March 3, 2026 • 10 mins
Even politics can be curious. Especially when these two tales are on exhibit.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of
the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all
of these amazing tales are right there on display, just
waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
(00:36):
We all know what Egypt looks like on a map.
It's a squarish country cut out of northeast Africa, easily
distinguishable on a map by the Nile River delta at
the north end. But if you direct your attention to
the southern border, you may see something a little odd.
On some maps, there's a strange bump on the bottom
of the Egyptian border, indicated by a dotted line that
(00:58):
crosses into the territory of Sudan. This territory is called Bertuwill,
which means tall water well in Arabic, and it exists
in a fascinating legal gray area. Beertu Will is the
only habitable land on planet Earth not claimed by one
country or another. Egypt claims it's Sudanese territory, and Sudan
claims that it's part of Egypt. With neither country claiming
(01:21):
proper ownership, it's left to become a true no man's land.
It has no capital and no major cities. According to
most sources, the population consists mostly of nomads and miners
who pass through the land. That's people who dig in
the earth, not little kids. Just to clear that up. So,
how does something like this happen? What causes a territory
with no ruler to appear in the middle of North Africa? Well, unsurprisingly,
(01:44):
birtu Will exists because of borders drawn in the early
twentieth century by the British Empire. The original border between
Egypt and Sudan was drawn during the British occupation of
Egypt in eighteen ninety nine without consideration for the actual
geography and the cultural borders of the region. Three years later,
in nineteen oh two, the British administrators of Egypt amended
(02:06):
this oversight, creating the squiggly border that ceded some land
to Sudan and created two new territories in the process,
the Halaid Triangle and beer to Will. After Sudan declared
independence in nineteen fifty six, the debate over the border began.
Both Egypt and Sudan wanted control over the Halaid Triangle
(02:26):
because it touched the Red Sea and was thus more
valuable as a piece of land. Beer to Will, meanwhile,
was mostly desert habitable and larger in area than London
or New York City, but without any specific geographical advantage.
This is the limbo that Beer to Will has existed
in ever since. It is perhaps not a surprise that
(02:46):
the liminal space has attracted attention from all sorts of interests.
It's not easy to get to, but self styled adventurers
are eager to visit any land with no designated government.
In twenty fourteen, for example, a man from Virginia named
Jeremiah Heaton took the pilgrimage in order to plant a
flag there and declare the Kingdom of North Sudan, with
(03:07):
himself as its king. This was allegedly in order to
give his daughter a birthday present the official title of princess. However,
sincere his reason, it was ultimately a cynical move, prompting
eager press coverage and a crowdfunding campaign for his so
called country. He even claimed to have sold the film
rights to his story. In an interview, he described his
(03:28):
country not as a whim but as a dary new
idea in the world of geopolitics and technology. He said
that many companies had approached him about using the land
for unregulated product development, but such claims have yet to manifest.
Surprise surprise, and of course, micro nation enthusiasts love claiming
the land for themselves, even when the land itself already
(03:50):
has its own occupants. You see, the Internet might mislead
you if you were to do a Google search for
beer to Will, it's described as unclaimed land, but that
land is very very much claimed. In twenty nineteen, the
first official tour group entered the area, but in order
to do so, they had to gain approval and protection
from the land's inhabitants, the Abata people. They consider the
(04:12):
land to be their homeland, and according to members of
the twenty nineteen tour, they are quite protective of it,
no matter what maps drawn by the British might say,
or indeed what a man from Virginia might say. The
world is a far different place now than it was
in twenty fourteen. Places like Beer to Will make people
in extremely regulated countries salivate with the possibility of freedom
(04:33):
and adventure, but much like the frontiers that our ancestors
once trampled across. It's dangerous to assume that a place
is up for the taking just because of a long,
out of date treaty. If you try to become king
of the hill without understanding the hill itself, you either
start a war or gain a reputation for being ignorant.
Neither reason, though, is worth building a whole career around,
(04:55):
no matter how nicely that crown might fit on your head.
By the early twentieth century, women's rights had experienced significant
(05:16):
ups and downs throughout Europe, where the Middle Ages and
the Latter Enlightenment had seen women taking positions of leadership
and owning property. The late seventeen hundreds and early eighteen
hundreds saw many setbacks, with women being given the same
legal status as children, which is to say, they had
to defer to their husbands in all matters. Well. In
nineteen oh three, in Great Britain, the women of the
(05:38):
Pankhurst family had enough of these infringements on their rights.
