ANCIENT NUBIA
The prehistory of Nubia dates back to 300,000 years ago. By about 6000 BC, peoples in the region had developed an agricultural economy.
Early inhabitants of the Nubia region were succeeded by the first Nubian language speakers, whose tongues belonged to the separate Nilo-Saharan phylum.
Although Egypt and Nubia have a shared pre-dynastic and pharaonic history, the two histories diverge with the fall of Ancient Egypt and the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great in 332 BC. At this point, the area of land between the 1st and the 6th cataract of the Nile became known as Nubia.
THE FALL OF NUBIA
Kushites formed the kingdom of Meroë and Nubians defeated the Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar, resulting in a favorable peace treaty for Meroë. The kingdom of Meroë also defeated the Persians, and later Christian Nubia defeated the invading Arab armies resulting in the 600-year peace treaty of Baqt, the longest lasting treaty in history.
Nubia was dominated by kings from clans that controlled the gold mines. Trade in exotic goods from other parts of Africa (ivory, animal skins) passed to Egypt through Nubia
The fall of the kingdom of Christian Nubia occurred in the early 1500s resulting in full Islamization and reunification with Egypt when it was conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1517, after which it became a province of the Ottoman Empire.
MUHAMMAD ALI DYNASTY
In 1798 Egypt was invaded by the French forces of Napoleon Bonaparte, then French were defeated by the British.
After the French were expelled, power in Egypt was seized in 1805 by Muhammad Ali Pasha, an Albanian military commander of the Ottoman army in Egypt. Muhammad Ali massacred the Egyptian Mamluks, who ruled Egypt for centuries and established a dynasty that was to rule Egypt until the revolution of 1952.
In 1820 – 1824 Muhammad Ali annexed Northern Sudan.
BRITISH OCCUPATION
n 1878, an Egyptian army officer, Ahmed ‘Urabi, mutinied and initiated a coup against Tewfik Pasha, the Khedive of Egypt and Sudan, because of grievances over disparities in pay between Egyptians and Europeans, as well as other concerns.
In January 1882 the British and French governments sent a “Joint Note” to the Egyptian government, declaring their recognition of the Khedive’s authority. On 20 May 1882, British and French warships arrived off the coast of Alexandria.
A British ultimatum was rejected and its warships began bombardment of Alexandria from 11–13 July and then occupied it with marines. The British did not lose a single ship, but much of the city was destroyed by fires caused by explosive shells.
DRAWING BORDER
From the British occupation of 1882 to 1914, although nominally a vassal of the Turkish Empire, Egypt was, in fact, a United Kingdom protectorate. However, the United Kingdom did not officially declare a protectorate over Egypt until December 18, 1914, which lasted until January 28, 1922. In 1898 a joint Anglo – Egyptian military force brought to an end a revolution in the formerly Egyptian administered Sudan.
Following this military action, the United Kingdom made claim to a voice in the administration of Sudan, which was realized by the Anglo – Egyptian Agreement of 1899 relative to the joint administration of the state by the two signatories. That agreement established the boundary between Egypt and Sudan initially as the parallel of 22° North.
On July 25, 1902 a new administrative boundary was created by an arête by the Egyptian Minister of the Interior.
NO MAN’S LAND
In delimiting the western segment of the administrative boundary a straight line was drawn between Jebel Bartazuga to the south of the 22nd parallel and Kurusku in the proximity of the Nile north of the parallel. On June 16, 1907, a letter from the Egyptian Intelligence Service directed to the General-Director of the Egyptian Survey Department suggested that the western segment of the boundary be shortened to extend only as far as the 22nd parallel from Jebel Bartazuga.
Egyptian Government on February 1, 1958, sent a note to the Sudanese Government requesting the return of all territory of Halaib Triangle – north of the 22nd parallel to Egyptian administration. In return, Egypt would reciprocate by turning over the Egyptian administered territory of Bir Tawil – south of the 22nd parallel to Sudanese administration.
In response, the Sudanese Government pointed out that in two previous elections held in the Sudanese territories north of the 22nd parallel, the Egyptian Government had not lodged any complaint. It also added that the inhabitants of these territories had not been asked to vote in a previous plebiscite held in Egypt.
BIRTH OF BIR TAWIL
For many years Egypt and Sudan both claim different border lines, where they both would have the Hala’ib Triangle, leaving ten times smaller piece of land – Bir Tawil, to the other. As both claim the Hala’ib Triangle, neither claims Bir Tawil.
Border disagreement between Egypt and Sudan left Bir Tawil De jure no man’s land.
On December 17, 2014, Bir Tawil was reached by two noble travelers, who claimed the area, declared the sovereignty of its territory and established the Kingdom of Mediae Terrae Bir Tawil with HRM Dmitry I as a Ruler and Mika Ronkainen as a Duke of the Southern Territories.