How did the various nations protect and define their borders before Europe was properly mapped?

by Joegottago

Sorry for the poor wording in the title. English is not my native language

Searocksandtrees

hi! there's lots of room for more input (Europe is a large area with many borders/frontiers and "before it was properly mapped" covers thousands of years), but you can get started on examples in these previous discussions

When did borders become rigid?

How well defined and enforced were national borders before the modern era?

How did Empires secure their borders while their army was away on campaign?

What were medieval European border crossings like?