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A British overseas territory is one of 14 (as of 2006) territories which are not part of the United Kingdom but come under its sovereignty.

The name "British overseas territory" was introduced by the British Overseas Territories Act 2002, and replaced the name British dependent territory which was introduced by the British Nationality Act 1981. Before that, the territories were known as colonies or crown colonies.

The territories of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man, though also under the sovereignty of the British Crown, have a slightly different constitutional relationship with the United Kingdom, and are consequently classed as Crown dependencies rather than overseas territories.

In a historical context, crown colonies should be distinguished from protectorates and protected states, which though under British control, were nominally independent states.

History

The original English colonies in the New World were colonies in the classical sense, in that they were plantations of English subjects in lands hitherto outside the dominions of the Crown. The first such plantation was in Newfoundland, where English fishermen routinely set up seasonal camps in the 16th century.

What later became known as the "Old Empire" began with the first successful permanent colony in "Virginia" (a term that was then applied generally to North America). In 1609, a second colony was established in Bermuda, which, with the loss of the American colonies in 1783, is the oldest British colony in existence.

The growth of the British Empire in the early 18th century, to its peak in the 1920s, saw the UK acquire over one quarter of the world's land mass, including territories with large indigenous populations in Asia and Africa, which were held for commercial and strategic reasons rather than for settlement. The late 19th century saw the larger settler colonies - Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa - achieving increasing degrees of independence, obtaining dominion status by the 1920s, and achieving almost full legislative independence with the Statute of Westminster 1931. After World War II, the Empire gradually transformed into the Commonwealth of Nations with most of the British colonies in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean achieving independence. Some colonies became Commonwealth Realms, retaining the British monarch as head of state, others becoming republics but acknowledged the British monarch as Head of the Commonwealth.

The 1980s saw the United Kingdom lose its last mainland colonies, with the independence of Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in Africa in 1980 and British Honduras (now Belize) in Central America in 1981. The last major colony that remained was Hong Kong, with a population of over 5 million. Unlike other territories, the bulk of Hong Kong was leased to the UK by China under a 99 year lease that expired in 1997. The United Kingdom negotiated the Sino-British Joint Declaration, which led to the whole of Hong Kong becoming a "special administrative region" of China in 1997, subject to various conditions guaranteeing the preservation of Hong Kong's capitalist economy and its way of life under British rule.

Following the return of Hong Kong, the remaining colonial possessions are generally small island territories with small populations, and the uninhabited British Antarctic Territory. The reasons for these territories not achieving independence vary from:

  • a failure of the population to perceive any imperative for independence.
  • a small population size making the possibility of success as a sovereign nation more difficult;
  • dependence on economic aid from the UK;
  • being uninhabited territories used for scientific or military purposes;
  • a need for British military presence to guard against hostile neighbours;
  • a lack of any economic or political justification for independence.

In 2002, the UK Parliament passed the British Overseas Territories Act 2002. This reclassified the UK's dependent territories as overseas territories and, with the exception of those people solely connected with the Sovereign Base Areas of Cyprus, restored full British citizenship to their inhabitants.

The term colony implies an extension of the larger state through settlement, whether in territory claimed by an indigenous population or previously uninhabited. The term came to be applied to most British imperial possessions, even those whose populations were composed overwhelmingly of (usually conquered) indigenous peoples. As the larger settler colonies within the British Empire achieved dominion status, ostensibly equal to that of the United Kingdom, (or, in the case of thirteen North American colonies, achieved total independence) the early twentieth century saw the term colony come to be applied primarily to territories with conquered populations, and not to the bulk of the European-settled territories which the term implied.

Most of the surviving Overseas Territories are a legacy of the English Empire, or of what is often referred to as the Old (British) Empire. As such, most are in the New World, or the Atlantic. All of these are colonies in the true sense in that their populations are the results of settlement, and they were either previously uninhabited (Bermuda), or the native populations had been wiped out by previous European invaders (the Turks & Caicos). Most of these had seen considerable, generally involuntary, immigration from areas other than Britain (primarily, Africa, North America, and Ireland). Although Britain itself has seen immigration from these areas (over a far longer time frame), the nature, timing, and size of this non-British settlement, the resulting racial makeups of many of the populations, and both the legacies of racism, slavery, and economic exploitation, on the one hand, and the attitudes, within and without Britain and its territories, to nationality and ethnicity as they relate to race, on the other, mean that the relationship between Britain and some of its remaining settlements is often seen as more analoguous to that which had existed between Britain and some of its now independent territories in Africa or Asia, rather than that with the previous North American or Australaisian territories. This is the case even though the language, and the political and social traditions of these territories are inarguably drawn from Britain. Even in Britain's oldest colony, Bermuda, which was settled by England in 1609, and where the overwhelming majority of the population has African ancestry, and a small minority of citizens and non-citizen expatriate workers of European ancestry, conflicting ideas of the territory as a subject people ruled by a foreign power, or as a largely autonomous extension of Britain, and the British state, still cause political and social turmoil. Many former territories with membership in the United Nations have worked to create an imperative, at that level, for all member states to move their territories towards political independence. They do not make a distinction between territories whose populations resulted from settlement (whether drawn from the 'mother' country or elsewhere), and those which resulted from the extension of political control over a foreign population and its territory. There is also no distinction made by the UN between those territories with any degree of local autonomy and those governed entirely from the outside, with no suffrage for the territorial population, either at the territorial or the national level. There is also no distinction made between territories whose populations are content and prosperous under their current arrangements, with no majority support for independence, and those which are repressed, exploited and in which independence would immediately result if democratic principles were applied. This attitude from the UN has brought it into conflict with both the United Kingdom and its territories, as all remaining territories are able to move democratically to independence, and the outside pressure of the UN to push them towards independence is seen as itself undemocratic, and indicative of the tyrannic qualities often attributed to imperalism. The pressure from the UN is taken as providing legitimacy to minority democratic movements as they push for independence, often through less-democratic means, and is resented by some as undermining both democracy and the local economies. The UN has the stated policy of moving all territories either to complete integration within the larger state, or complete independence. The UK position is that the UN makes no allowance for the wishes of the populations of those colonies, and fails to weigh the economic and political interests of those colonies, when neither would be improved, or either might be threatened, by independence or integration.

