Dependent territory
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A dependent territory or dependent area is a territory that does not possess full political independence or sovereignty as a state.
There are varying degrees and forms of dependence, commonly distinguished from other subnational entities in that they are not considered to be part of the motherland or mainland of the governing state. 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.
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Lists of dependent territories
Currently there are 61 dependencies on these lists, including one international protectorate in the territory of a sovereign country.
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.
List of dependencies by Commonwealth sovereignty
All these are part of a Commonwealth realm in personal union under the same British monarch.
Australia
| Territory | Administration |
 Ashmore and Cartier Islands |
Australian Department of Transport and Regional Services. |
 Christmas Island |
Australian Department of Transport and Regional Services. |
| Cocos (Keeling) Islands |
From Canberra by the Australian Department of Transport and Regional Services. |
| Coral Sea Islands |
From Canberra by the Department of the Environment, Sport and Territories. |
| Heard Island and McDonald Islands |
From Canberra by the Australian Antarctic Division of the Department of the Environment and Heritage. |
 Norfolk Island |
Commonwealth responsibilities administered from Canberra through the Department of Environment, Sport and Territories. |
| Australian Antarctic Territory | From Canberra by the Australian Antarctic Division of the Department of the Environment and Heritage. |
New Zealand
| Territory | Administration |
 Cook Islands |
Self-governing in free association with New Zealand. The Cook Islands are fully responsible for their internal affairs; New Zealand, in consultation, retains some responsibility for external affairs and defense. As of 2005, the Cook Islands have diplomatic relations in their own name with eighteen countries. |
 Niue |
Self-governing in free association with New Zealand since 1974. Niue is fully responsible for its internal affairs; New Zealand retains responsibility for external affairs and defense. New Zealand's 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. As it moves toward free association with New Zealand, Tokelau and New Zealand have agreed to a draft constitution. A UN-sponsored referendum on self-governance in February 2006 did not produce the two-thirds supermajority necessary for changing the current political status. |
 Ross Dependency |
New Zealand's Antarctic claim. |
United Kingdom
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See also: #British Crown dependencies
With the exception of Akrotiri and Dhekelia and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, the following territories appear on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories.
| Territory | Administration |
 Akrotiri |
British overseas territory administered by the Commander of British Forces, Cyprus. |
 Anguilla |
British overseas territory. |
 Bermuda |
British overseas territory or self-governing territory as defined by the UK. |
 British Antarctic Territory |
The UK's Antarctic claim. |
 British Indian Ocean Territory |
British overseas territory administered by a commissioner resident in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London. |
 British Virgin Islands |
British overseas territory with internal self-government. |
 Cayman Islands |
British overseas territory. |
| Dhekelia |
British overseas territory administered by the Commander of British Forces, Cyprus. |
 Falkland Islands |
British overseas territory, also claimed by Argentina. |
 Gibraltar |
British overseas territory, also claimed by Spain. |
 Montserrat |
British overseas territory. |
 Pitcairn Islands |
British overseas territory. |
 St. Helena |
British overseas territory including the island group of Tristan da Cunha. St. Helena also administers Ascension Island. |
 South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands |
British overseas territory, also claimed by Argentina. Administered from the Falkland Islands by the Governor of the Falkland Islands as representative of the British monarch. |
 Turks and Caicos Islands |
British overseas territory. |
British Crown dependencies
List of dependencies by other sovereignty
Denmark
| Territory | Administration |
 Faroe Islands |
Self-governing overseas administrative division since 1948. Part of the Kingdom of Denmark but not of the European Union. |
 Greenland |
Self-governing overseas administrative division since 1979. Part of the Kingdom of Denmark, but not of the European Union. |
France
- France includes also the overseas departments of French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion; see #Notes.
| Territory | Administration |
| Bassas da India | Atoll administered by a high commissioner of the French Republic resident in Réunion. No permanent population. |
| Clipperton Island | Atoll administered by by a high commissioner of the French Republic from French Polynesia. No permanent population. |
| Europa Island | Island administered by a high commissioner of the French Republic resident in Réunion. No permanent population. |
 French Polynesia |
Overseas collectivity since 2003; Overseas country since 2004. |
 French Southern Territories |
Overseas territory since 1955, administered from Paris by an Administrateur Superieur (since May 2000, François Garde assisted by Secretary General Jean-Yves Hermoso). Includes Île Amsterdam, Île Saint-Paul, Îles Crozet and the Îles Kerguelen in the southern Indian Ocean, plus Adélie Land, the French-claimed sector of Antarctica. No permanent population. |
| Glorioso Islands | Islands administered by a high commissioner of the French Republic resident in Réunion. No permanent population. |
| Juan de Nova Island | |
| Mayotte | Departmental collectivity since 2001; overseas collectivity since 2003. |
| New Caledonia | "Sui generis" collectivity since 1999; appears on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. |
| Saint-Pierre and Miquelon | Territorial collectivity since 1985; overseas collectivity since 2003. |
| Tromelin Island | Island administered by a high commissioner of the French Republic resident in Réunion. No permanent population. |
| Wallis and Futuna |
Overseas territory since 1961; overseas collectivity since 2003. |
The Netherlands
| Territory | Administration |
 Aruba |
Full autonomy in internal affairs obtained upon separation from the Netherlands Antilles in 1986; Government of the Netherlands responsible for defense and foreign affairs. Part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands but not of the European Union. |
 Netherlands Antilles |
Full autonomy in internal affairs granted in 1954; Government of the Netherlands responsible for defense and foreign affairs. Part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, but not of the European Union. |
Norway
| Territory | Administration |
| Bouvet Island | Territory administered by the Polar Department of the Ministry of Justice and Police from Oslo. |
| Peter I Island | Part of Norway's Antarctic claim. |
| Queen Maud Land |
United States
- The smallest island entities belong to the United States Minor Outlying Islands.
