List of dependent territories

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Dependent areas are territories that for some reason do not possess full political independence or sovereignty as states. There are varying degrees and forms of such a dependence. They are commonly distinguished from subnational entities in that they are not considered to be part of the motherland or mainland of the governing state, and in most cases they also represent a different order of separation. A subnational entity typically represents a division of the country proper, while a dependent territory might be an overseas territory that enjoys a greater degree of autonomy. For instance, many of them have a more or less separate legal system from the governing body.

The areas separately referred to as non-independent are territories that are disputed, are occupied, have a government in exile or have a non-negligible independence movement.

Contents

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Entities on the lists

Currently, there are 61 dependencies on these lists.

The list includes several territories that are not included in the list of non-self-governing territories [1] listed by the General Assembly of the United Nations, a list that also includes Western Sahara, since 1990, the General Assembly reaffirmed that the question of Western Sahara was a question of decolonization which remained to be completed by the people of Western Sahara.

Four political entities have a special position recognized by international treaty or agreement (Åland in Finland, Svalbard in Norway, as well as the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau in the People's Republic of China). These are not dependent territories in the strict sense of the meaning, but have in some way a similar position.

See the List of special entities recognized by international treaty or agreement.
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List of dependencies by Commonwealth sovereignty

All these are, as such or as part of a Commonwealth state in personal union under the same British Monarch.

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Australia

  • Ashmore and Cartier Islands: territory administered by the Australian Department of Transport and Regional Services
  • Christmas Island: territory administered by the Australian Department of Transport and Regional Services
  • Cocos (Keeling) Islands: territory administered from Canberra by the Australian Department of Transport and Regional Services
  • Coral Sea Islands: territory administered from Canberra by the Department of the Environment, Sport, and Territories
  • Heard Island and McDonald Islands: territory administered from Canberra by the Australian Antarctic Division of the Department of the Environment and Heritage
  • Norfolk Island: territory of Australia; Canberra administers Commonwealth responsibilities on Norfolk Island through the Department of Environment, Sport, and Territories
  • Australian Antarctic Territory: territory administered from Canberra by the Australian Antarctic Division of the Department of the Environment and Heritage
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British Crown

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New Zealand

  • Cook Islands: self-governing in free association with New Zealand; Cook Islands is fully responsible for internal affairs; New Zealand retains some responsibility for external affairs and defense, in consultation with the Cook Islands. As of 2005 the Cook Islands has diplomatic relations in its own name with 18 countries.
  • Niue: self-governing in free association with New Zealand since 1974; Niue fully responsible for internal affairs; New Zealand retains responsibility for external affairs and defense; however, these responsibilities confer no rights of control and are only exercised at the request of the Government of Niue
  • Tokelau: self-administering territory of New Zealand; note - Tokelau and New Zealand have agreed to a draft constitution as Tokelau moves toward free association with New Zealand; a UN sponsored referendum on self-governance, in February 2006, did not produce the two thirds majority vote necessary for changing the current political status
  • Ross Dependency: land and islands claimed in Antarctica
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United Kingdom

See also British Crown
  • Akrotiri: overseas territory administered by an administrator who is also the Commander of the British Forces, Cyprus
  • Anguilla: overseas territory (a non-self-governing territory as listed by the UN)
  • Bermuda: overseas territory (a non-self-governing territory as listed by the UN)
  • British Antarctic Territory: land and islands claimed in Antarctica
  • British Indian Ocean Territory: overseas territory administered by a commissioner, resident in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London
  • British Virgin Islands: overseas territory with internal self-government (a non-self-governing territory as listed by the UN)
  • Cayman Islands: overseas territory (a non-self-governing territory as listed by the UN)
  • Dhekelia: overseas territory administered by an administrator who is also the Commander of the British Forces, Cyprus
  • Falkland Islands: overseas territory; also claimed by Argentina (a non-self-governing territory as listed by the UN)
  • Gibraltar: overseas territory (a non-self-governing territory as listed by the UN)
  • Montserrat: overseas territory (a non-self-governing territory as listed by the UN)
  • Pitcairn Islands: overseas territory (a non-self-governing territory as listed by the UN)
  • Saint Helena: overseas territory (a non-self-governing territory as listed by the UN); it includes the Island group of Tristan da Cunha; Saint Helena also administers Ascension Island.
  • South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands: overseas territory, also claimed by Argentina; administered from the Falkland Islands by a commissioner, who is concurrently governor of the Falkland Islands, representing Queen Elizabeth II; Grytviken, formerly a whaling station on South Georgia, is a scientific base
  • Turks and Caicos Islands: overseas territory (a non-self-governing territory as listed by the UN)
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List of dependencies by other sovereignty