Current overseas territories

Flag Territory Capital Population
Anguilla The Valley 12,800
Bermuda Hamilton 64,482
British Antarctic Territory Rothera (main base) 200 staff
British Indian Ocean Territory Diego Garcia (base) 3,200 military and staff
British Virgin Islands Road Town 21,730
Cayman Islands George Town 57,800
Falkland Islands (also claimed by Argentina) Stanley 2,967
Gibraltar (also claimed by Spain) Gibraltar 27,776
Montserrat Plymouth 9,000
Pitcairn Islands Adamstown 50
Saint Helena (including Ascension, Tristan da Cunha)   Jamestown 6,563
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands King Edward Point/Grytviken 11-26 staff
Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia Episkopi Cantonment 15,000 military and staff  
Turks and Caicos Islands Cockburn Town 26,288

Government

Head of State

The head of state in the overseas territories is the British monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen's role in the territories is in her role as Queen of the United Kingdom, and not in right of each territory. The Queen appoints a representative in each territory to exercise her executive power. In territories with a permanent population, a Governor is appointed by the Queen on the advice of the British Government, usually a retired senior military officer, or a senior civil servant. In territories without a permanent population, a Commissioner is usually appointed to represent the Queen. For overseas territories with dependencies, the Governor may appoint an Administrator to represent him or her in that dependency.

The role of the Governor is to act as the de facto head of state, and they are usually responsible for appointing the head of government, and senior political positions in the territory. The Governor is also responsible for liaising with the UK Government, and carrying out any ceremonial duties. A Commissioner has the same powers as a Governor, but also acts as the head of government.

 
Governors, Commissioners and Administrators of the overseas territories
Governor of Anguilla

Government

All the overseas territories have their own system of government, and localised laws. The structure of the government is dependent on the size of the territory.

|| No native population, therefore there is no elected government. The Commissioner, supported by an Administrator run the affairs of the territory. || There is no elected government, however the British military authorities try to ensure convergence of laws with those of the Republic of Cyprus where possible. || The Government consists of an elected Legislative Council, headed by a Chief Minister. The Governor is the head of government and leads the Executive Council, consisting of appointed members made up from the Legislative Council and two ex-offico members. || These larger territories have a larger Legislative Council, with political parties. The Executive Council is usually called a cabinet and is led by a Chief Minister, who is the leader of the majority party in parliament. The Governor exercises less power over local affairs and deal mostly with foreign affairs and economic issues, while the elected government controls most "domestic" concerns. || Bermuda, settled in 1609, is the oldest and most populous of the overseas territories, and most executive powers have been devolved to the head of government, known as the Premier. Its system of government is very similar to that of a sovereign Commonwealth Realm, the UK government retains only minor powers, exercised through the Governor, but most of those are handed to local ministers for day-to-day purposes. Its Parliament held its first session in 1620, and Bermuda has been largely self-governed and self-sufficient since then.
TerritoriesGovernment

Legal system

Each overseas territory has its own legal system independent of the United Kingdom. The legal system is generally based on English common law, with some distinctions for local circumstances. Each territory has its own Attorney General, and court system. For the smaller territories, the UK may appoint a UK-based lawyer or judge to work on legal cases. This is particularly important for cases involving serious crimes and where it is impossible to find a jury who will not know the defendant in a small population island.

The Pitcairn rape trial of 2004 is an example of how the UK may choose to provide the legal framework for particular cases where the territory cannot do so alone.

Relations with the UK

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office have the responsibility of looking after the interests of all overseas territories except one. The Overseas Territory Department is headed by the Foreign Office Minister for the Overseas Territories, currently the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State David Triesman, Baron Triesman. The exception is the Sovereign Base Areas territory, which comes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defence.

In 1999, the FCO published the Partnership for Progress and Prosperity: Britain and the Overseas Territories report which set out the UK's policy for the overseas territories, covering four main areas:

  • Self-determination
  • Responsiblities of the UK and the territories
  • Democratic autonomy
  • Provision for help and assistance

The UK and the overseas territories do not have diplomatic representations, although the governments of the overseas territories with indigenous populations (except Bermuda) all retain a representative office in London. The United Kingdom Overseas Territories Association also represents the interests of the territories in London.

