HOW BIG IS THE BRITISH EMPIRE IN 2007

Hey don't knock it. It took centuries of selective inbreeding to get like that.

what, me worry?

Setanta wrote-



The Treaty of Utrecht ceded it.

The Americans got their land fair and square as well on the "might is right" principle.

The population of Gib is about 30,000 so its status is purely symbolic or strategic. The people there are overwhelmingly in favour of the status quo.

One presumes not being "humble and shabby" means the ability to project shock and awe efficiently or otherwise.

An odd use of words for a concerned and caring leftie I must say. One might have thought that "humble and shabby" would be approved qualities to the non-violent mentality just as "proud and smart" are often associated with military power.

On a word association test you would be placed on the warmonger side with a fixation for clean, shiny, asserted might, drill and marching bands.

I am curious. Are the islands listed in the list by xenonll subject to the complete jurisdiction of the UK, i.e. they follow UK laws and don't have their own laws?

Government of the British Empire.

The head of state in the colonies is the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, currently Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen's role in the colonies is in her role as Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and not in right of each colony. For example in Australia, a Sovereign Kingdom of Her Majesty's Realm in the British Commonwealth, the Queen reigns as Queen of Australia, but in Bermuda, a colony of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the British Empire, she reigns as Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The Queen appoints a representative in each colony to exercise her executive power. In colonies with a permanent population, a Governor is appointed by the Queen on the advice of the British Government, usually a retired senior military officer, or a senior civil servant. In colonies without a permanent population, a Commissioner is usually appointed to represent the Queen. For colonies with dependencies of their own such as Saint Helena which has the dependencies of Ascension Island, Tristan da Cunha and Gough Island, the Governor may appoint an Administrator to represent him or her in that dependency.

The role of the Governor is to act as the de facto head of state, and they are usually responsible for appointing the head of government, and senior political positions in the colony. The Governor is also responsible for liaising with the imperial UK Government, and carrying out any ceremonial duties. A Commissioner has the same powers as a Governor, but also acts as the head of government giving him complete control over the colonies affairs.

All the colonies have their own system of government, and localised laws. The structure of the government appears to be closely correlated to the size and political development of the colony:

* British Antarctic Territory
* South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

No native population, therefore there is no elected government. The Commissioner, supported by an Administrator run the affairs of the colony. The British Antarctic Territory is the largest remaining expanse of the Empire covering an area more than 6.5 times the size of the United Kingdom or slightly larger than the US state of Alaska! It is governed by a Commissioner resident in London. South Georgia is a 106 mile long by 20 mile wide island governed by a Commissioner resident in the capital King Edward Point. The South Sandwich Islands are uninhabitated.

* British Indian Ocean Territory

A group of around 65 islands, the largest Diego Garcia is leased to the United States and hosts the biggest overseas military base of the United States. The island is on a 40 year lease which expires in 2016 but the United States is seeking to extend the lease until at least 2036. There is no elected government, and currently the colony has no native settled population. A Commissioner resident in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London administers the colony. This person also administers the British Antarctic Territory.

* Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia

These are two areas on the island of Cyprus that remained under British control and sovereignty when Cyprus achieved independence. The UK kept these areas under British rule because of their strategic location near the Middle East and Suez Canal. Despite civilians making up around 50% of the 15,000 population of the colony there is no elected government. However the British military authorities try to ensure convergence of laws with those of the Republic of Cyprus where possible. The colony is administrated by a Commissioner resident in the Akrotiri section.

* Pitcairn Islands - This is the last outpost of the British Empire in the Pacific ocean. There are 4 islands but only tiny Pitcairn is inhabitated. There is an elected Mayor and Island Council, who have the power to propose and administer local legislation. However, their decisions are subject to approval by the Governor, who retains near-unlimited powers of plenary legislation on behalf of the United Kingdom Government.

