The Commonwealth of Nations is a voluntary association of 53 independent and sovereign states (one of whose membership is currently suspended). Most are former British colonies or dependencies of these colonies.
No one government in the Commonwealth exercises power over the others as is the case in a political union. Rather, the relationship is one of an international organisation through which countries with diverse social, political, and economic backgrounds are regarded as equal in status and cooperate within a framework of common values and goals as outlined in the Singapore Declaration issued in 1971. Such common values and goals include the promotion of democracy, human rights, good governance, the rule of law, individual liberty, egalitarianism, free trade, multilateralism, and world peace which are carried out through multilateral projects and meetings which include the Commonwealth Games held once every four years.
The symbol of this free association is Queen Elizabeth II who serves as the titular Head of the Commonwealth. This position, however, does not imbue her with any political or executive power over any Commonwealth member states; the position is purely symbolic, and it is the Commonwealth Secretary-General who is the chief executive of the Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth was first officially formed in 1931 when the Statute of Westminster gave legal recognition to the sovereignty of dominions. Known as the "British Commonwealth", the original members were the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, and Newfoundland, although Australia and New Zealand did not adopt the statute until 1942 and 1947 respectively. In 1949, the London Declaration was signed and marked the birth of the modern Commonwealth and the renaming to its present name. The newest member is Rwanda, which joined on 29 November 2009. The most recent departure was The Gambia, which severed its connection with the Commonwealth on 3 October 2013.
Presently, of the states that are members of the Commonwealth of Nations, three are in Europe, twelve in North America, one in South America, eighteen in Africa, eight in Asia, and eleven in Oceania. There are seven former members, four of which no longer exist as independent entities (but form part of current member states). The members have a combined population of 2.2 billion people, almost a third of the world population, of which 1.21 billion live in India, and 95% live in Asia and Africa combined.
Currently sixteen of the member states are Commonwealth realms with the Head of the Commonwealth also as their head of state, five others are monarchies with their own separate monarchs (Brunei, Lesotho, Malaysia, Swaziland, Tonga) and the rest are republics.
Current members
All table information based on figures provided by the Commonwealth of Nations Secretariat members list, most population figures are based on 2007 estimates, unless otherwise noted.
Note: The table can be sorted alphabetically or chronologically using the icon.
^ A. Unless otherwise noted, independence was gained from the United Kingdom on the date (shown in column 2) of joining the Commonwealth.
^ B. Not a member of the Commonwealth Foundation.
^ C. The population figure is based on 2004 estimates.
^ D. The population figure is based on 2005 estimates.
^ E. Though Pakistan celebrates 14 August 1947 as its independence day, independence was officially granted at midnight, 15 August 1947. Therefore, its date of joining the Commonwealth would be 15 August 1947.
^ F. Commonwealth realms, recognising Elizabeth II as their head of state since the day of their independence, distinctly from her being the sovereign of United Kingdom.
Former members
Dissolved members
Prospective members
Other states which have expressed an interest in joining the Commonwealth over the years include Algeria, Cambodia, Madagascar, Palestine, Yemen.
Other former British Colonies that have never been Commonwealth members
Former protectorates of the UK and other Commonwealth countries
A protectorate, in the British Empire, is a territory which is not formally annexed but in which, by treaty, grant or other lawful means, the Crown has power and jurisdiction.
A protectorate differs from a "protected state". A protected state is a territory under a ruler which enjoys Her Britannic Majesty's protection, over whose foreign affairs she exercises control, but in respect of whose internal affairs she does not exercise jurisdiction.
When the British took over Cephalonia in 1809, they proclaimed, "We present ourselves to you, Inhabitants of Cephalonia, not as invaders, with views of conquest, but as allies who hold forth to you the advantages of British protection." When the British continued to occupy the Ionian Islands after the Napoleonic wars, they did not formally annex the islands, but described them as a protectorate. The islands were constituted by the Treaty of Paris in 1815 as the independent United States of the Ionian Islands under British protection. Similarly, Malta was a British protectorate between the capitulation of the French in 1800 and the Treaty of Paris of 1814.
Other British protectorates followed. In 1894, Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone's government officially announced that Uganda was to become a British Protectorate, where Muslim and Christian strife had attracted international attention. The British administration installed carefully selected local kings under a programme of indirect rule through the local oligarchy, creating a network of British-controlled civil service. Most British protectorates were overseen by a Commissioner or a High Commissioner, rather than a Governor.