The UK provides financial assistance to the Overseas Territories via the Department of International Development. Currently only Montserrat and Saint Helena receive budgetary aid (ie financial contribution to recurrent funding). Several specialist funds are made available by the UK, including:

Foreign Affairs

Foreign Affairs of the overseas territories are handled by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London. However some territories maintain diplomatic officers in nearby countries for trade and immigration purposes. Several of the Caribbean territories maintain membership of the Caribbean Community. None of the territories is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, although they do take part in the Commonwealth Games.

Gibraltar is the only overseas territory that is part of the European Union (EU), although it is not part of the customs union. None of the other overseas territory are members of the EU, and EU law does not apply, although as British citizens (mainly since the British Overseas Territories Act 2002), they are classed as European citizens. Despite not being formally part of the EU, the overseas territories are eligble for structural funding from the EU for regeneration projects.

Several nations dispute the UK's sovereignty in the following overseas territories:

  • British Antarctic Territory -- sovereignty claim suspended by the Antarctic Treaty, counter claims by Chile and Argentina
  • British Indian Ocean Territory -- claimed by Mauritius and Seychelles
  • Falkland Islands -- claimed by Argentina
  • Gibraltar -- claimed by Spain
  • South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands -- claimed by Argentina

Citizenship

None of the overseas territories have their own nationality status, and all citizens are classed as British Overseas Territories citizens (BOTC). They do however, have legislative independence over immigration, and holding the status of a BOTC does not automatically give a person a right to abode in any of the territories, as it depends on the territory's immigration laws. A territory may issue Belonger status to allow a person classed as a BOTC to reside in the territory that they have close links with. Non-British citizens may acquire Belonger status in order to reside in a particular territory (and may subsequently become naturalised BOTC if they wish).

Historically, most inhabitants of the former British Empire held the status of British subject, which was usually lost upon independence. From 1949, British subjects in the United Kingdom and the remaining crown colonies became citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies. However changes in British nationality law in 1983 saw the creation of a separate British Dependent Territories citizenship, with most territories denied full British citizenship. This was mainly to prevent a mass exodus of the citizens of Hong Kong to the UK before the agreed handover to China in 1997. Exceptions were made for Gibraltar, and the Falkland Islands.

However, the British Overseas Territories Act 2002 replaced dependent territory citizenship with British Overseas Territories citizenship, and granted full British citizenship to all BOTCs except those from the Sovereign Base Areas of Cyprus. This restored to BOTCs the right to reside in the UK.

British citizens do not, however, have an automatic right to reside in any of the overseas territories. Some territories prohibit immigration, and any visitors are required to seek the permission of the territory's government to live in the territory. As they are used primarily as military bases, Ascension Island and the British Indian Ocean Territory do not allow visitors to the territory unless on official business.

Military

Defence of the overseas territories is the responsibility of the UK. Many of the overseas territories are used as military bases by the UK and its allies.

Symbols and insignia

Each overseas territory has been granted its own flag and coat of arms by the British monarch. Traditonally, the flags follow the Blue Ensign design, with the Union Flag in the canton, and the territory's coat of arms in the fly. Exceptions to this are Bermuda which uses a Red Ensign; British Antarctic Territory which uses a White Ensign; British Indian Ocean Territory which uses a Blue Ensign with wavy lines to symbolise the sea; and Gibraltar which uses a banner of its coat of arms.

The Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia are the only British overseas territory without an official flag of their own. The Union Flag is used in this territory.

Gallery of images

Image:View of Wideawake Airfield.jpg|View of RAF Ascension Island Image:Sandy Ground Anguilla.jpg|Anguilla Image:City Hall in Hamilton, Bermuda.jpg|City Hall, Hamilton, Bermuda Image:Diegogarcia.jpg|View of the military base at Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory Image:IMG 0685-port-stanley.jpg|Stanley, Falkland Islands Image:Gib bay.jpg|Rock of Gibraltar Image:Montserrat volcano.jpg|Montserrat Image:02 Last view of Jamestown St Helena June1970.jpg|View of Jamestown, Saint Helena Image:SouthGeorgiaIsland-EO.JPG|South Georgia Island Image:Callan Glen Coast - Bermuda.jpg|The Somers Isles (alias Bermuda)

See also

Further reading

  • Simon Winchester: Outposts: Travel to the Remains of the British Empire (published in 1985 in the UK as Outposts: Journeys to the Surviving Relics of the British Empire also in the US as The Sun Never Sets: Travels to the Remaining Outposts of the British Empire.)

External links

British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies | Foreign relations of the United Kingdom | Colonialism | Dependent territories

Zámořské území Spojeného království | Britische Überseegebiete | Territorio Británico de Ultramar | Territoire britannique d'outre-mer | イギリスの海外領土 | Britisk oversjøisk territorium | Brytyjskie terytoria zamorskie | Британске прекоморске територије | 英國海外領地

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "British overseas territories".

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