“Terra nullius.” Under international law, this Latin phrase meaning “nobody’s land” describes an area of land unclaimed by any sovereign nation-state. In an age where nearly every inch of the world’s landmass has been mapped, examples of terra nullius are exceedingly rare.
Bir Tawil, for instance — a desolate parcel of desert on the Egyptian-Sudanese border. Egypt and Sudan have competing maps of the border, but because of the crisscrossing of those boundaries, Bir Tawil would belong to whichever nation relinquished its claim on a larger, more desirable area. Each country insists that Bir Tawil belongs to the other.
This unusual status has attracted self-styled nationbuilders — so- called…
