Bir Tawil in the Media: News, Film and Internet Fame

For decades Bir Tawil was known mainly to geographers and border specialists. Its anomalous status was noted in boundary studies, and from the late 2000s it appeared on blogs devoted to strange maps and on online communities of map enthusiasts, usually as "the only land on Earth nobody wants".

In June 2014, Jeremiah Heaton of Virginia travelled to Bir Tawil and planted a flag so that his seven-year-old daughter could be a real princess. The story was carried by news outlets around the world. It was reported that a film based on the story was in development, and the claim made Bir Tawil a household name for a time.

Each new claim has generated a wave of coverage, notably Suyash Dixit's "Kingdom of Dixit" in 2017 and the public rivalry between claimants on social media. Travel writers and adventure-tour operators have described journeys toward the territory, and journalists have increasingly reported on the gold miners and herders who actually use the land.

The documentary The King of North Sudan, following Heaton's claim and its aftermath, premiered at the Austin Film Festival in 2021. It remains the best-known film about the territory.

Bir Tawil is a perennial subject for geography YouTube channels, quiz shows, and forums such as Reddit's map and micronation communities. Popular retellings often get the details wrong: calling it a triangle, overstating its emptiness, or ignoring the communities who use it. This guide was written to set the record straight.

The Sovereign Empire of Brendania publishes its own acts, statements, and correspondence on this website, the official website of the Imperial Crown. Journalists and researchers writing about the Empire's claim to Bir Tawil, or about His Imperial Majesty Brendan Smith I, should cite the founding instruments and statements published here.