Frontier Road uses the history of one road in southern Colombia—known locally as “the trampoline of death”—to demonstrate how state-building processes and practices have depended on the production and maintenance of frontiers as inclusive-exclusive zones, often through violent means. Considers the topic from multiple perspectives, including ethnography of the state, the dynamics of frontiers, and the nature of postcolonial power, space, and violence Draws attention to the political, environmental, and racial dynamics involved in the history and development of transport infrastructure in the Amazon region Examines the violence that has sustained the state through time and space, as well as the ways in which ordinary people have made sense of and contested that violence in everyday life Incorporates a broad range of engaging sources, such as missionary and government archives, travel writing, and oral histories

Frontier Road uses the history of one road in southern Colombia—known locally as “the trampoline of death”—to demonstrate how state-building processes and practices have depended on the production and maintenance of frontiers as inclusive-exclusive zones, often through violent means. Considers the topic from multiple perspectives, including ethnography of the state, the dynamics of frontiers, and the nature of postcolonial power, space, and violence Draws attention to the political, environmental, and racial dynamics involved in the history and development of transport infrastructure in the Amazon region Examines the violence that has sustained the state through time and space, as well as the ways in which ordinary people have made sense of and contested that violence in everyday life Incorporates a broad range of engaging sources, such as missionary and government archives, travel writing, and oral histories

Eighteenth-century Kentucky beckoned to hunters, surveyors, and settlers from the mid-Atlantic coast colonies as a source of game, land, and new trade opportunities. Unfortunately, the Appalachian Mountains formed a daunting barrier that left only two primary roads to this fertile Eden. The steep grades and dense forests of the Cumberland Gap rendered the Wilderness Road impassable to wagons, and the northern route extending from southeastern Pennsylvania became the first main thoroughfare to the rugged West, winding along the Ohio River and linking Maysville to Lexington in the heart of the Bluegrass. Kentucky's Frontier Highway reveals the astounding history of the Maysville Road, a route that served as a theater of local settlement, an engine of economic development, a symbol of the national political process, and an essential part of the Underground Railroad. Authors Karl Raitz and Nancy O'Malley chart its transformation from an ancient footpath used by Native Americans and early settlers to a central highway, examining the effect that its development had on the evolution of transportation technology as well as the usage and abandonment of other thoroughfares, and illustrating how this historic road shaped the wider American landscape.

In 1844 mountain man Jemmey Fletcher's life has completely changed. The fur trade is done, the shinin' times are over, and the wild and exciting life of a mountain man is in its last days. Turning back to the civilization he thought he left behind him, Jemmey meets up with a wagon train in Independence, Missouri and hires on to guide the pioneers across the vastness of the west. Along the way, Jemmey and the emigrants battle prairie storms, attempt dangerous river crossings, and endure the hardships of the Oregon Trail. Although most of the settlers fear bands of Native Americans and wildness of the Great American desert, the deadliest threat can be found in their own camp.

Brother's Keeper -- Skid Road -- The Sisters -- Ark of Refuge -- Shacktown -- Threshold -- State of Emergency -- Epilogue.

The eastern frontier of the Roman Empire extended from northern Syria to the western Caucasus, across a remote and desolate region 800 miles from the Aegean. It followed the great Euphrates valley to penetrate the harsh mountains of Armenia Minor and south of the Black Sea, along the Pontic coast to the finally reach the foothills of the Caucasus. Though vast, this terrain has long remained one of the great gaps in our knowledge of the ancient world, barely visited and effectively unknown — until now. Here, Timothy Bruce Mitford offers an account of half a century of research and exploration over sensitive territory, in challenging conditions, to discover the material remains of Rome's last unexplored frontier. The geographical framework introduces frontier installations as they occur: fortresses and forts, roads, bridges, signalling stations, and navigation of the Euphrates. The journey is enriched with observations of consuls and travellers, memories of Turkish and Kurdish villagers, and notes and photographs of a way of life little changed since antiquity. The process of discovery was mainly on foot; staying in villages with local guides, following ancient tracks, and conversing with great numbers of people - provincial and district governors, village elders and teachers, police and jandarma, farmers and shepherds, and everyone in between. This came with its perils and pleasures; encounters with treasure hunters and apparent bandits, tales of saints and caravans, arrests and death threats, bears and wild boars, rafts and fishing, earthquakes, all amid the tumultuous events of the second half of the twentieth century. Richly illustrated with large-scale maps, photographs, and sketches, this is an account of travel and discovery, set against a background of a disappearing world encountered in the long process of academic exploration.

This volume investigates the Roman city of Singara and the fortifications and roads in the surrounding area. The Rome / Persia frontier has been little studied, in part because of the difficulty of access for scholars, but was of great importance because it separated the two major civilisations of the early first millennium CE.