Talk:Dependent territory

Entities with no unique autonomy

I guess these entities should be included in this list, and I will explain why.

1. ISO 3166-2 code

According to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), codes assigned to countries play a fundamental role in different contexts, both in international trade and global communication. ISO creates international standards to ensure standardization. Having unique and consistent codes for countries facilitates communication between companies, governments and organizations around the world, eliminating ambiguity and errors that could occur with the use of different country names or abbreviations. For example, for databases and IT systems, representing countries by alphanumeric codes is much more efficient and less error-prone than by full names. Additionally, country codes help organize and categorize data in a more practical and structured way.

2. Country calling code

Each country or territory has a unique numeric code (for example, metropolitan France is +33, and French Guiana, which is a French overseas department is +594). This code is necessary for international calls to be correctly routed and directed to the destination country, because without calling codes, it would be impossible to distinguish between telephone numbers from different countries. A number may be the same in several countries (for example, 1234567890 may be a valid number in France and elsewhere), but the international dialing code ensures that the call goes to the correct country.

3. Country code top-level domain

Country code top-level domains (TLDs), such as ".no" for Norway or ".sj" for Svalbard and Jan Mayen, are important for several reasons, especially when it comes to distinguishing between countries and territories and their respective identities on the internet. For example, the country code TLD helps identify the geographic origin of a website or online resource. For example, a domain like "example.co.nl" indicates that the site is associated with the Netherlands, while "example.bq" suggests a connection with BES islands. This helps users and search engines understand the location of a service or business. In addition, many users prefer to interact with local content. For example, French Guiana may trust more a website with a ".gf" domain because he expects the content to be in French and relevant to French Guiana. Country code TLDs help you create an immediate connection with your local audience.

Resuming, although these entities have no unique autonomy, they signed these treaties, which are considered international, then at the same time, it is possible to consider that these entities are considered dependent territories even without autonomy. 2804:14C:4386:8267:F9EF:107A:97C6:AA6A (talk) 16:37, 22 November 2024 (UTC)

Can you provide a list of these entities? 2001:8003:9100:2C01:A453:FA47:63A7:651B (talk) 04:17, 20 December 2024 (UTC)

Entities with non-recognized unique autonomy

I propose the inclusion of these entities, such as Kurdistan of Iraq; Wa State of Myanmar; Gaza Strip of Palestine; Galmudug and Puntland of Somalia; Rojava of Syria; and Zanzibar of Tanzania. The reason for including these entities is because they in fact have a greater degree of autonomy, with its self-governments, juridictions and regulations although this is not as recognized internationally. For example, Wa State has its own political system, administrative divisions, army and constitution (Wa State Basic Law). Then, it's possible that these entities should be considered as dependent territories. 2804:14C:4386:8267:F9EF:107A:97C6:AA6A (talk) 19:07, 22 November 2024 (UTC)

Many nations have sub-national governments and Canadian provinces even have the right to conduct their own foreign affairs in areas of provincial jurisdiction. TFD (talk) 18:13, 24 November 2024 (UTC)

You're not understanding, do you remember about my mention of Wa State, which has its own political system, administrative divisions, army and constitution? However, that's not apply to Canadian provinces and yet they are fully integrated to Canada itself, even with some degree of autonomy. 2804:14C:4386:8267:B908:E19E:A5AE:9EFD (talk) 16:14, 30 November 2024 (UTC)

The United Nations and the ISO already have an official list of dependent territories

I don't know why people here argue about which areas or regions should be included in the list of dependent territories. The United Nations and the ISO have an official list of 249 countries and territories. The list includes 197 countries recognized by the United Nations (193 UN member states plus the Holy See (Vatican City), Palestine, the Cook Islands, and Niue), two disputed territories (Taiwan and Western Sahara), one uninhabited territory (Antarctica), and 49 dependent territories (15 British, 12 French, 6 American, 4 Australian, 4 Dutch, 2 Chinese, 2 Danish, 2 Norwegian, 1 Finnish, and 1 New Zealand).

All we need to do is include those 49 dependent territories in this article.

