Episode 194 - I Want to Be Where the People Aren't (Terra Nullius)

Terra nullius is a Latin phrase that has several meanings, in legal discourse and more informally. The literal translation means “nobody’s land,” but historically it has tended to mean something closer to *grabby hands.* What does it mean when a place is considered no one’s? Are there still places where people aren’t? Are there places where we've never been? The answers may surprise you. Or…they might not.

Links

• Rockall (Wikipedia

• When Will It Get Too Hot for the Body to Survive? (Slate)

• The Alaskan Island That Humans Can’t Conquer (Smithsonian Magazine)

• The bones that could shape Antarctica’s fate (BBC Future)

• Three High-Altitude Peoples, Three Adaptations to Thin Air (National Geographic)

• Tibetans inherited high-altitude gene from ancient human (Science)

• Sama (Encyclopedia Britannica)

• The Identity and Social Mobility of Sama-Bajau (Sari)

• Explorer Reaches Bottom of the Mariana Trench, Breaks Record for Deepest Dive Ever (LiveScience)

• What Land Did Europeans Actually Discover? [Infographic] (Popular Science)

• The Wilderness Act (Wilderness Connect)

• Son Doong 360 (National Geographic)

• The last unmapped places on Earth (BBC Future)

Image: Map of territorial claims on Antarctica (Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 2.4)