Editing Terra nullius (section)

===Europe===
====Ireland====
The term ''terra nullius'' has been applied by some modern academics in discussing the [[Plantations of Ireland|English colonisation of Ireland]], although the term is not used in the international law sense and is often used as an analogy. Griffen and Cogliano state that the English viewed Ireland as a ''terra nullius''.<ref>{{Cite book |first1=Patrick |last1=Griffin |first2=Francis D. |last2=Cogliano |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LK4BEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Terra+nullius%22+ireland&pg=PT198 |title=Ireland and America: Empire, Revolution, and Sovereignty|date=7 July 2021 |publisher=University of Virginia Press |isbn=9780813946023 |via=Google Books}}</ref> In ''The Irish Difference: A Tumultuous History of Ireland’s Breakup With Britain'', Fergal Tobin writes that "Ireland had no tradition of unified statehood and no culturally unified establishment. Indeed, it had never known any kind of political unity until a version of it was imposed by [[Oliver Cromwell|Cromwell]]'s sword […] So the English Protestant interest […] came to regard Ireland as a kind of ''terra nullius''."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T6ktEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22came+to+regard+ireland+as%22+nullius&pg=PT57|title=The Irish Difference: A Tumultuous History of Ireland's Breakup With Britain|first=Fergal|last=Tobin|date=14 April 2022 |publisher=[[Atlantic Books]]|isbn=9781838952624 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Similarly, Bruce McLeod writes in ''The Geography of Empire in English Literature, 1580-1745'' that "although the English were familiar with Ireland and its geography in comparison to North America, they treated Ireland as though it were ''terra nullius'' and thus easily and geometrically subdivided into territorial units."<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JA8e7j4iw3sC&dq=%22although+the+english%22+%22terra+nullius%22+ireland&pg=PA53|title=The Geography of Empire in English Literature, 1580-1745|first=Bruce|last=McLeod|date=28 September 1999|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521660792 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Rolston and McVeigh trace this attitude back to [[Gerald of Wales]] (13th century), who wrote "This people despises work on the land, has little use for the money-making of towns, contemns the rights and privileges of citizenship, and desires neither to abandon, nor lose respect for, the life which it has been accustomed to lead in the woods and countryside." The semi-[[nomadism]] of the native Irish meant that some English judged them not to be productive users of land. However, Rolston and McVeigh state that Gerald made it clear that Ireland was acquired by conquest and not through the occupation of ''terra nullius''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=2635910 |title=Civilising the Irish|first1=Bill |last1=Rolston |first2=Robbie|last2=McVeigh |date=25 July 2009|ssrn=2635910 |via=papers.ssrn.com}}</ref>

====Rockall====
According to Ian Mitchell, [[Rockall]] was ''terra nullius'' until it was claimed by the [[United Kingdom]] in 1955.
It was formally annexed in 1972.<ref name=Mitchell-2012-IslesN>
{{cite book
 |first=Ian |last=Mitchell |author-link=Ian Mitchell (author)
 |date=2012
 |title=Isles of the North
 |page=232
 |publisher=[[Birlinn (publisher)|Birlinn]]
 |isbn=978-0-85790-099-9
 |url={{GBurl|id=QM-8BQAAQBAJ|pg=PT232}}
 |via=Google Books
}}
</ref><ref name=BBC-News-OnThisDay-21Sep>
{{cite news
 |title=21 September 1955: Britain claims Rockall
 |department=On This Day
 |website=[[BBC News]]
 |publisher=[[British Broadcasting Corporation]]
 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/21/newsid_4582000/4582327.stm
}}
</ref><ref name=Rockall-act-1972-02-10>
{{cite web
 |title=Island Of Rockall Act 1972
 |website=[[legislation.gov.uk]]
 |date=10 February 1972
 |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1972/2/pdfs/ukpga_19720002_en.pdf
}}</ref>

==== Sealand ====
In 1967, [[Paddy Roy Bates]] claimed an abandoned British anti-aircraft gun tower in the North Sea as the "[[Principality of Sealand]]". The structure is now within British territorial waters and no country recognises Sealand.<ref name="Ward-2000-06-05-BBC-News">{{cite news |first=Mark |last=Ward |date=5 June 2000 |title=Offshore and offline? |publisher=[[BBC News]] |department=UK |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/778267.stm |url-status=live |access-date=2021-08-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090222175031/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/778267.stm |archive-date=22 February 2009}}</ref>

==== Svalbard ====
[[Denmark–Norway]], the [[Dutch Republic]], the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]], and the [[Kingdom of Scotland]] all claimed sovereignty over the archipelago of [[Svalbard]] in the seventeenth century, but none permanently occupied it. Expeditions from each of these polities visited Svalbard principally during the summer for [[whaling]], with the first two sending a few wintering parties in the 1620s and 1630s.{{sfn|Fitzmaurice|2007}}

During the 19th century, both [[Norway]] and [[Russia]] made strong claims to the archipelago. In 1909, Italian jurist Camille Piccioni described Spitzbergen, as it was then known, as ''terra nullius'':
{{blockquote|The issue would have been simpler if Spitzbergen, until now terra nullius, could have been attributed to a single state, for reasons of neighbouring or earlier occupation. But this is not the case and several powers can, for different reasons, make their claims to this territory which still has no master.<ref name=Piccioni-1909-RevueGen-XVI>{{cite book |first=Camille |last=Piccioni |year=1909 |title=Revue generale de droit international public |volume=XVI}}{{full citation needed|date=October 2023|reason=I believe this is a journal. Need at least page or title of article.}}</ref>}}

The territorial dispute was eventually resolved by the [[Svalbard Treaty]] of 9 February 1920 which recognized Norwegian sovereignty over the islands.