The

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

–

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

border is 382 km (237 mi) in length and runs from the

tripoint A tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints as of 2020. Nearly half are situated in rivers, l ...

with

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

in the north to the tripoint with

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...

in the south.

Description

The border starts in the north at the tripoint with Egypt on

Gabal El Uweinat Mount Uwaynat or Gabal El Uweinat ( ar, جبل العوينات ', Arabic for 'Mountain of the springs') is a mountain range in the area of the Egyptian- Libyan- Sudanese tripoint. Because of thousands of prehistoric rock art sites, it is consi ...

, proceeding south along the

25th meridian east The meridian 25° east of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, Europe, Africa, the Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole. The 25th meridian east forms a great ...

for 223 km (138 mi) down to the

20th parallel north The 20th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 20 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Africa, Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, North America, the Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean. The parallel defines ...

. It then turns west along this parallel for 105 km (65 mi), before turning south at the

24th meridian east The meridian 24° east of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, Europe, Africa, the Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole. The 24th meridian ...

, where it turns south, running for 56 km (35 mi) down to the tripoint with Chad. The entire border runs through a remote, scarcely inhabited section of the

Sahara desert , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

History

Britain invaded

in 1882, establishing a protectorate over an area that had hitherto being nominally subject to the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...

. In the 1890s the British conquered Sudan, and in 1899 a condominium was established which created

Anglo-Egyptian Sudan Anglo-Egyptian Sudan ( ar, السودان الإنجليزي المصري ') was a condominium of the United Kingdom and Egypt in the Sudans region of northern Africa between 1899 and 1956, corresponding mostly to the territory of present-day ...

. In September 1911

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

invaded the nominally-Ottoman

Vilayet of Tripolitania The coastal region of what is today Libya was ruled by the Ottoman Empire from 1551 to 1912. First, from 1551 to 1864, as the Eyalet of Tripolitania ( ota, ایالت طرابلس غرب ''Eyālet-i Trâblus Gârb'') or ''Bey and Subjects of Tri ...

, and the

Treaty of Ouchy The Italo-Turkish or Turco-Italian War ( tr, Trablusgarp Savaşı, "Tripolitanian War", it, Guerra di Libia, "War of Libya") was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire from 29 September 1911, to 18 October 1912. As a result o ...

was signed the following year by which the Ottomans formally ceded sovereignty of the area over to Italy. Italy organised the newly conquered regions into the colonies of Italian Cyrenaica and

Italian Tripolitania Italian Tripolitania was an Italian colony, located in present-day western Libya, that existed from 1911 to 1934. It was part of the territory conquered from the Ottoman Empire after the Italo-Turkish War in 1911. Italian Tripolitania included t ...

and gradually began pushing further south; in 1934 they united the two territories as

Italian Libya Libya ( it, Libia; ar, ليبيا, Lībyā al-Īṭālīya) was a colony of the Fascist Italy located in North Africa, in what is now modern Libya, between 1934 and 1943. It was formed from the unification of the colonies of Italian Cyrenaica ...

. In 1925 Britain and Italy signed a boundary treaty, whereby the

22nd parallel north The 22nd parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 22 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Africa, Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, North America, the Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean. The majority of the ...

was utilised starting at the tripoint with Egypt and proceeding westward, terminating at the border between Italian Libyan and

French Equatorial Africa French Equatorial Africa (french: link=no, Afrique-Équatoriale française), or the AEF, was the federation of French colonial possessions in Equatorial Africa, extending northwards from the Congo River into the Sahel, and comprising what are ...

(i.e. the modern Chad-Libya border). The north-west corner of Anglo-Sudan Egyptian thus created was referred to as the

Sarra Triangle The Sarra Triangle is a strip of land, today located in the Kufra District of Libya, originally colonised by Britain and added to Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. In 1934 an agreement was struck between the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Italy, ceding the ...

; this latter area was ceded to Italy on 20 July 1934, and the boundary re-drawn at its current position. On 7 January 1935 France and Italy signed a treaty which shifted the French Equatorial Africa-Libya boundary southwards (creating the

Aouzou Strip The Aouzou Strip (; ar, قطاع أوزو, Qiṭāʿ Awzū, french: Bande d'Aozou) is a strip of land in northern Chad that lies along the border with Libya, extending south to a depth of about 100 kilometers into Chad's Borkou, Ennedi Ouest ...

, thereby also shifting the Libya-Sudan southwards slightly, however this agreement was never formally ratified by both parties and was thus never implemented.Hodder, Lloyd, McLachlan (1998). ''Land-locked states of Africa and Asia, Volume 2''
p. 32
Frank Cass, London, Great Britain. During the North African Campaign of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Italy was defeated and its African colonies were occupied by the Allied powers, with Libya split into British and French zones of occupation. Libya was later granted full independence on 2 December 1951, followed by Sudan in 1956.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Libya-Sudan border Borders of Libya Borders of Sudan International borders

Description

History

See also

References