British law makes a distinction between a protectorate and protected state. Constitutionally the two are of similar status where Britain provides controlled defence and external relations. However, a protectorate has an internal government established, while a protected state establishes a form of local internal self-government based on the already existing one.
Persons connected with former British protectorates, protected states, mandated or trust territories may remain British Protected Persons if they did not acquire the nationality of the country at independence.
The last British protectorate proper was the Solomon Islands, which gained independence in 1978; the last British protected state was Brunei, which gained full independence in 1984.
Other cases include the following:
Americas
- Barbados (1627â€"1652) (as a proprietary colony under both William Courteen, followed by James Hay I.)
- Mosquito Coast (1655â€"1860) (over Central America's Miskito Indian nation)
Arab World
- Aden Protectorate in Yemen (1873â€"1967)
- Sultanate of Egypt (1914â€"1922)
- Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (1899â€"1956; condominium with Egypt)
- Persian Gulf Residency (1822â€"1971)
- Bahrain (1880â€"1971)
- Kuwait (1899â€"1961)
- Qatar (1916â€"1971)
- Trucial States, precursor of the UAE (1892â€"1971)
- British Somaliland (1887â€"1960)
South and South East Asia
- Bhutan (1910â€"1947)
- British North Borneo (1888â€"1946)
- Brunei (1888â€"1984)
- Federation of Malaya (1948â€"1957)
- Federated Malay States (1895â€"1946)
- Negeri Sembilan (1888â€"1895)
- Sungai Ujong (1873â€"1888)
- Jelebu (1886â€"1895)
- Pahang (1888â€"1895)
- Perak (1874â€"1895)
- Selangor (1875â€"1895)
- Negeri Sembilan (1888â€"1895)
- Unfederated Malay States (1904/09-1946)
- Johor (1904â€"1946)
- Kedah (1909â€"1946)
- Kelantan (1909â€"1946)
- Perlis (1909â€"1946)
- Terengganu (1909â€"1946)
- Federated Malay States (1895â€"1946)
- Indian Princely States (to 1947)
- Maldives (1887â€"1965)
- Sikkim (1910â€"1975)
- Kingdom of Sarawak (1888â€"1946)
Sub-Saharan Africa
Asterisks denote protectorates which were governed from a colony of the same name.
- Basutoland (1884-1966)
- Bechuanaland Protectorate (1884â€"1966)
- British East Africa Protectorate (1895â€"1920)
- Gambia Protectorate* (1894â€"1965)
- Kenya Protectorate* (1920â€"1963)
- Barotseland Protectorate (1900-1964)
- Northern Rhodesia (1924â€"1964)
- Northern Territories of the Gold Coast (1902â€"1957)
- Nyasaland Protectorate (1893â€"1964) - known as British Central Africa until 1907
- Northern Nigeria Protectorate
- Eastern Nigeria Protectorate
- Western Nigeria Protectorate
- Sierra Leone Protectorate* (1896â€"1961)
- Swaziland (1902â€"1968)
- Uganda Protectorate (1894â€"1962)
- Walvis Bay protectorate (1878â€"1884)
- Zanzibar (1890â€"1963)
Oceania
- British Solomon Islands (1893â€"1978)
- Cook Islands (1888â€"1901)
- Gilbert and Ellice Islands (1892â€"1916)
- Niue (1900â€"1901)
- Tokelau (1877â€"1916)
- Tonga (1900â€"1970)
Former British Mandates
Class A League of Nations mandates
The first group, or Class A mandates, were territories formerly controlled by the Ottoman Empire that were deemed to "... have reached a stage of development where their existence as independent nations can be provisionally recognized subject to the rendering of administrative advice and assistance by a Mandatory until such time as they are able to stand alone. The wishes of these communities must be a principal consideration in the selection of the Mandatory."
The Class A mandates were as follows:
- Palestine (United Kingdom), from 29 September 1923 â€" 15 May 1948. In April 1921, Transjordan provisionally became an autonomous area for 6 months but then continued to be part of the Mandate until independence. It eventually became the independent Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan (later Jordan) on 25 May 1946. A plan for peacefully dividing the remainder of the Mandate failed. The Mandate terminated at midnight between 14 and 15 May 1948. On the evening of 14 May, the Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Palestine had declared the establishment of the State of Israel. Arab states attacked the following day, marking the start of the 1948 Arabâ€"Israeli War. Following the war, 75% of the area west of the Jordan River was controlled by the new State of Israel. Other parts, until 1967, formed the West Bank of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip. Small slivers of territory east and south of the Sea of Galilee were held by Syria.