Sources:

1. https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/
2. https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#search/code

2001:8003:9078:2401:1B5:FC5D:DB31:242E (talk) 05:08, 2 July 2025 (UTC)

There are different ways of counting them. For example, are Palestine, the Cook Islands and Niue dependent areas? Is Antarctica one or many territories? What about other uninhabited areas that the UN does not list? TFD (talk) 13:21, 17 July 2025 (UTC)

According to Google AI：

Q: Are Palestine, the Cook Islands and Niue dependent areas?

A: No, Palestine, the Cook Islands, and Niue are not all considered dependent areas. Palestine is a state with limited recognition, the Cook Islands and Niue are self-governing states in free association with New Zealand.

Q: Is Antarctica one or many territories?

A: Antarctica is considered a single continent, not multiple territories, although various countries have made territorial claims on it. These claims are largely set aside under the Antarctic Treaty System, which governs the continent for peaceful scientific purposes.

Q: Are uninhabited areas that the UN does not list also considered to be dependent territories?

A: No, uninhabited areas are generally not considered dependent territories by the UN, even if they are listed as such. While the UN does maintain a list of Non-Self-Governing Territories, this list primarily focuses on territories with populations that have not yet attained a full measure of self-government. Uninhabited areas, even if administered by a state, are often not included in these lists. 2001:8003:9027:DF01:6954:E5E6:E0EE:D69D (talk) 05:55, 17 August 2025 (UTC)

Ross Dependency

If the Ross Dependency is constitutionally part of New Zealand, then shouldn't it be moved to the "similar entities" list? TheLegendofGanon (talk) 13:41, 8 December 2025 (UTC)

All Antarctic claims should be removed from the main list, as well as the Cook Islands and Niue. Both island countries are now considered to be sovereign states by the United Nations and the United States.

See member states of the United Nations for details. ~2026-11140-0 (talk) 10:23, 6 January 2026 (UTC)

The Cook Islands and Niue are not member states of the United Nations. They do not have their own nationality either (instead, they share the same nationality and passport with New Zealand). Moreover, they do not have a separate head of state, but rather share again the same head of state with New Zealand, namely the King of New Zealand. That clearly positions them as non-sovereign states, no matter what the United States thinks.

EDIT: Note that the latter is different from the same physical person (currently King Charles III) being separately the King of Australia, the King of Canada, and the King of the United Kingdom for example. The King of Australia, the King of Canada, and the King of the United Kingdom are separate legal entities, even if they are physically the same person, and are also separate heads of state in international law. Niue, the Cook Islands, and New Zealand proper, on the other hand, have the same legal person as head of state, the King of New Zealand, just as the same legal person, the King of the United Kingdom, is the head of state of the UK proper, the 3 British Crown Dependencies, and the 14 British overseas territories.~2026-18743-1 (talk) 18:06, 9 January 2026 (UTC)

Not only the United States, the United Nations and other major countries such as Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, and Turkey etc. have all recognised the Cook Islands and Niue as independent sovereign states. It is also a Wikipedia:Consensus to treat both entities as sovereign states (except this article, which is weird).

For head of state, all 15 commonwealth realms share the same head of state: King of England (also known as the Head of the Commonwealth, which is just a symbolic position really). It is not a factor that can be used to deny the status of a sovereign state.

For shared citizenship, it is also not a factor that can be used to deny the status of a sovereign state. Sovereign states can unilaterally depute certain attributes of sovereignty to larger powers in exchange for benign protection of their political and economic viability against their geographic or demographic constraints. The Cook Islands and Niue are not the only exceptions; other small sovereign states such as Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Nauru, San Marino, and Vatican City etc. also have similar political arrangements with larger powers.

Finally, the United Nations is just a political organisation. You don't have to be a UN member state to qualify as a sovereign state. Palestine and Vatican City are also non-member states of the UN, but most countries still consider them to be sovereign states. ~2026-64607-1 (talk) 00:48, 30 January 2026 (UTC)

Back to the topic in hand, the Ross Dependency has a different status than the Cooks within the Realm of NZ. Wouldn't it be better first to be clear what exactly that status is? In so doing we can see why it is, or is not, constitutionally part of NZ. The next question is, I think, is to query why both Chile and Argentina have their claimed areas of Antarctica added to their infobox map without much objection. Roger 8 Roger (talk) 02:30, 30 January 2026 (UTC)

For international law purposes, the Cook Islands and Niue are independent states and they exercise full sovereignty over their own internal and external affairs (effectively constituting a sovereign state). Under the terms of the free association agreement; New Zealand retains some responsibility for the defence and foreign relations of each state, but they are only exercised at the request of the State's Government.

