The State Department web site below is a permanent electronic archive of information released prior to January 20, 2001.  Please see www.state.gov for material released since President George W. Bush took office on that date.  This site is not updated so external links may no longer function.  Contact us with any questions about finding information. NOTE: External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views contained therein.

Dependencies and Areas of Special Sovereignty

(As released by the Office of the Geographer and Global Issues, November 20, 2000)

See also:
Independent States in the World
How's That Place Spelled? (GEOnet)
Geographic Learning Site (GLS)
State Department Country Background Notes
!  New change, since previous list

Short-form name	Long-form name	Sovereignty	FIPS Code (see note 1)	Capital
American Samoa	Territory of American Samoa	United States	AQ	Pago Pago
Anguilla	(no long-form name)	United Kingdom	AV	The Valley
Antarctica	(no long-form name)	None (see note 2)	AY	None
Aruba	(no long-form name)	Netherlands	AA	Oranjestad
Ashmore and Cartier Islands	Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands	Australia	AT	Administered from Canberra
Baker Island	(no long-form name)	United States	FQ	Administered from Washington, D.C.
Bermuda	(no long-form name)	United Kingdom	BD	Hamilton
Bouvet Island	(no long-form name)	Norway	BV	Admin. from Oslo
British Indian Ocean Territory (see note 3)	British Indian Ocean Territory	United Kingdom	IO	None
Cayman Islands	(no long-form name)	United Kingdom	CJ	George Town
Christmas Island	Territory of Christmas Island	Australia	KT	The Settlement (Flying Fish Cove)
Clipperton Island	(no long-form name)	France	IP	Administered from French Polynesia
Cocos (Keeling) Islands	Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands	Australia	CK	West Island
Cook Islands	(no long-form name)	New Zealand	CW	Avarua
Coral Sea Islands	Coral Sea Islands Territory	Australia	CR	Administered from Canberra
East Timor	(no long-form name)	Temporarily administered by the United Nations	TT	Dili
Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)	Colony of the Falkland Islands	United Kingdom (see note 4)	FK	Stanley
Faroe Islands	(no long-form name)	Denmark	FO	Tórshavn
French Guiana !(see note 5)
French Polynesia	Territory of French Polynesia	France	FP	Papeete
French Southern and Antarctic Lands (see note 6)	Territory of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands	France	FS	Administered from Paris
Gibraltar	(no long-form name)	United Kingdom	GI	Gibraltar
Greenland	(no long-form name)	Denmark	GL	Nuuk (Godthåb)
Guadeloupe !(see note 5)
Guam	Territory of Guam	United States	GQ	Hagatna
Guernsey !(see note 7)	Bailiwick of Guernsey	British Crown Dependency	GK	Saint Peter Port
Heard Island and McDonald Islands	Territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands	Australia	HM	Administered from Canberra
Hong Kong	Hong Kong Special Administrative Region	China (see note 8)	HK	Hong Kong
Howland Island	(no long-form name)	United States	HQ	Administered from Washington, D.C.
Jan Mayen	(no long-form name)	Norway	JN	Administered from Oslo (see note 9)
Jarvis Island	(no long-form name)	United States	DQ	Administered from Washington, D.C.
Jersey	Bailiwick of Jersey	British Crown Dependency	JE	Saint Helier
Johnston Atoll	(no long-form name)	United States	JQ	Administered from Washington, D.C.
Kingman Reef	(no long-form name)	United States	KQ	Administered from Washington, D.C.
Macau	Macau Special Administrative Region	China (see note 14)	MC	Macau
Man, Isle of	(no long-form name)	British Crown Dependency	IM	Douglas
Martinique !(see note 5)
Mayotte	Territorial Collectivity of Mayotte	France	MF	Mamoudzou
Midway Islands	(no long-form name)	United States	MQ	Administered from Washington, D.C.
Montserrat	(no long-form name)	United Kingdom	MH	Plymouth
Navassa Island	(no long-form name)	United States	BQ	Administered from Washington, D.C.
Netherlands Antilles (see note 10)	(no long-form name)	Netherlands	NT	Willemstad
New Caledonia	Territory of New Caledonia and Dependencies	France	NC	Nouméa
Niue	(no long-form name)	New Zealand	NE	Alofi
Norfolk Island	Territory of Norfolk Island	Australia	NF	Kingston
Northern Mariana Islands	Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands	United States	CQ	Saipan
Palmyra Atoll	(no long-form name)	United States	LQ	Administered from Washington, D.C.
Paracel Islands	(no long-form name)	undetermined (see note 12)	PF	None
Pitcairn Islands	Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie, and Oeno Islands	United Kingdom	PC	Adamstown
Puerto Rico	Commonwealth of Puerto Rico	United States	RQ	San Juan
Reunion !(see note 5)
Saint Helena (see note 13)	(no long-form name)	United Kingdom	SH	Jamestown
Saint Pierre and Miquelon	Territorial Collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon	France	SB	Saint-Pierre
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands	South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands	United Kingdom (see note 4)	SX	None
Spratly Islands	(no long-form name)	undetermined (see note 14)	PG	None
Svalbard	(no long-form name)	Norway	SV	Longyearbyen
Tokelau	(no long-form name)	New Zealand	TL	None
Turks and Caicos Islands	(no long-form name)	United Kingdom	TK	Grand Turk
Virgin Islands, U.S.	United States Virgin Islands	United States	VQ	Charlotte Amalie
Virgin Islands, British	(no long-form name)	United Kingdom	VI	Road Town
Wake Island	(no long-form name)	United States	WQ	Administered from Washington, D.C.
Wallis and Futuna	Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands	France	WF	Matâ'utu
Western Sahara	(no long-form name)	undetermined	WI	None