- Mesopotamia (United Kingdom), not enacted and replaced by the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty
Class B League of Nations mandates
The second group of mandates, or Class B mandates, were all former Schutzgebiete (German territories) in West and Central Africa which were deemed to require a greater level of control by the mandatory power: "...the Mandatory must be responsible for the administration of the territory under conditions which will guarantee freedom of conscience and religion." The mandatory power was forbidden to construct military or naval bases within the mandates.
The Class B mandates were as follows:
- Tanganyika (United Kingdom), from 20 July 1922 to 11 December 1946. It became a United Nations Trust Territory on 11 December 1946, and was granted internal self-rule on 1 May 1961. On 9 December 1961, it became an independent Commonwealth realm, transforming into a republic on the same day the next year. On 26 April 1964, Tanganyika merged with the neighbouring island of Zanzibar to become the modern nation of Tanzania.
- Kamerun was split on 20 July 1922 into British Cameroons (under a Resident) and French Cameroun (under a Commissioner until 27 August 1940, then under a Governor), on 13 December 1946 transformed into United Nations Trust Territories, again a British (successively under senior district officers officiating as Resident, a Special Resident and Commissioners) and a French Trust (under a Haut Commissaire)
- Togoland was split into British Togoland (under an Administrator, a post filled by the colonial Governor of the British Gold Coast (present Ghana) except 30 September 1920â€"11 October 1923 Francis Walter Fillon Jackson) and French Togoland (under a Commissioner) (United Kingdom and France), 20 July 1922 separate Mandates, transformed on 13 December 1946 into United Nations trust territories, French Togo Associated Territory (under a Commissioner till 30 August 1956, then under a High Commissioner as Autonomous Republic of Togo) and British Togoland (as before; on 13 December 1956 it ceased to exist as it became part of Ghana)
Class C League of Nations mandates
A final group, the Class C mandates, including South-West Africa and certain of the South Pacific Islands, were considered to be "best administered under the laws of the Mandatory as integral portions of its territory".
The Class C mandates were former German possessions as follows:
- former German New Guinea became the Territory of New Guinea (Australia/United Kingdom) from 17 December 1920 under a (at first Military) Administrator; after (wartime) Japanese/U.S. military commands from 8 December 1946 under UN mandate as North East New Guinea (under Australia, as administrative unit), until it became part of present Papua New Guinea at independence in 1975
- Nauru, formerly part of German New Guinea (Australia in effective control, formally together with United Kingdom and New Zealand) from 17 December 1920, 1 November 1947 made into a United Nations trust territory (same three powers) until its 31 January 1968 independence as a Republic - all that time under an Administrator
- former German Samoa (New Zealand/United Kingdom) 17 December 1920 a League of Nations mandate, renamed Western Samoa (as opposed to American Samoa), from 25 January 1947 a United Nations trust territory until its 1 January 1962 independence
- South-West Africa (South Africa/United Kingdom)
- from 1 October 1922 Walvisbaai's administration (still merely having a Magistrate until its 16 March 1931 Municipal status, thence a Mayor) was also assigned to South West Africa Mandate
United Nations mandates
British mandates acquired after 1945 (formation of the United Nations):
- Libya
- Cyrenaica and Tripolitania, under British Administration from 1942 to 1951 (Fezzan was under the French), when Libya was re-united and granted independence
- Eritrea - under British administration 1941 to 1951, transferred to Ethiopia. Became an independent state in 1993.
See also
- Commonwealth of Nations membership criteria
- List of countries by English-speaking population
- List of countries where English is an official language
- Prospective members of the Commonwealth of Nations
- Representatives of the Commonwealth of Nations
References
External links
- Commonwealth timeline
- "Members". Commonwealth Secretariat. Retrieved 2008-02-15.Â
- "Commonwealth of Nations". Commonwealth of Nations. Retrieved 2008-02-15.Â
- "The Commonwealth". Directgov. Retrieved 2008-02-15.Â