Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Terra Nullius (Encore)

Starting point is 00:00:00 The following is an encore presentation of Everything Everywhere Daily. Imagine for a moment that you want to start a brand new country, only you don't want to go through the messy process of starting a revolution or a civil war in a currently existing country. You want to find a piece of empty land for yourself that no one has claimed. Is such a thing even possible? Learn more about the doctrine of terra nullius and where it could still theoretically be exercised in the world today on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Do you ever climb into bed ready to sleep only to have your mind start racing the moment your head hits the pillow?

Starting point is 00:00:48 Thoughts bouncing around, replaying the day or jumping ahead to tomorrow? That is exactly why Catherine Nikolai created Nothing Much Happens. Each episode is a gentle, cozy bedtime story where, well, nothing much happens. No drama, no tension, nothing you need to follow closely. Just soft narration, calming repetition, and soothing sensory details designed to help your mind slow down and your body relax. It's not about entertainment, it's about rest. And millions of listeners around the world use it every night to quiet their thoughts and finally fall asleep. If you've ever struggled to shut your brain off at night, this might be exactly what you've been missing.

Starting point is 00:01:24 You can listen to Nothing Much Happens wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes are every Monday and Thursday. The term terra nullius is Latin for nobody's land. It's a legal concept that deals with land that hasn't been claimed by any country. It's derived from the legal concept of res nullius, which means nobody's thing. Resnolius pertains to property that's been abandoned or that no one owns. For example, a couch that someone's put out on the curb might fall under the theory of res nullius because they've abandoned it. The extension of res nullius to land was a European innovation that occurred during the age of exploration.

Starting point is 00:02:04 And it was a pretty handy concept as you were sailing around the world and came to a new land. You could just say, well, there's no one here, so I guess it's ours now. The idea of Terra Nullius was exploited the most when the British claimed Australia. Of course, you can probably immediately see the problem in claiming that Australia was nobody's land when there were in fact a whole bunch of people in Australia, and they had been there for 40,000 years. It wasn't actually used when the British discovered Australia so much as it was a theory used to justify what they had already done in the late 19th century. It actually became the center of a court case in 1992, Mabo v. Queensland, which overturned the doctrine of terra nullius, which had been used to dismiss Aboriginal land claims. While the Terranulius

Starting point is 00:02:48 doctrine has most certainly been abused, there have also been many cases where truly uninhabited islands were found and occupied. Take, for example, the island of St. Helena, which I did a previous episode on. No humans ever lived on the island, and there's no evidence that any human ever even visited the island before the Portuguese sailed by in 1505. All of the islands that were part of the Polynesian expansion were basically Teranolius. The Polynesians were the first people ever to set foot on these islands. Given how extensively human beings have spread, there are very few places that legitimately could be considered nobody's land. For thousands of years, pretty much all the land on all the major land masses have been occupied or claimed by some kingdom, civilization, or tribe.

Starting point is 00:03:30 Nonetheless, there is a land in the world that no one claims. There isn't much of it, but it does exist. One of the most recent claims of Teranullius has to do with the island of Rockall. It's a stretch to even call rock all an island. It's just a rock that juts out of the Atlantic Ocean, roughly equal distance from Iceland, Ireland, Scotland, and the Faroe Islands. The entire area of the rock is only 784 square meters or 8,442 square feet. And you can't really even land on it because it sticks out 17 meters or 56 feet above sea level. Now, the funny thing is, despite claiming almost a quarter of the Earth at its peak, the British Empire never bothered to claim this little rock which was off the shore of Great Britain itself. The only reason Rockall had any

Starting point is 00:04:20 relevance whatsoever is that the BBC began using it as a reference point when doing weather reports for ships. In 1955, Rockall was claimed by the United Kingdom, and it was formally annexed in 1972. It was the last speck of land on Earth that was added to the British Empire. Prior to this, it was considered Teranullius. Of course, neighboring countries such as Ireland do not recognize this as British territory. Some random rock in the Atlantic Ocean in the 1950s is interesting, but are there examples of unclaimed territories in the world today? And the answer is, yes, but there aren't many. The largest and most obvious case of Teranulius is Antarctica. Antarctica technically isn't owned by anyone. However, seven countries have claimed part of Antarctica.

Starting point is 00:05:06 Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom. Several of these claims overlap, and some have very ambiguous boundaries. However, according to the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, those claims have all been suspended. That hasn't stopped countries from taking action to support their claims, such as establishing bases, but they are all still suspended by international law. If you look at most maps of Antarctica, you can see all of the pie-shaped claims that have been made. However, while Antarctica is legally Teranullius, there is one part of Antarctica that no one has bothered to claim, Marie Birdland. Marie Birdland is by far the largest unclaimed plot of land on

Starting point is 00:05:48 Earth. It's 1.6 million square kilometers or 620,000 square miles in area. It is approximately the size of Mongolia or Iran, and the territory lies south of the Pacific Ocean. Its name comes from the wife of the American explorer Richard Bird who explored it. There was formerly an American and a Soviet research station in Marie Birdland, but they're no longer in operation. Prior to the Antarctic Treaty, the United States was going to make its Antarctic claim to Marie Birdland, and there were even some maps that were made showing it. According to the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, the United States reserves the right to make future claims on the continent. And if they should do that, there's a very good chance that this would be their claim.

