in this video we are going to be reviewing the function of political boundaries and talk about the law of the sea remember if you find Value in these topic review videos consider subscribing and check out my ultimate review packet for more help with your AP Human Geography study now like we talked about in our last video a boundary is an invisible barrier or line that separates one state from another boundaries are often defined and can be delimited and also can be demarcated borders allow for a state to show where their sovereignty starts and ends and over time can be contested boundaries are often established based on the cultural differences of an area for example the Border may be based off the different linguistic characteristics of an area the different nations that reside there or maybe the boundary was created to account for cultural differences in Conflict there are also borders that use the physical terrain of an area to help create the boundary and some borders are based on the different political and economic differences of a geographic area regardless of what the boundary is B based on we can see that boundaries are utilized in a variety of different ways individuals use boundaries to show others where their property starts and ends organizations use boundaries to better understand zoning in cities and towns to find where they can locate their new store and states use boundaries to influence and exert control over Geographic areas now sometimes we can see that boundaries are contested and disputed definitional boundary disputes happen when there is a dispute over the interpretation of the original documents that Define the boundaries these disputes May often end up in court as the states people or organizations will need a third party to help clarify the documents the court acts as a third party that looks at the documents unbiasedly to come to a conclusion on the boundary sometimes disputes happen because the physical geography of an area changes these disputes are often known as locational boundary disputes and they are over the location of the boundary and ownership of the land for example let's look at the state of Mississippi some of the placees in the state have actually found themselves shifting from the state of Mississippi into the state of Louisiana this is due to how the Mississippi River has shifted over time here the original boundary has shifted and that leads people to question the original boundary the next dispute is an operational boundary dispute which is a dispute on how to handle a major issue or situation with the boundary for example the United States and Mexico both agree where the boundary is between the two countries but can't agree on how to best handle border cross here the dispute is how to operate maintain and control the boundary not over the boundary itself then there's allocational boundary disputes which are over the use of what is in or on the boundary most of the time these disputes are over natural resources for example if there's oil on the boundary who is the right to extract the oil so we can see that boundary disputes happen for a variety of different reasons and the severity of the disputes can vary depending on the scale we are using if we look at the local scale we can see boundary disputes happen with property lines and School District boundaries but if we move up to the National or global scale we can see disputes occur over natural resources like water or natural gas or disputes occur over ownership over a particular territory now since we're on the topic of boundaries and natural resources we also need to talk about unclog which stands for the United Nations convention on the law of the sea in 1985 the United Nations held a conference to try and help countries better understand how to deal with alloc boundary disputes in the sea the result was in 1983 the international law of the sea was adopted the law of the sea consists of three parts the first part is the territorial Waters this Zone extends out 12 nautical miles from the shore in this Zone States May set laws regulating passage of ships registered in other states and for the most part any of the laws that exist on the mainland apply in this area as well here the state has both political and economic control the next zone is the contiguous Zone this is between 12 and 24 nautical miles from Shore here a state may enforce laws concerning pollution taxation customs and immigration then the last zone is the exclusive economic zone or EZ this is between 24 and 200 nautical miles States here have the sole right to the natural resources in this area such as oil and fish after that you're in international waters and no state has control if conflicts or disputes arise over any resource or any disagreements about the law of the sea states can can take their disputes to the international court of justice currently one of the biggest disputes over the law of the sea is in the South China Sea the South China Sea is a sea that is extremely rich in natural resources it is estimated that there is over 11 billion barrels of oil possibly up to 190 trillion feet of natural gas and close to 10% of the world's Fisheries is located in the South China Sea so as you can see the area is incredibly valuable plus it's also connected to a choke point and a major trade route for different Goods currently there's around countries that have a claim to part of the South China Sea the majority of these countries use the law of the sea to justify their claim China however has ignored the law of the sea and has claimed a historical claim instead China is using the n-h line to claim the majority of the sea the issue with this line is it's confusing and it originates from an old map that dates back to Naval Expeditions in the 15th century over the past 10 years China has started to build Islands on reefs in the South China Sea China sent ships out to dump sand on the reefs to create the island and once the islands are created China puts military bases on the islands and also troops this expands their control in the sea now in the middle of the South China Sea is a cluster of islands known as the spratly island currently the Philippines Vietnam Malaysia and China claim the islands in the area the spratly islands are important because of their geographic location in the sea but also what the islands represent the islands are geographically too small to create settlements that people can inhabit but countries are eager to claim the island so that they can expand their e to include more of the South China Sea now China does not acknowledge the Philippines Vietnam Indonesia or Malaysia's claim to the island China believes the islands are there recently China has been increasing their military power in the region and working on taking control of the islands one by one this has caused the United States to get involved even though the United States has no claim to the South China Sea but the United States uses their Navy to help enforce international law which has caused tensions to rise in the area due to China getting upset over how close the United States military is to their country and does not like the United States hindering their claim to the Sea for now we'll have to play the waiting game to see what happens with the South China Sea however one thing is clear about this region tensions in the South China Sea will remain high as the world is now focused on the region and the results of this boundary dispute will not only impact the political climate of the area but the global economy as well and just like that another video is done now comes the time to practice what we've learned answer the questions on the screen and when you're done check your answers in the comment section down below or in the description of this video as always if you found value in this video consider subscribing and check out my ultimate review packet for more help with your AP human geography class thank you so much for watching I'm Mr sin and until next time I'll see you online