Dependencies UK

Dependencies
Main articles: British Overseas Territories, Crown dependencies, British Islands, and List of leaders of British dependencies

A view of St Peter Port, Guernsey
The United Kingdom has sovereignty over 17 territories which do not form part of the United Kingdom itself: 14 British Overseas Territories[26] and three Crown dependencies.[26][188]

The 14 British Overseas Territories are remnants of the British Empire: they are Anguilla; Bermuda; the British Antarctic Territory; the British Indian Ocean Territory; the British Virgin Islands; the Cayman Islands; the Falkland Islands; Gibraltar; Montserrat; Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha; the Turks and Caicos Islands; the Pitcairn Islands; South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; and Akrotiri and Dhekelia on the island of Cyprus.[189] British claims in Antarctica have limited inter

national recognition.[190] Collectively Britain’s overseas territories encompass an approximate land area of 480,000 square nautical miles (640,000 sq mi; 1,600,000 km2),[191] with a total population of approximately 250,000.[192] The overseas territories also give the UK the worlds fifth largest Exclusive economic zone at 6,805,586 km2 (2,627,651 sq mi).[193][better source needed] A 1999 UK governme

nt white paper stated that: “[The] Overseas Territories are British for as long as they wish to remain British. Britain has willingly granted independence where it has been requested; and we will continue to do so where this is an option.”[194] Self-determination is also enshrined in the constitutions of several overseas territories and three have specifically voted to remain under British sovereignty (Bermuda in 1995,[195] Gibraltar in 2002[196] and the Falkland Islands in 2013).[197]