* Falkland Islands
* Saint Helena

The Government consists of an elected Legislative Council. The Governor is the head of government and leads the Executive Council, consisting of appointed members made up from the Legislative Council and two ex-offico members. There are Administrators appointed for both Ascension Island (the site of another American base) and Tristan da Cunha which are dependencies of Saint Helena. Gough Island is a dependency of Tristan da Cunha and a small area of the island has been leased to the South African Government since 1956. The Falkland Islands are the largest colony after the British Antarctic Territory covering 4,700 square miles spread over an area the size of Wales. There are two large islands, the biggest of which is the 99th largest island in the World and there are also 776 smaller islands.

* Anguilla
* British Virgin Islands
* Cayman Islands
* Montserrat

These more populous colonies have a larger Legislative Council, with political parties. The Executive Council is usually called a cabinet and is led by a Chief Minister (except in the Cayman Islands, which have a Leader of Government Business), who is the leader of the majority party in parliament. The Governor exercises less power over local affairs and deals mostly with foreign affairs and economic issues, while the elected government controls most "domestic" concerns. These colonies represent what is remaining of the British West Indies and the Cayman Islands has the 2nd largest population of the colonies at 51,000 and also one of the largest British islands outside of both the British Isles and British Antarctica, the Virgin Islands have around 29,000 inhabitants on 60 islands and the smaller Anguilla and Montserrat island colonies have less than 10,000 inhabitants each.

* Gibraltar

Gibraltar is the smallest colony in terms of land area being less than 3 square miles in size and apart from the British Antarctic Territory, the only one that is not situated on an island. Gibraltar recently increased in size by more than 5% with the construction of a large artificial island. It is the colony that is most likely to fully integrate with the United Kingdom and become a constituent country alongside England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as over 90% of the population supports such a proposal. Under the Gibraltar Constitution Order 2006 which was approved in Gibraltar by a referendum, Gibraltar now has a Parliament. The Government, headed by the Chief Minister is elected. Defence, external affairs and internal security vest in the Governor as a matter of distribution of powers. The colony is treated as part of the UK for EU purposes, voting in European elections as part of South West England.

* Bermuda
* Turks and Caicos Islands

Bermuda, as the most populous posession of the British Empire has the title Jewel in the Empire's Crown which is traditionally awarded to the most populous colony. It was settled in 1609 and is the oldest colony. There are 138 islands covering only 20.59 square miles and the population is more than 66,000. Most executive powers have been devolved to the head of government, known as the Premier. Its system of government is very similar to that of a sovereign Commonwealth Realm. The UK government retains only minor powers, exercised through the Governor, but most of those are handed to local ministers for day-to-day purposes. Bermuda's Parliament held its first session in 1620, and Bermuda has been largely self-governed and self-sufficient since then.

The Turks and Caicos Islands cover an area similar in size to Hong Kong, they have a population of 23,000 and were the only part of the Bahamas that voted in an early 1970s referendum on independence to remain British. Independence as a seperate territory was planned however for the late 1970's but was shelved in 1980. They adopted a new constitution effective 9 August 2006; their head of government now also has the title Premier, and their autonomy has been greatly increased as they now have a system of government very similar to that of Bermuda.


* Isle of Man
* Jersey
* Guernsey

Crown Dependencies are possessions of The Crown in Right of the United Kingdom, as opposed to colonies of the United Kingdom. They comprise the Channel Island bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey and the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea. Her Majesty rules in the Isle of Man as Lord of Mann and in the Channel Islands as Duke of Normandy, the Channel Islands being the only part of Normandy remaining under British rule.

Crown Dependencies have greater populations than colonies. The Isle of Man is a 34 mile long island with a width of between 8-12 miles situated in the geographical centre of the British Isles. It is the 9th largest island in the British Isles and in 2007 its population reached 80,000. Guernsey has a total population of around 75,000 and Jersey has 90,000 inhabitants.

Since 2005, each Crown dependency has a Chief Minister as head of government. However, as they are possessions of the British Crown they are not sovereign nations in their own right, and the power to pass legislation affecting the islands rests ultimately with the British Parliament.

