The region I am walking through used to be Navarre, a country comprised of the ethnically Basque people, with a distinct language and culture. For a period, the area was the Kingdom of Carolingian (under Charlemagne), the Kingdom of Merovingian and various other names and nations…. before it was divided into France and Spain.
This is typical of every region in the world. EVERY SINGLE country that is recognized under the U.N. used to have another name, different borders and/or had not yet been named by humans – there is not a single exception (history).
Borders have often been decided by men sitting in a room, drawing lines on a map, often after wars and/or national conflicts.
Even CA was once divided into various Native American territories, than it was Mexican land, than later taken by the United States. Korea is not much different.
Just as chimpanzees and monkeys divide territories based on rivers and fruit trees, so do we divide national boundaries by arbitrary lines and environmental demarcations. We have fought wars, raped, pillaged and genocided each other based on these lines.
Not to say that I don’t believe in governance, laws, etc. but I believe that the world will be a better place when we realize that our ‘national identity’ is just a matter of arbitrary lines on a map.
to see the world... 