In regards to the Ross Dependency's status as a "territory", I would disagree it is such, as it is just New Zealand's Antarctic claim, not a integral sovereign part of the Nation of New Zealand that the Government has jurisdiction over. AdmiralCarl (talk) 02:31, 30 January 2026 (UTC)

I agree about the Cook Islands and Niue. I don't have an opinion on the Antarctic territory. Uninhabited overseas territories pose problems in classification, since they have no population and therefore have no right to self-determination and cannot become independent states. TFD (talk) 03:28, 31 January 2026 (UTC)

A good account of the status of the Ross Dependency by Alan Hemmings, an Antarctic expert, can be read here. The occassional comment that the Dependency is part of NZ refers, I think (confirmed by Hemmings), to this 1977 statute in which NZ is defined (s2) as including the Ross Dependency. Roger 8 Roger (talk) 07:35, 31 January 2026 (UTC)

The NZ constitution says that the Ross Dependency is part of the "Realm of New Zealand", not New Zealand itself. Your source says, "New Zealand statutes do not automatically extend to the Ross Dependency." That basically determines whether a territory is incorporated into the state or is an external dependency. Notice that originally the New Zealand legislature had no authority over any of the other parts of the realm of New Zealand, which were administered by the UK through the governor general.

NZ's jurisdiction is only recognised by four other countries, it has no permanent population and does not exercise control beyond a few stations. That makes it difficult to determine if it is an actual dependency of NZ.

I think that listing territories as dependencies based on whether they meet the definition is OR and it would be better to use sources for lists. TFD (talk) 16:48, 31 January 2026 (UTC)

@The Four Deuces I mean, all encyclopedic content must be verifiable through citations to reliable sources.

In regards to the dependency itself, if it has no permanent population, NZ's jurisdiction is only recognised by no more than five countries (out of the 190+), and it does not exercise control beyond a few stations, it does not sound like a dependency to me. AdmiralCarl (talk) 17:04, 31 January 2026 (UTC)

In this case, the source is the NZ government, on a page which does not even say it is a dependency.[1] TFD (talk) 17:11, 31 January 2026 (UTC)

@The Four Deuces So the government doesn't even say its a dependency but their Constitution does? AdmiralCarl (talk) 17:19, 31 January 2026 (UTC)

The constitution does not say it is a dependency. It describes the relationship which we would interpret as a dependency. TFD (talk) 17:53, 31 January 2026 (UTC)

Right, well if the Government states it is not a dependency, I think that is a good-enough source to remove Ross Dependency from the list. AdmiralCarl (talk) 18:09, 31 January 2026 (UTC)

The link was wrong, sorry. This is the correct link to the legislation. It defines NZ as including the Ross Dependency for the purpose of that act. Hemmings, in section VI, refers to other legislation that merge NZ and the Dependency together - for those statutes. There is sometimes comment that the Ross Dependency is part of NZ proper despite not being correct. I'm just saying I think legislation like this is possibly the cause of those comments. NZ law applies in the Dependency, although not always enforced, as noted by Hemmings. A person can get NZ residency if they live at McMurdo (US) Station for a long enough time, although I cannot verify that here. Roger 8 Roger (talk) 08:39, 1 February 2026 (UTC)

So New Zealand law states that the Dependency is part of New Zealand? AdmiralCarl (talk) | :) 19:46, 1 February 2026 (UTC)

The list is not based strictly on governmental positions. If it was you'd not be able to have one list, as countries have different internal structures. What the list has traditionally been based on is a number of external lists, and these have often had different members due to the vagueness of the topic. CMD (talk) 02:45, 2 February 2026 (UTC)

"Annex to the list of countries" listed at Redirects for discussion

The redirect Annex to the list of countries has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2026 January 19 § Annex to the list of countries until a consensus is reached. Steel1943 (talk) 19:39, 19 January 2026 (UTC)