Starting point is 00:06:30 Outside of Marie Birdland, there are only two very minor examples of land which are not claimed by any country. And perhaps a third example depending on how you define it. The next largest bit of unclaimed land is known as Bur To Will. If you look at most maps of the world, you will notice that the border between Egypt and Sudan is a straight line located at the 22nd parallel. This is the border as it was defined in an 1899 agreement between Britain and Egypt, and this is the way that Egypt defines the border today. However, the British made another border in 1902 to reflect actual land usage by local tribes. This border has a triangular area north of the 22nd parallel that borders the Red Sea, and that was granted to Sudan, and a smaller area

Starting point is 00:07:14 below the 22nd parallel, which was granted to Egypt, and finally a small finger of territory that jutted up the Nile River, which was again given to Sedan. The small finger of land is known as the Wadi Halfa Salient, which is 9 kilometers by 25 kilometers. The larger triangle of land bordering the Red Sea is known as the Halibre triangle, but the Halibre triangle and the Wadi Hulfa-Salient are claimed by both countries. The remaining bit of land below the 22nd parallel is known as Burr-to-will. Burr-to-will is approximately 260 square kilometers or 795 square miles in area, which is about half the size of the state of Rhode Island. Sudan doesn't claim Burr-Tal because they want the larger Halib triangle and the Wadi-Hul-A-Salient, and their claim to these areas

Starting point is 00:08:00 means they can't claim Burr to Will because it's based on the 1902 border. Egypt doesn't claim Burr to Will because it's south of the 22nd parallel, which they view as the border due to the 1899 agreement. The end result is that neither Egypt nor Sudan claims this area. There isn't anything in Burr to Will. It has a permanent population of zero, with just some occasional Bedouins passing through. It is nothing but desert with no water whatsoever. Because of its odd status of being unclaimed, some people have tried to claim it for themselves,

Starting point is 00:08:33 but they're mostly jokes. Both Egypt and Sudan recognize the other country is owning it, so neither has any incentive for anyone else to claim the territory or give access to anyone via their territory. The other bit of unclaimed land has a story similar to Burr to Will. It is an even smaller speck of land located on the border of Croatia and Serbia. The Danube River consists of about 80% of the border between Croatia. Croatia and Serbia. This seems like it would be a really easy border. Serbia's on the east bank, Croatia's on the west bank. At least that's how Serbia sees it.

Starting point is 00:09:07 Croatia, however, views the border as corresponding to the 19th century boundary, which also followed the Danube River. Since the 19th century, the river has straightened out considerably. Land which was once west of the river in the 19th century, now lies east of the river in land controlled by Serbia. Croatia claims it, but Serbia controls it. There are, however, some very small parcels of land, which are just the opposite. They used to be east of the river, but now lie to the west of the river. Because Serbia recognizes the current river as the border, they don't view these small bits of land as being theirs. Because they were on the east side of the river in the 19th century, Croatia doesn't recognize it as being their land either.

Starting point is 00:09:50 So, that means, there's about 10 square kilometers or 3.9 square miles of land that neither Croatia nor Serbia clobes. as theirs. This issue actually came up when both countries were part of Yugoslavia, but it was never resolved during this period, and then it became an open sore when both countries became independent. In 2015, members of the Party of Free Citizens in the Czech Republic actually went down to the land and declared it an independent country called Liberland. As with Egypt and Sudan, while neither country claims the land, they do not consider it Teranolius because they see it as belonging to the other country. Resolution of the issue may actually be a precondition to Serbia entering the EU at some point in the future. I mentioned before that there might be a third

Starting point is 00:10:36 example depending on how you interpret Terranullius. No country claims this land, but it is occupied by a people. And that territory is North Sentinel Island. In the Bay of Bengal are the Andaman Islands. The Andaman Islands are a state in India. They do have a bit of a unique status within the organization of India, but it is definitely Indian territory. However, one of the smaller islands to the west of the main archipelago is North Sentinel Island. North Central Island has an area of 60 square kilometers or 23 square miles, and India has stated that they do not claim this island as part of India. Moreover, no other country claims this island either. So why doesn't India claim this island when they've claimed every other island in the archipelago? That is because there is a group of

Starting point is 00:11:24 people who live on the island we know as the Sentinelese. The Sentinelese have basically no contact with the outside world. No one understands the Sentinelese language, and no one on North Sentinel Island can speak any other language. What few cases there have been of outsiders landing on the island, either accidentally or on purpose, have resulted in them getting attacked or killed. India considers the island to be a protectorate. The Indian Navy patrols the waters around it to keep people out, but they consider the people on the island to be independent. However, given that the people on the island are not part of the international system, they don't really have a Westphalian sovereignty as every other country has. They're just their own people who are left alone on their own island. Again, this isn't exactly a case of Teranulius. While no country claims the island, it is most certainly the land of the people who live there. There is, of course, one further case of Terranelius, which is actually quite big, very big. I am of course talking about some. space. Nobody owns the moon, the planets, or any other body in the solar system. As with the

Starting point is 00:12:30 Antarctic Treaty, the Outer Space Treaty prohibits any nation from claiming anything in space as their territory. The issue of property and sovereignty in space has been central to many science fiction novels, and perhaps one day, Terranulius claims in space are going to become an important issue. But, until then, for the most part, the entire Earth has been carved up and claimed by one country or another. So if you want to go start your own country, your best bet might just be to buy a ship and to go out into international waters. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Thor Thompson and Peter Bennett. I just want to thank everyone, including the show's producers, who support the show over on Patreon.

Starting point is 00:13:14 If you'd like to support the show, just head over to patreon.com, which is currently the only place where you can get show merchandise. Also, if you want to talk to other listeners about the show, head over to our Facebook group or or Discord server, both of which have links in the show notes.

Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Terra Nullius (Encore)

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