Frontier

Origin

Middle English fronter, from Anglo-French frountere, fronter, from front

• 15th Century

Definitions

• 1a : a border between two countries

b obsolete : a stronghold on a frontier

• 2a : a region that forms the margin of settled or developed territory

b : the farthermost limits of knowledge or achievement in a particular subject

c : a line of division between different or opposed things <the frontiers separating science and the humanities — R. W. Clark>

d : a new field for exploitative or developmental activity

Description

A frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary. 'Frontier' was borrowed into English from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"--the region of a country that fronts on another country (see also marches).

The use of "frontier" to mean "a region at the edge of a settled area" is a special North American development. (Compare the Australian "outback".)

External links

• Transhumanist.com: Opening Space as a Frontier
• Association for Borderlands Studies