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Denmark

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France

France includes also the overseas departments of French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion, see notes
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The Netherlands

  • Aruba: part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, but not of the European Union; full autonomy in internal affairs obtained in 1986 upon separation from the Netherlands Antilles; Dutch Government responsible for defense and foreign affairs
  • Netherlands Antilles: part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, but not of the European Union; full autonomy in internal affairs granted in 1954; Dutch Government responsible for defense and foreign affairs; comprises two groupings of islands: Curaçao and Bonaire are located off the coast of Venezuela; Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten (the Dutch two-fifths of the island of Saint Martin) lie 800 km to the north.
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Norway

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United States

The smallest island entities belong to the United States Minor Outlying Islands

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In the Caribbean

  • Navassa Island: unincorporated territory of the U.S.; administered by the Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, from the Caribbean Islands National Wildlife Refuge in Boqueron, Puerto Rico; in September 1996, the Coast Guard ceased operations and maintenance of Navassa Island Light, a 46-meter-tall lighthouse on the southern side of the island; there has also been a private claim advanced against the island
  • Puerto Rico: unincorporated, organized territory of the US with commonwealth status; policy relations between Puerto Rico and the US conducted under the jurisdiction of the Office of the President
  • U.S. Virgin Islands: organized, unincorporated territory with policy relations between the Virgin Islands and the U.S. under the jurisdiction of the Office of Insular Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior (a non-self-governing territory as listed by the UN)
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In the Pacific

  • American Samoa: unincorporated and unorganized territory administered by the Office of Insular Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior (a non-self-governing territory as listed by the UN)
  • Guam: organized, unincorporated territory with policy relations between Guam and the U.S. under the jurisdiction of the Office of Insular Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior (a non-self-governing territory as listed by the UN)
  • Northern Mariana Islands: commonwealth in political union with the U.S.; federal funds to the Commonwealth administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of Insular Affairs
  • Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef & Midway Islands: unincorporated territories of the US; administered from Washington, DC, by the Fish and Wildlife Service of the US Department of the Interior as part of the National Wildlife Refuge system
  • Palmyra Atoll: incorporated Territory of the US; partly privately owned and partly federally owned; administered from Washington, DC, by the Fish and Wildlife Service of the US Department of the Interior; the Office of Insular Affairs of the US Department of the Interior continues to administer nine excluded areas comprising certain tidal and submerged lands within the 12 nm territorial sea or within the lagoon
  • Wake Island: unincorporated territory administered from Washington, D.C., by the Department of the Interior; activities on the island are conducted by the US Air Force, the ownership of the territory is disputed with the Marshall Islands.
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Notes

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France

French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion are departments (first-order administrative units) of France, and are therefore not dependencies or areas of special sovereignty, similar to how the island state of Hawaii is a first-order political unit of the United States. The Department of Guadeloupe includes the nearby islands of Marie-Galante, La Desirade, and Iles des Saintes, as well as Saint Barthelemy and the northern three-fifths of Saint Martin (the rest of which belongs to Netherlands Antilles). The islands of Bassas da India, Europa Island, Glorioso Islands, Juan de Nova Island, and Tromelin Island are administered from Reunion; all these islands are claimed by Madagascar, and Tromelin Island is claimed by Mauritius.

France has not had colonies since the 1960s. All citizens of the listed territorial entities enjoy full French citizenship rights, including the right to vote for national elections. All the inhabited entities, whatever their status, are represented by deputies and senators to the national parliament.

French Polynesia (overseas country), New Caledonia (collectivity sui generis), and Wallis and Futuna (overseas territorial collectivity) enjoy some substantial legislative autonomy and have a separate currency (the CFP Franc). Whether they will choose independence in the future is an open question.

See Islands controlled by France in the Indian and Pacific oceans

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United States

Citizens of U.S. overseas possessions, including Puerto Rico, do not have the right to vote in U.S. federal elections. The U.S. Department of State uses the term Insular areas to refer to the areas listed above (with the exception of Guantanamo Bay). Although the U.S. state of Hawaii is an island and is technically overseas from the rest of the U.S., it is fully a state of the Union and shares equal status under the U.S. constitution with all of the other states.

The U.S. does not claim sovereignty on Guantanamo Bay, but exercises permanent control and pays rent under terms of treaties with Cuba.

This article contains material from the CIA World Factbook which, as a US government publication, is in the public domain.

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See also

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External link

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