; many borders would have been defi ned thus
in ancient times.
Th e only other ancient Asian kingdom rivaling China in
size was India, with the two great regions separated by Ti-
bet and the extremely high and vast Himalayas. Th e Hima-
layas extend some 200 miles from north to south and, like
the Great Wall at its inception, 1,500 miles from west to east.
Meanwhile, the Kirthar and Sulaiman ranges to the north-
west, which merge into the Hindu Kush to the north, eff ec-
tively sealed India off from mass incursions from the Middle
East and Central Asia. To the south, the Western and Eastern
Ghats prevented unhindered maritime access by way of either
the Arabian Sea or the Bay of Bengal.
Whatever borders existed within the Indian subcon-
tinent in ancient times are little known, inasmuch as few
historical records survive from antiquity. Th roughout In-
dia, apart from the mountainous margins, the countryside
is mostly fl at, and the majority of rivers are narrow enough
to make crossings manageable. Th us, prehistoric kingdoms
were established and reestablished constantly, with no spe-
cifi c landmarks serving as permanent borders. Th e dis-
parate kingdoms centered on the Indus and Ganges river
valleys were united for the fi rst time in 324 b.c.e. by Chan-
dragupta Maurya, who was perhaps inspired by the failed
attempt at conquest of the region by Alexander the Great in
326 b.c.e. When the Maurya Dynasty ended in 185 b.c.e.,
borders within India returned to a state of fl ux for some
500 years. While Greco-Bactrian, Persian, Scythian, and
various barbarian invaders breached India’s natural borders
throughout this period, they were typically absorbed into
Indian culture and life, essentially leaving the region’s outer
borders intact. Northern India was again unifi ed with the
advent of the Gupta Empire in 320 c.e.
Other regional kingdoms in ancient times were smaller
in scale and even more geographically isolated; consequently
both the defi nition and defense of their borders were gener-
ally of little concern. One entity found in the third century
c.e. in Southeast Asia, covering modern Cambodia and
southern Vietnam, left no historical records of its own but
was referred to as Funan by the Chinese; it may have been
either a state or simply a collective of ports, as the thickly
forested terrain would have made regional unifi cation im-
practical. Southeast Asia was populated by several bronze-
using civilizations, including the Khmer and Cham; other
complex cultures have been discovered archaeologically and
are not known to us by name. Similarly, while people are
known to have used advanced sailing techniques to reach
and occupy islands throughout the Pacifi c for millennia, the
isolation of individual islands meant that signifi cant states
did not come into existence until much later in history. On144 borders and frontiers: Asia and the Pacific