[Fraxinus]

I suspect that the entire anglophone world has a tendency to regard borders as permanent because the borders of those countries have rarely if ever undergone changes.

The British Isles were insulated from the frequent changes in borders that occurred in Europe before 1870. The US has only once (in 1863) had a state's border change, and many of the Eastern states have had permanent borders since the mid 1700's.

Thus many people today tend regard borders as permanent because there have been few if any changes world wide since 1945, and for most English speaking countries since circa 1870, as most of the changes in Africa were of the governments not where the borders of the countries were on the maps.

[SunkenCiv]

The British Isles were insulated from the frequent changes in borders that occurred in Europe before 1870. The US has only once (in 1863) had a state's border change, and many of the Eastern states have had permanent borders since the mid 1700's.

Quibble -- some of the eastern states have had fixed borders, but in the early 19th c VT and NY struggled over their common border, and states with no states to their west tried to claim everything straight out from their own western borders (same time frame. And British Isles borders have changed plenty of times.

But the whole world began for each of us at our births, so any change (sometimes even things for the better, like the reunification of Germany) can be disruptive and seem less commonplace that perhaps it is. :')