The family consisted of mother Emmeline and her daughters Cristabelle
and Sylvia. Their father, Richard, was a wealthy lawyer who
passed away in eighteen ninety eight, and Christabel wanted to
follow in his footsteps in practiced law, but she was
only allowed to take the courses. The law prohibited her
from actually becoming an attorneying while was angered when she
(06:01):
found out that women were barred from labor meetings at
the local meeting hall, which ironically was named after her
late husband, who had been a supporter of women's rights.
The women took matters into their own hands, forming their
own political group, naming it the Women's Social and Political
Union or WSPU for short. It was one of the
earliest groups calling for women's suffrage, and from the beginning
(06:22):
their motto was literally deeds not words, meaning they were
done asking nicely for their rights. In nineteen ten, hundreds
of their members stormed Parliament after they refused to grant
women the right to vote. The police completely turned on them,
beating them and even sexually assaulting some of them, but
this didn't stop the women. In fact, it only emboldened them.
(06:43):
They began a militant campaign across England, smashing windows and
setting buildings on fire. They took every opportunity to accost
politicians in the streets and insult them demanding the right
to vote. The police kept up the pressure, arresting as
many as they could and imprisoning them in small, crowded
cells so that they were as uncomfortable as possible, and
(07:04):
in turn, these suffragettes, as they were known, went on
hunger strikes, refusing to eat while in prison. Their jailers
tried to force feed them, but this often led to injury.
A law was actually passed allowing the release of the
prisoners so that they could go eat again, but then
making it so that they could be re arrested once
they were healthy. Things reached ahead in nineteen thirteen at
(07:24):
the Epsom Derby, a horse race that remains a significant
English tradition to this day. The King himself doesn't race
in the Derby, but he has a horse ridden on
his behalf by a jockey. Well during the race in
nineteen thirteen, WSPU member Emily Davidson ducked under the railing
on the side of the racetrack and jumped toward the
King's horse. It hit her full on, fracturing her skull
(07:46):
and sending the jockey and horse tumbling to the ground.
Emily died shortly after. It's unlikely that she was actually
trying to throw herself in front of the horse. It
seems that she wanted to quickly plant a WSPU flag
on it, but this was not a great plan. The
horse was moving pretty darn fast. Her death caused even
more strife. The WSPU held a parade in her honor,
(08:09):
but the government and even the Queen herself denounced Emily.
Queen Mary actually called her a horrid woman. Now, she
wasn't necessarily opposed to women's rights, but she was as
privileged a woman as there could possibly be, and she
didn't understand why the average woman would be willing to
die for a cause. World War One began the following year,
in nineteen fourteen, and changed everything. Suddenly, all the men
(08:31):
were fighting and dying in Europe, and the women were
the ones left to work jobs that had previously been
denied to them. By the end of the war in
nineteen eighteen, attitudes had changed significantly, and women finally won
the right to votes in Britain. Germany joined them the
same year, and the US passed the Nineteenth Amendment granting
women the right to vote in nineteen twenty. Today, the
(08:52):
WSPU and Emily Davidson had become a curious anecdote in history.
Some historians say that they actually damaged the cause by
making suffragettes look bad in the press, while others argue
that many social movements require a radical component to make
the moderates look more reasonable. Essentially, radical groups like the
WSPU make the establishment wake up and realize people are
(09:15):
willing to die for the cause in question. They can
either give in to the more moderate groups asking nicely
for their rights, or they can ignore them and drive
them into the arms of the radicals. Looking back, perhaps
it's worth keeping in open mind about the tactics of
the WSPU. Their methods may seem curious to us today,
but without them women may not have ever gained equal
(09:37):
status in the Western world. I hope you enjoyed today's
guided tour through the Cabinet of Curiosities. This show is
created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with iHeart Podcasts,
researched and written by the Grim and Mild team, and
produced by Jesse Funk. Learn more about the show and
(09:57):
the people who make it over at Grim and Slash Curiosities.
You'll also find a link to the official Cabinet of
Curiosity's hardcover book available in bookstores and online, as well
as ebook and audiobook. And if you're looking for an
ad free option, consider joining our Patreon. It's all the
same stories, but without the interruption for a small monthly fee.
(10:19):
Learn more and sign up over at patreon dot com.