Caribbean
| Territory | Administration |
| Navassa Island | Unincorporated territory of the U.S. administered by the Fish and Wildlife Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior from the Caribbean Islands National Wildlife Refuge in Boqueron, Puerto Rico. Also claimed by Haiti and privately via the Guano Islands Act. |
 Puerto Rico |
Unincorporated organized territory of the U.S. with commonwealth status; policy relations between Puerto Rico and the U.S. conducted under the jurisdiction of the Office of the President. |
 U.S. Virgin Islands |
Unincorporated organized territory; policy relations between the Virgin Islands and the U.S. conducted under the jurisdiction of the Office of Insular Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior. Appears on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. |
Pacific
| Territory | Administration |
 American Samoa |
Unincorporated and unorganized territory administered by the Office of Insular Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior. Appears on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. |
 Guam |
Unincorporated organized territory; policy relations between Guam and the U.S. conducted under the jurisdiction of the Office of Insular Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior. Appears on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. |
 Northern Mariana Islands |
Commonwealth in political union with the U.S.; federal funding administered by the Office of Insular Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior. |
| Baker Island Howland Island Jarvis Island Johnston Atoll Kingman Reef Midway Atoll |
Unincorporated territories of the U.S. administered from Washington, D.C. as part of the National Wildlife Refuge system by the Fish and Wildlife Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior. |
| Palmyra Atoll | Incorporated territory of the U.S., partly privately and partly federally owned. Administered from Washington, D.C. by the Fish and Wildlife Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior; the Office of Insular Affairs of the U.S. Department of the Interior continues to administer nine excluded areas comprising certain tidal and submerged lands within the lagoon and 12 nm of surrounding sea. |
| Wake Island | Unincorporated territory supervised by the U.S. Air Force and administered from Washington, D.C. by the U.S. Department of the Interior. Also claimed by the Marshall Islands. |
Notes
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 the 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 uninhabited 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. However their are not legally part of the Reunion but part of the French Republic (and grouped together as an entity formally named "Dispersed islands", or îles Éparses), as well as the French Southern Territories (a group of islands in the Far Southern Indian Ocean, near the Antarctic, and that previously included the French claims in the Antarctic), or the small island of Clipperton, administered for the French Republic from French Polynesia, but claimed by Mexico.
France has no formal colonies since the 1960s. All citizens of the listed territorial entities enjoy full French (and European Union) citizenship rights, including the right to vote for national or European elections (including those living in areas out of the European Union, for the election of French deputies at the European Parlement). All the inhabited entities, whatever their status, are represented by deputies and senators to the national parliament. French citizens living abroad can also vote in the French embassies and consulates worldwide for their own senators.
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). These territories are not in the economical area of the European Union, and have a legal personality allowing them to be members of other regional organizations. Whether they will choose independence in the future is an open question, and the local governments of these territories have considered to replace the Franc CFP by the Euro (but to keep their independent financial autonomy).
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.
The Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau, formerly part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, have not been U.S. territory ever since each became a sovereign state and entered into a Compact of Free Association with the United States. However, some still treated them as U.S. dependencies until they were admitted to the United Nations in the 1990s as full nations.
The Native American tribal governments are sometimes called "dependencies", but in a broader sense they are really subnational entities; their territories, whether recognized as reservations or not, are an integral part of the United States in every territorial and geographic sense, as well as legally for most purposes. Their status as a "nation" is merely official recognition of their historic tribal sovereignty, which under U.S. law usually displaces state sovereignty but not Federal sovereignty (including foreign affairs). Native Americans are full citizens of the United States and of the state in which they reside, regardless of their tribal membership or place of residence.
This article contains material from the CIA World Factbook which, as a US government publication, is in the public domain.
See also
- Condominium (international law), joint sovereignty over an area shared by two or more states.
- Kosovo, de jure part of Serbia, currently a United Nations protectorate.
- List of countries
- List of sovereign states
- List of special entities recognized by international treaty or agreement
- List of subnational entities
- List of territorial disputes
- List of unrecognized countries
- Dependent territories in the European Union
- unclaimed Antarctic territories
