In 1885 European leaders met at the infamous Berlin Conference to divide Africa and arbitrarily draw up borders that exist to this day. Lines of longitude and latitude, rivers and mountain ranges were pressed into service as borders separating the colonies.
Louis XIV believed in the "divine right of kings," where he said that he had the right to rule because he was ordered by God. He uses this as basically an excuse to rule like a tyrant and have autocratic control over everything.
Language is most likely to connect a cultural region because communication is the key to everything.