Slash Grimandmild, and until next time, stay curious.
Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of
the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all
of these amazing tales are right there on display, just
waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
(00:36):
We all know what Egypt looks like on a map.
It's a squarish country cut out of northeast Africa, easily
distinguishable on a map by the Nile River delta at
the north end. But if you direct your attention to
the southern border, you may see something a little odd.
On some maps, there's a strange bump on the bottom
of the Egyptian border, indicated by a dotted line that
(00:58):
crosses into the territory of Sudan. This territory is called Bertuwill,
which means tall water well in Arabic, and it exists
in a fascinating legal gray area. Beertu Will is the
only habitable land on planet Earth not claimed by one
country or another. Egypt claims it's Sudanese territory, and Sudan
claims that it's part of Egypt. With neither country claiming
(01:21):
proper ownership, it's left to become a true no man's land.
It has no capital and no major cities. According to
most sources, the population consists mostly of nomads and miners
who pass through the land. That's people who dig in
the earth, not little kids. Just to clear that up. So,
how does something like this happen? What causes a territory
with no ruler to appear in the middle of North Africa? Well, unsurprisingly,
(01:44):
birtu Will exists because of borders drawn in the early
twentieth century by the British Empire. The original border between
Egypt and Sudan was drawn during the British occupation of
Egypt in eighteen ninety nine without consideration for the actual
geography and the cultural borders of the region. Three years later,
in nineteen oh two, the British administrators of Egypt amended
(02:06):
this oversight, creating the squiggly border that ceded some land
to Sudan and created two new territories in the process,
the Halaid Triangle and beer to Will. After Sudan declared
independence in nineteen fifty six, the debate over the border began.
Both Egypt and Sudan wanted control over the Halaid Triangle
(02:26):
because it touched the Red Sea and was thus more
valuable as a piece of land. Beer to Will, meanwhile,
was mostly desert habitable and larger in area than London
or New York City, but without any specific geographical advantage.
This is the limbo that Beer to Will has existed
in ever since. It is perhaps not a surprise that
(02:46):
the liminal space has attracted attention from all sorts of interests.
It's not easy to get to, but self styled adventurers
are eager to visit any land with no designated government.
In twenty fourteen, for example, a man from Virginia named
Jeremiah Heaton took the pilgrimage in order to plant a
flag there and declare the Kingdom of North Sudan, with
(03:07):
himself as its king. This was allegedly in order to
give his daughter a birthday present the official title of princess. However,
sincere his reason, it was ultimately a cynical move, prompting
eager press coverage and a crowdfunding campaign for his so
called country. He even claimed to have sold the film
rights to his story. In an interview, he described his
(03:28):
country not as a whim but as a dary new
idea in the world of geopolitics and technology. He said
that many companies had approached him about using the land
for unregulated product development, but such claims have yet to manifest.
Surprise surprise, and of course, micro nation enthusiasts love claiming
the land for themselves, even when the land itself already
(03:50):
has its own occupants. You see, the Internet might mislead
you if you were to do a Google search for
beer to Will, it's described as unclaimed land, but that
land is very very much claimed. In twenty nineteen, the
first official tour group entered the area, but in order
to do so, they had to gain approval and protection
from the land's inhabitants, the Abata people. They consider the
(04:12):
land to be their homeland, and according to members of
the twenty nineteen tour, they are quite protective of it,
no matter what maps drawn by the British might say,
or indeed what a man from Virginia might say. The
world is a far different place now than it was
in twenty fourteen. Places like Beer to Will make people
in extremely regulated countries salivate with the possibility of freedom
(04:33):
and adventure, but much like the frontiers that our ancestors
once trampled across. It's dangerous to assume that a place
is up for the taking just because of a long,
out of date treaty. If you try to become king
of the hill without understanding the hill itself, you either
start a war or gain a reputation for being ignorant.
Neither reason, though, is worth building a whole career around,
(04:55):
no matter how nicely that crown might fit on your head.
By the early twentieth century, women's rights had experienced significant
(05:16):
ups and downs throughout Europe, where the Middle Ages and
the Latter Enlightenment had seen women taking positions of leadership
and owning property. The late seventeen hundreds and early eighteen
hundreds saw many setbacks, with women being given the same
legal status as children, which is to say, they had
to defer to their husbands in all matters. Well. In
nineteen oh three, in Great Britain, the women of the
(05:38):
Pankhurst family had enough of these infringements on their rights.
