Frontier

A frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary.

Quotes

• ... what distinguishes a borderland from a frontier is the existence of a territorial boundary that is artificial but specific. The American West, for example, is a place that is difficult to encapsulate as a single unit because it changed with time and settlement and always had ambiguous boundaries.
  • James Cusick, "Creolization and the Borderlands", Historical Archaeology, vol. 34, no. 3 (2000), p. 47