Back to top

NOTES
Note 1:   Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 10-4 codes.

Note 2:   Antarctica consists of the territory south of 60 degrees south latitude.   This area includes claims by Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the legal status of which remains in suspense under the terms of the Antarctic Treaty of 1959.   The United States recognizes no claims to Antarctica.

Note 3:   Chagos Archipelago (including Diego Garcia).

Note 4:   Dependent territory of the United Kingdom (also claimed by Argentina).

Note 5:   French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Reunion are departments (first-order administrative units) of France, and are therefore not dependencies or areas of special sovereignty. They are included in this list only for the convenience of the user. The Department of Guadeloupe includes the nearby islands of Marie-Galante, La Desirade, and Iles des Saintes, as well as Saint Barthelemy and the northern three-fifths of Saint Martin (the rest of which belongs to Netherlands Antilles). The islands of Bassas da India, Europa Island, Glorioso Islands, Juan de Nova Island, and Tromelin Island are administered from Reunion; all these islands are claimed by Madagascar, and Tromelin Island is claimed by Mauritius.

Note 6:   "French Southern and Antarctic Lands" includes Île Amsterdam, Île Saint-Paul, Îles Crozet, and Îles Kerguelen in the southern Indian Ocean, along with the French-claimed sector of Antarctica, "Terre Adélie."   The United States does not recognize the French claim to "Terre Adélie" (see note 2).

Note 7:  The Bailiwick of Guernsey includes the islands of Alderney, Guernsey, Herm, Sark, and nearby smaller islands.

Note 8:   Under a Sino-British declaration of September 1984, Hong Kong reverted to Chinese control on July 1, 1997. It is now a semi-autonomous entity that exists pursuant to international agreement and maintains its own government apart from the People's Republic of China.

Note 9:   Administered from Oslo, Norway, through a governor resident in Longyearbyen, Svalbard.

Note 10:   Under the Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration on the Question of Macau signed in 1987, Macau reverted to Chinese control on December 20, 1999.   It is now a semi-autonomous entity that exists pursuant to international agreement and maintains its own government apart from the People's Republic of China.

Note 11:   Netherlands Antilles comprises two groupings of islands: Curaçao and Bonaire are located off the coast of Venezuela; Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten (the Dutch two-fifths of the island of Saint Martin) lie 800 km to the north.

Note 12:   South China Sea islands occupied by China but claimed by Vietnam.

Note 13:   The territory of Saint Helena includes the Island group of Tristan da Cunha; Saint Helena also administers Ascension Island.

Note 14:   South China Sea islands claimed in entirety by China and Vietnam and in part by the Philippines and Malaysia; each of these states occupies some part of the islands.

Source:   Office of The Geographer and Global Issues, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, U.S. Department of State, Washington, D.C.

How's That Place Spelled?

The GEOnet Names Server (GNS) provides access to the National Imagery and Mapping Agency's (NIMA's) database of foreign geographic feature names.   If you want to see the official U.S. Government spelling of places around the world, go to:

GEOnet Names Server (an interactive search tool)

Interested in maps, data tables,
and other country information?
Try our

[end of document]

This is an official U.S. Government source for information on the WWW. Inclusion of non-U.S. Government links does not imply endorsement of contents.