Borders & Boundaries: The War of 1812 | The Canadian Encyclopedia

Borders & Boundaries: The War of 1812

This guide is designed to complement Historica Canada’s War of 1812 guide and themed guides by offering an in-depth discussion of the importance of borders and geography to war. This guide is made possible with generous support from the Government of Canada.


In this guide, borders are defined in geographic, political, national, linguistic and cultural terms. Sometimes they are clearly defined and other times they are abstract, though still significant to the populations affected by them. During the War of 1812, borders were often unclear as no proper survey had been done to define the boundaries. Border decisions were made by government leaders and frequently led to decades of disagreements. When borders changed, they often affected the people living on either side by determining their nationality and their ability to trade for goods and services.

1812_borders_guide

Show your support this school year!

Since The Canadian Encyclopedia is an approved online source for Canadian school boards (and 35% of its users are students and teachers), we are kicking off this school year by asking our supporters to start a monthly donation to help TCE reach even more users this year! Your monthly donation will help us create new articles and update existing articles and timelines, to ensure Canadian students and teachers have access to accurate and fact-checked information written and edited by Canadians.

Donate today!