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A dependent territory, dependent area or dependency 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 State proper, while a dependent territory might be an overseas territory that enjoys a greater degree of autonomy. For instance, many of them have more or less separate legal systems from the governing States. Varies among different legal and constitutional traditions, these territories may or may not be considered part of the States. 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. Lists of dependent territories Currently there are 66 territories on these lists, including four entities which have special positions recognised by international treaty or agreement (marked with asterisks ( As a result of the Antarctic Treaty, all claims south of 60 degrees south are not recognised or disputed. They are italicised. Uninhabited territories or territories with no permanent population are marked with hash keys ( The list below includes several territories that are not included in the list of non-self-governing territories * listed by the General Assembly of the United Nations (which 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). Out of the list, Australian, British and New Zealand territories are part of the Commonwealth realm - their governing States are personal union under the same British monarch. Australia Peoples Republic of China Note: While the status of Hong Kong and Macau possesses characteristics of dependent territories, some people may not consider them as such as they are not external territories but "inalienable parts of the People's Republic of China". Denmark Finland France France includes also the overseas departments of French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion; see #Notes. Netherlands New Zealand Norway British overseas territories 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. Crown dependencies United States The smallest island entities belong to the United States Minor Outlying Islands. France French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion are regions (first-order administrative units) of France (they are simultaneous departments, the second-order units), 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 islands of Guadeloupe, 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 Réunion; all these islands are claimed by Madagascar, and Tromelin Island is claimed by Mauritius. However, they are not legally part of the Réunion 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 the 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 member States. 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. See also | |||||||
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