Talk:List of countries that have gained independence from the United Kingdom

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Dominions

To me the date of they achieved Dominion status should be the day considered. This is because of a few reasons.

1. It is the day that all of them consider their independence day.

2.While the Dominions lacked powers over their foreign affairs they controlled their domestic ones. If the point is that external autonomy is needed to be a country then Canada should be before 1931 as it signed the Halibut Treaty with the US in 1923 without the UK's signature. The other Dominions could also make similar claims.

3.The criteria for full outright sovereignty is too extreme in my opinion. I think it is pretty much accepted, knowingly or not that a country can be sovereign without having fully sovereign powers, If the criteria is full sovereignty then the UK is not independent as it gives up some of its sovereign powers to the EU, the ability to negotiate trade agreements for example. There are other examples such as Monaco, Micronesia, Palau, etc. Seeing as no one would argue the UK is not an independent country I don't think its a stretch to consider the Dominions independent on their date of formation.

4.Using the Statute of Westminster has some flaws in my opinion. The first being that it largely made de jure something that had been going on since after the First World War and even earlier. It also didint fully give the nations in question full powers. Canada, Australia and New Zealand only gained the ability to amend their constitutions in the 1980's. This to me shows that rather than being a date of independence, the Statute of Westminister was just a step in the continuing evolution of the Dominions.

5.One could argue that the Dominions signature on the Versailles Treaty as well as their participation in the Legaue of Nations gave them international acceptance which is the key criteria of the constitutive Theory of Statehood.

6.The declarative theory of Statehood was arguably met on the date of their formation and most certainly met before the Statute of Westminister. The theory being.

          1.Has a defined territory
          2.Permanent population
          3.A government
          4.The capacity to enter into relations with other states.

Table of countries does not sort by name

clicking on the country name column does not sort in alpha order ascending or descending; Tanganyika, United States, India, when descending order sorted; sort ascending is Jamaica, Maldives, Sudan. KarenISeattle (talk) 06:07, 14 August 2024 (UTC)

Can you explain further? It seems to be working fine. Barry Wom (talk) 10:04, 14 August 2024 (UTC)

Appears to be fixed now. KarenISeattle (talk) 19:50, 15 August 2024 (UTC)

British Indian Ocean Territory

Shall we add the Chagos Archipelago and its planned transfer to Mauritius? Gamalny (talk) 18:02, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

Yes. We should do this once the treaty takes effect. However there should be two cells. One should be for Chagos and the other should be Desroches, Farquhar, and Aldabra as they returned to the Seychelles upon independence in 1976. 195.252.233.22 (talk) 03:16, 4 July 2025 (UTC)

RFC: United States

Should the entry for the United States in the table note that the modern-day territory of the United States is much larger than the one it had at independence? Glide08 (talk) 14:31, 23 April 2025 (UTC)

Response

soft support. How about adding this to the entry? (the bold face text):

United States

|British America

|style="text-align:right;"|4 July

|style="text-align:center;"|1776

|Declaration of Independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1776. British government recognized independence to the thirteen original states in 1783 with the Treaty of Paris. --Louis P. Boog (talk) 15:43, 23 April 2025 (UTC) (editor is a volunteer for Feedback Request Service)

I'd support this compromise wording. Barry Wom (talk) 16:01, 23 April 2025 (UTC)

Does that understate things too much, given that they also ceded the Ohio river valley and the northwest territories? Guettarda (talk) 16:16, 23 April 2025 (UTC)

I'd say it does. Glide08 (talk) 19:03, 23 April 2025 (UTC)

I think that the compromise wording works. I'd support any inclusion of the material which aligns with our policies, but if there is a word choice or phrasing which allows for a greater consensus to be gained, I'd prefer that. (summoned by YapperBot) InvadingInvader (userpage, talk) 17:24, 23 April 2025 (UTC)
My wording, which was reverted by user:Barry Wom, was a note that says "The area of the United States at the moment of independence comprises only 22% of its modern-day territories." Glide08 (talk) 19:04, 23 April 2025 (UTC)
I don't like that approach. Alaska is 15–20% of the US's territory, but it's only 2% of the states and a quarter of a percent of the people. "Only 22% of its modern-day territories" makes the first states sound less important than they were (and are). WhatamIdoing (talk) 04:28, 13 May 2025 (UTC)

I don't see any WP:RFCBEFORE? Kowal2701 (talk) 20:12, 23 April 2025 (UTC)

Noted. @Glide08, Requests for Comments are reserved as a last step approach to gain consensus on controversial topics. In the future, please bring your discussion directly to the Talk Page and engage active users on the page. If you then find yourself unable to move forward, you could engage a 3rd opinion and escalate that to Dispute Resolution. If all of those attempts fail, then we engage RfC. Regardless, thanks for your contribution to the Wiki project and well done on presenting the topic neutrally! WP:DONTBITE Penguino35 (talk) 13:46, 21 May 2025 (UTC)

Why? It's also not the only country that has changed size since independence. CMD (talk) 07:17, 24 April 2025 (UTC)
The US's westward expansion is unique among the ex-British colonies. Even the closest expansion, Canada, isn't really comparable; Canada received its expanded territory (Rupert's Land, the North-Wester territory, British Columbia) entirely from the British Empire and attained its modern "shape" only four years after attaining dominion status, while the US's westward expansion took place on a longer timescale (there's a 27 year gap between American Independence and the Louisiana purchase, let alone later expansions) and involved territories outside the British Empire (the Midwest, formerly the French colony of Louisiana; the Southwest, formerly part of New Spain and Mexico; Alaska; and Hawaii). Glide08 (talk) 10:41, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
South Yemen and Somaliland would be better comparisons. Something like "Incorporated territories from France, Spain, Mexico, Russia and the Kingdom of Hawaii" (but better phrased to match the rest of the list's tone) might be better. Shouldn't treat the US as sui generis. Guettarda (talk) 14:05, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
It is perhaps sui generis in the sense that almost every country is, but the unanswered question is how that relates to the topic of the article. CMD (talk) 14:34, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

Response

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