The Last Land on Earth That Nobody Wants

There is exactly one habitable stretch of land on Earth that no state claims. It lies between Egypt and Sudan, measures 2,060 square kilometres and is called Bir Tawil. No border conflict, no occupied zone, simply nobody's land.

That is remarkable, because states otherwise quarrel over every rock in the sea. With Bir Tawil it works the other way round. Both neighbours could have the territory, neither wants it. The reason is not indifference. A claim to Bir Tawil would be a bad deal for both sides.

Two lines that do not match

In 1899 the Anglo-Egyptian agreement on the administration of Sudan put the border on the 22nd parallel, a straight line on the map. In 1902 an administrative boundary was added that followed the actual grazing grounds. It assigned the coastal area of Halaib to Sudan and Bir Tawil to the Egyptian sphere.

Both documents came from the same colonial administration. One was a stroke drawn by degree of latitude, the other a concession to the people on the ground, who drove their herds along fixed routes. That the lines contradicted each other did not matter at the time, because the same power ruled on both sides. Only with independence did the contradiction turn into a dispute.

Two border lines have coexisted ever since. Egypt invokes the line of 1899, Sudan the line of 1902. This is where the logic tips into paradox: recognise the one line and you get Halaib but forfeit any claim to Bir Tawil. Recognise the other and you get Bir Tawil and lose Halaib.

Claiming Bir Tawil would mean giving up Halaib. So nobody claims it.

— TerraTally · Borders desk

The choice is an easy one. Halaib is roughly ten times the size, sits on the Red Sea and is considered rich in resources. Bir Tawil is desert without a coast. Both states therefore reach for Halaib and consistently leave Bir Tawil alone. The territory has not been forgotten. It is the price both are willing to pay.

The fact that a piece of land is legally unclaimed has drawn people from all over the world who proclaimed fantasy states there, complete with flags, websites and self-awarded titles. None of these proclamations holds. A state does not come into being by assertion but by recognition, and nobody has ever recognised any of these kings.

That does not make the area empty of people. Nomadic groups have long used it as pasture and as a route, and in recent years gold prospectors have moved in. They work in a space where no authority issues permits, no police intervene and no court has jurisdiction. That formally no state is responsible does not mean nobody is there. It means nobody answers for the people who are.

Bir Tawil shows something that neatly drawn borders rarely reveal. Territory is not property but a claim somebody has to keep up. Where that effort does not pay off, a gap appears. It stays open as long as filling it would cost more than ignoring it.