These Crown dependencies, together with the United Kingdom, form a federacy collectively known as the British Islands. They are treated as part of the United Kingdom for British nationality law purposes. In each Crown dependency, the British monarch is represented by a Lieutenant Governor.

The British Government is solely responsible for defence and international representation, although each island has responsibility for its own customs and immigration. Until 2001, the Home Office had responsibility for the Crown dependencies, but this was transferred to the Lord Chancellor's Department, then the Department for Constitutional Affairs, and today the Ministry of Justice.

All 'insular' legislation has to receive the approval of the 'Queen in Council', in effect, the Privy Council in London, with a UK minister being the Privy Councillor with responsibility for the Crown dependencies.

Acts of the British Parliament do not usually apply to the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, unless explicitly stated. When deemed advisable, Acts of the United Kingdom Parliament may be extended to the Islands by means of an Order in Council.

This is awesome info, XenonII, thanks very much.

Very good Setanta. ha ha ha. ---------------- Only if the sun/son is Eco Friendly.

As I recall, once WW2 was safely tossed into the international dumpster, Britain simply had a garage sale & offloaded the Empire. Thus saving money & getting rid of a multitude of potential problems.

Oh, they did manage a few brush fire wars--Greece, Aden, Malaya, etc. However, when Eisenhower got elected, they didn't have "Uncle Sam" to back their play any longer, and the "post-war consensus" on nationalized health, welfare, etc. was costing a pretty penny.

They only economized because they had no choice.

Regarding Pitcairn, there's only 50 people living there now, from 9 different families.

This is the island where the mutineers of the Bounty settled.

In 2004 there was a big rape trial going on, stating many of the girls on the island were being sexually abused as early as the age 7.

The girls were sexually active ususally by the age 12. However, the people stated this was the norm in polynesians cultures.

I read that in 2003, two hundred and thirty some people left to move to NZ, leaving the 50ish behind.

Can you imagine living there? All the intermarriage?

I thin k the worlds last Mini Moke is down there in Pitcairn. That is until they retart making new ones in South Carolina.

on our south-america cruise in 2005 we stopped over in the falkland-islands for a day (send a postcard to myself for the cancellation stamp :wink: ) .
our guide was a woman that had came with her husband and kids some 25 years ago to "escape the rat race" .
the islanders seem to live a pretty good life . they have greenhouses to supply vegetables year-round , but their main food supplies are shipped in .
kids are sent to england for highschool and university - all paid for by the motherland .
they have a small hospital on the island but are flown to chile for major surgeries .
the guide said that she really liked the quiet life , but that people pretty well "live in each others pockets " ! the local radio-station will broadcast ALL GOSSIP , such as when someone has been seen with another man or woman . "there are NO secrets on this island , " she said .
oil and gas deposits been found in the surrounding waters of the south-atlantik . it seems that great-britain is determined to hold on to the islands .
hbg

Bigger than Vatican and smaller than Mustard or atom

From a Frenchman in Normandy this summer, I leaned that the Spanish name for the Falklands (Malvinas) is from the French (Malvines) and that means a female inhabitant of St Malo, France.

One that was abducted over a horse's pommel with her Daddy shouting and bawling I hope.

Don#t you think that it is boaring or taxing to exchange our view points by misusing the A2K forum.
I am here to correct my character/ language

Forget it Rama.

You've either got it or you haven't.

Yes, It dates back to the Spanish revolution I think

Currently, as in 2007, the British Empire consists of 14 states. Today they are legally called 'British Overseas Territories' and they are what is left of the British Empire.

An interesting fact is is that the sun still does not actually set on the British Empire.

God Save The Queen.

Im having a scone and some tea right now. I dont know how you can eat them things, like a bad bizkit, cant decide if its bread or a roll, sweet or not sweet.
Maybe I need to curdle some lemon