Major Territory Disputes Around The World

Bir Tawil Is Claimed By Nobody

Photo Credits: STR/AFP/Getty Images

In 1899, Egypt and Sudan joined the British Empire where they established a horizontal border in order to separate the two countries. Then, in 1902, a group of Britains managed to create a new administrative border to create a better representation of the land used by the local tribes.

The new borders ended up creating two new regions: the larger Hala’ib Triangle, to the east, and the smaller Bir Tawil to the west. Now, there has been an ongoing dispute between Egypt and Sudan over who controls Hala’bib Triangle. Both claim that they control the Hala’ib Triangle and that the other controls the Bir Tawil. Currently, neither country accepts that they are in control of Bir Tawil and the region remains claimed by nobody.