A fence is a freestanding structure that is designed to restrict or prevent movement across a boundary. They are constructed for several purposes including security, privacy, agriculture and land ownership.  The earliest fences were made of locally available materials, usually stone or wood.  Since the 16th century fences have redefined the means by which land is used.  Under the old feudal system, most land in Europe was cultivated in common fields, where people or “peasants” were allocated strips of land to support the needs of their local village or manor.

By the 16th century the growth of population and prosperity provided incentives for landowners to use their land in more profitable ways, dispossessing the peasantry.  Common fields were aggregated and enclosed by large and enterprising farmers - either through negotiation among one another or by lease from the landlord - to maximize the productivity of the available land and contain livestock.

Today fences are used to separate anything from small fields to entire countries. After first closing its border with Pakistan in 2005 by constructing a fence, India is now building an all new 2,000-mile double fence on it’s border with Bangladesh to keep out impoverished illegal immigrants and undesirables.  And more recently in January 2008 in the Middle East, militants blew up and bulldozed over the fence that borders Egypt and the Gaza Strip resulting in a flood of thousands of Palestinians rushing over the border from Gaza to buy basic supplies and food after Israel had cut off all supplies to the settlement.