Atlas Obscura: A guide to.... yes.
William? Not doing a book review? No... it can't be... Well, believe it or not, dear reader, I have decided to spend my final blog post not writing a book review. Instead, this post will be dedicated to parts I found particularly interesting in Atlas Obscura by Joshua Foer. This book is quirky and unique in that it's sort of like an atlas in that it takes you through interesting and notable places around the world, but the twist is that they are relatively.... obscure (do you get it? Because the title is "Obscura"? Really clever, I know). So without further ado, here are some places I found particularly interesting.
Warning: Contains Minor Spoilers, although what do they really spoil? Real life? There isn't any "plot" to the book, except maybe the plot of real life? I feel like I should be able to describe it better but yeah.
Longplayer, London, United Kingdom
Longplayer is a song composed of six short pre-recorded pieces of Mongolian throat singing spliced and altered together in such a way that it will not repeat itself for one thousand years. So don't worry, you have a little bit of time before you can go and see it. The song started on December 31, 1999, and will (hopefully) play continuously for the next 1000 years, ending on December 31, 2999. As of 4/26/2021 (the day I'm writing this), it has been playing for 21 years, 116 days, 37 minutes, and 14 seconds (you can find how long it's been playing, among other information, here). However, there is no guarantee it will last a full thousand years. The owners and operators of Longplayer have devised various holding companies and other legal loopholes that will help ensure that it can play for the full thousand years, but none of us will live that long, so who knows what might happen.
Bir Tawil, North Africa
I can't specify a location for this item, but that's the whole point of writing about it. Nobody claims this land. Sometimes called the Bir Tawil Triangle, despite clearly being a quadrilateral, this piece of land sits between Egypt and Sudan and is the product of colonialism and a bit of stubbornness (and a lot of politics). But first, some statistics. The area is 795 square miles, and has a whopping population of 0 (which might be why no one claims it). Bir Tawil is intensely inhospitable, being composed of entirely desert, and not even the good kind with pretty sand dunes.
Now for a little history lesson. When Great Britain "conquered" North Africa and left when they got bored, they drew a few borders here and there for the soon-to-be countries so they wouldn't fight too much. It turns out these borders were incredibly terrible and led to more fighting than otherwise. One of these borders was later changed (sort of) to better reflect the populations of the areas, so they could be with friendlier countries to them (people don't like minorities). Eventually, things changed (it turns out people don't like living in the desert that much), so the border wasn't as relevant. Here's a map for you to look at:
Egypt claims the straight line, because it gives them control of the Hala'ib Triangle, which is a very rich economic region. Sudan claims the jagged line, because of the same reason. However, each border gives Bir Tawil to the other side, so claiming it would admit that the other side controls the Hala'ib Triagle, which neither wants to do. This is the largest example of Terra nullius, or no man's land, to date (other than Marie Byrd Land). And yes, to answer your question, many people have claimed it as their own, although as far as I'm aware nobody has made a permanent residence there (because of the whole desert thing). The most famous example is Jeremiah Heaton, who claimed the land in 2014, which cause a surprising amount of public backlash (it turns out white people marching into Africa and claiming things as their own might be considered problematic), but when it came out he did it so his daughter could be a princess, things simmered down. Here's a cool video you can watch if you're interested or confused.
Anyways, this has been me paraphrasing from Atlas Obscura for a full blog post. If you liked what you read, you can purchase the book here, here, or here. If you aren't, buy the book anyways because who doesn't want to lose $20.54 on a hardcover copy of a book they don't want from amazon.com?
-William King
This book looks really cool! It sort of reminds me of that function on Google Earth where you can get a randomized location. I have found some strange things on there. I appreciate how you even included links to buy the book! That's very professional. Also, as of right now, the song has been playing for 21 years 133 days and 10 hours.
ReplyDeleteI've heard of Longplayer but not Bir Tawil. This book sounds interesting and like a good way to find interesting places.
ReplyDeleteHmmm. Not a book review you say? In any case, this book looks very interesting. I hadn't heard of either of these places before. To me the hope that the music in Longplayer will run for 1000 years seems a little optimistic, but you never know. I knew that there have been wars and politics happening in the Middle East about border disputes, but have never heard of this one before. I like how they give the other Bir Tawil, and get Hala'ib, like, "Here, I'll trade you this worthless piece of desert for the very rich economic region. Sound good?"
ReplyDelete