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Built to Separate: Border Barriers Around the World (30 photos)

The current debate in the United States about building up and reinforcing the border wall with Mexico may have distinctly American roots, but the problems, and the controversial solutions, are global. Growing numbers of immigrants, terrorist activity, continued drug trafficking, and protracted wars have sparked the construction of temporary and permanent border barriers in many regions worldwide. Our own Uri Friedman wrote in his 2016 article “A World of Walls,” “Of the 51 fortified boundaries built between countries since the end of World War II, around half were constructed between 2000 and 2014.” Below, a look at some famous and some lesser-known barriers across the globe.

Jiankou, an unrestored section of the Great Wall of China, photographed near Beijing. The Great Wall is a collection of fortified barriers built over hundreds of years to protect various Chinese empires from nomadic tribes to the north. ( Ilya Terentyev / Getty)
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2019/01/separation-barriers/580480/