Extremely long-lasting national borders

[Futurist]

Which borders have lasted for an extremely long time with no or almost no changes?

So far, I could think of the borders of the Kingdom of Hungary--which were almost unchanged for something like 900 or 1,000 years with the exception of the couple of centuries when Hungary was conquered by the Ottoman Turks. This is a part of the reason as to why Hungarians were so angry at the Treaty of Trianon--it took away territories that were Hungarian for a millennium!

Also, AFAIK, the Kingdom of Bohemia kept its borders for a very long time--possibly for 1,000 years, but I'm not sure exactly. Bohemia later ended up being a part of A-H, but AFAIK it still remained its own kingdom within Austria. I also know that the Allies' allowed Czechoslovakia to have all of the territory within Bohemia's historical borders even though a lot of it was German-majority and a small part of it (Teschen) was Polish-majority. It's quite interesting, isn't it--the Allies let Czechoslovakia (a nominal victor in WWI) keep Bohemia's traditional borders while Hungary (a defeated country in WWI) was denied the right to keep its traditional borders.

In addition, AFAIK, the East Prussian-Lithuanian border was unchanged for something like 500 years--specifically from the early 15th century to the early 20th century--when WWI changed the situation in regards to this.

Anyway, what other examples of this have there been?

 

[Mastersonmcvoidson]

The Franco-Spanish border has been pretty much unchanged from the formation of Spain to present day. With the small territorial change of the French annexation Russilon in 1659 and Napoleon briefly annexing Catalonia to France the border was unchanged and remained more-or-less fixed at the Pyrenees.

The Kingdom of Naples, whether independent or as a domain of another power pretty much kept its borders since its formation, about 700 years of existence.

 

[Futurist]

The Franco-Spanish border has been pretty much unchanged from the formation of Spain to present day. With the small territorial change of the French annexation Russilon in 1659 and Napoleon briefly annexing Catalonia to France the border was unchanged and remained more-or-less fixed at the Pyrenees.

Excellent example!

BTW, Navarre did exist up to the 16th century but its southern part was conquered by Spain and its northern part was annexed to France in the early 17th century (after the King of Navarre became King of France).

The Kingdom of Naples, whether independent or as a domain of another power pretty much kept its borders since its formation, about 700 years of existence.

Very interesting!

 

[WhatAnArtist]

Portugal's borders have remained almost identical since 1249.

 

[Futurist]

Portugal's borders have remained almost identical since 1249.

Yep--with only Olivenza/Olivenca changing hands, correct?

 

[Hoosierhiver]

Do islands count? Japan.

 

[Haakbus]

Korea's border along the western coast has reached the mouth of the Yalu since the mid 11th century, most of the Yalu river since the 1370s, and the modern-day border along the Tuman river to the northeast since the 1430s. Except for about a hundred years when the Mongols controlled the northern regions.

 

[Maki]

Do islands count? Japan.

But didn't Japan solidify its claim on Hokkaido relatively recently?

 

[Otto I]

The German-Lithuanian border was agreed upon by the Treaty of Lake Melno on September 27th, 1422. It changed, when Lithuania invaded and annexed the Memelland part of East Prussia in 1923. Technically a small part of it exists as the border between Lithuania and Russia (around 50 km). I red somewhere it was the oldest unchanged border in Europe after the Pyrenees-border. So one can either say it lasted 501 years or 500+ years and still counting.

The West Frankish/French-East Frankish/German border was unchanged from the Treaty of Ribemont in 880 until partially de facto in 1522 with the Princes Conspiracy and de jure withe the french invasion in the Thirty Years War. So this border lasted 600+ to 700+ years.

The longest lasting, unchanged borders of a whole country in the world is Portugal.

I think San Marinos borders are pretty old, too. I'm not sure how old exactly.

 

[Futurist]

Do islands count? Japan.

No, islands don't count for this since this would make it way too easy.