Are Polish Eastern Borderlands the Borderlands of Europe? Selected Historical, Geographical, Economic and Political Interpretations

Abstract

The main goal of the paper is to answer the question as read in the title: can we regard the Polish Eastern Borderlands as the borders of Europe? Or, can we place the Polish Eastern Borderlands in a special zone between the East and the West of Europe? In the paper, a few concepts of the historical, geographical, economic and political boundaries in the Old Continent have been analyzed. The paper also includes the verification of Leo Gumilov climate hypothesis and tries to point at the most significant border rivers between Europe and Eurasia. All these analyses were updated because of the aggressive policy of Russia and the conflict in the Eastern Ukraine in the second decade of 21^st century.