A patch of desert of about 2,060 square kilometres between Egypt and Sudan that neither country claims. It exists because British officials drew two different borders in 1899 and 1902, and each country prefers the line that gives it the more valuable Hala'ib Triangle instead.

Why are the borders in the Fergana Valley so complicated?

The borders between Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan were drawn by Soviet officials in the 1920s and 1930s, when they were internal lines inside one country. After 1991 they became international borders, leaving enclaves such as Uzbekistan's Sokh surrounded by Kyrgyzstan.

Why are Libya's borders straight lines?

Most of Libya's borders were set in agreements between Italy, Britain and France in the early 20th century, along lines of latitude and longitude through thinly populated desert.

Borders drawn from far away.

Some borders were drawn by people who had never seen the land they were dividing: officials with maps, rulers and very little local knowledge. The results are still on the map.

A Timeless Tales story · 4 minute read

The short version, from my channel. Watch it on YouTube.

Bir Tawil: the land nobody wants

In 1899 Britain and Egypt drew the border between Egypt and Sudan along the 22nd parallel, a straight line. In 1902 British officials drew a second, administrative line that bent around local tribal lands.

The two lines created two leftover pieces. The Hala'ib Triangle, on the Red Sea, is valuable, and both Egypt and Sudan claim it, each using the line that gives it Hala'ib. The other piece, Bir Tawil, about 2,060 square kilometres of empty desert, falls on the wrong side of both claims. To claim Bir Tawil, either country would have to give up its claim to Hala'ib. So nobody claims it at all.

The Fergana Valley: enclaves inside enclaves

In the 1920s and 1930s, Soviet officials divided Central Asia into republics, including Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Their lines cut through the Fergana Valley, one of the most crowded and mixed regions in the area, and left several villages and districts entirely surrounded by a neighbouring republic.

Inside the Soviet Union that hardly mattered. After 1991 the lines became international borders. Sokh, part of Uzbekistan, is surrounded by Kyrgyzstan; Vorukh, part of Tajikistan, is too. Historians still argue over whether the tangle was a deliberate policy of divide and rule from Moscow or the result of rushed decisions, but people living there have lived with checkpoints and disputes ever since.

Libya: borders with a ruler

Look at Libya on a map and most of its borders are dead straight. In the early 20th century, Italy, which had seized Libya from the Ottoman Empire in 1912, settled its borders with Britain and France, the colonial powers next door. Through hundreds of kilometres of thinly populated desert, the easiest lines were lines of latitude and longitude. The border with Egypt, for example, largely follows the 25th meridian east.

1899 Egypt-Sudan border set on the 22nd parallel
1902 A second administrative line creates Bir Tawil
1912 Italy takes Libya from the Ottoman Empire
1920s–1930s Soviet borders drawn in Central Asia
1991 Fergana's internal lines become international borders

Sources

Bir Tawil, Wikipedia
Fergana Valley, Wikipedia
Sokh District, Wikipedia
Egypt–Libya border, Wikipedia