The family consisted of mother Emmeline and her daughters Cristabelle
and Sylvia. Their father, Richard, was a wealthy lawyer who
passed away in eighteen ninety eight, and Christabel wanted to
follow in his footsteps in practiced law, but she was
only allowed to take the courses. The law prohibited her
from actually becoming an attorneying while was angered when she
(06:01):
found out that women were barred from labor meetings at
the local meeting hall, which ironically was named after her
late husband, who had been a supporter of women's rights.
The women took matters into their own hands, forming their
own political group, naming it the Women's Social and Political
Union or WSPU for short. It was one of the
earliest groups calling for women's suffrage, and from the beginning
(06:22):
their motto was literally deeds not words, meaning they were
done asking nicely for their rights. In nineteen ten, hundreds
of their members stormed Parliament after they refused to grant
women the right to vote. The police completely turned on them,
beating them and even sexually assaulting some of them, but
this didn't stop the women. In fact, it only emboldened them.
(06:43):
They began a militant campaign across England, smashing windows and
setting buildings on fire. They took every opportunity to accost
politicians in the streets and insult them demanding the right
to vote. The police kept up the pressure, arresting as
many as they could and imprisoning them in small, crowded
cells so that they were as uncomfortable as possible, and
(07:04):
in turn, these suffragettes, as they were known, went on
hunger strikes, refusing to eat while in prison. Their jailers
tried to force feed them, but this often led to injury.
A law was actually passed allowing the release of the
prisoners so that they could go eat again, but then
making it so that they could be re arrested once
they were healthy. Things reached ahead in nineteen thirteen at
(07:24):
the Epsom Derby, a horse race that remains a significant
English tradition to this day. The King himself doesn't race
in the Derby, but he has a horse ridden on
his behalf by a jockey. Well during the race in
nineteen thirteen, WSPU member Emily Davidson ducked under the railing
on the side of the racetrack and jumped toward the
King's horse. It hit her full on, fracturing her skull
(07:46):
and sending the jockey and horse tumbling to the ground.
Emily died shortly after. It's unlikely that she was actually
trying to throw herself in front of the horse. It
seems that she wanted to quickly plant a WSPU flag
on it, but this was not a great plan. The
horse was moving pretty darn fast. Her death caused even
more strife. The WSPU held a parade in her honor,
(08:09):
but the government and even the Queen herself denounced Emily.
Queen Mary actually called her a horrid woman. Now, she
wasn't necessarily opposed to women's rights, but she was as
privileged a woman as there could possibly be, and she
didn't understand why the average woman would be willing to
die for a cause. World War One began the following year,
in nineteen fourteen, and changed everything. Suddenly, all the men
(08:31):
were fighting and dying in Europe, and the women were
the ones left to work jobs that had previously been
denied to them. By the end of the war in
nineteen eighteen, attitudes had changed significantly, and women finally won
the right to votes in Britain. Germany joined them the
same year, and the US passed the Nineteenth Amendment granting
women the right to vote in nineteen twenty. Today, the
(08:52):
WSPU and Emily Davidson had become a curious anecdote in history.
Some historians say that they actually damaged the cause by
making suffragettes look bad in the press, while others argue
that many social movements require a radical component to make
the moderates look more reasonable. Essentially, radical groups like the
WSPU make the establishment wake up and realize people are
(09:15):
willing to die for the cause in question. They can
either give in to the more moderate groups asking nicely
for their rights, or they can ignore them and drive
them into the arms of the radicals. Looking back, perhaps
it's worth keeping in open mind about the tactics of
the WSPU. Their methods may seem curious to us today,
but without them women may not have ever gained equal
(09:37):
status in the Western world. I hope you enjoyed today's
guided tour through the Cabinet of Curiosities. This show is
created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with iHeart Podcasts,
researched and written by the Grim and Mild team, and
produced by Jesse Funk. Learn more about the show and
(09:57):
the people who make it over at Grim and Slash Curiosities.
You'll also find a link to the official Cabinet of
Curiosity's hardcover book available in bookstores and online, as well
as ebook and audiobook. And if you're looking for an
ad free option, consider joining our Patreon. It's all the
same stories, but without the interruption for a small monthly fee.
(10:19):
Learn more and sign up over at patreon dot com.
Slash Grimandmild, and until next time, stay curious.
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
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