British Colonies Still Exist

Last week, the news came out that the United Kingdom and Mauritius agreed to turn over the Chagos Archipelago (in the middle of the ocean south of the Maldives) to Mauritius. This came after decades of pressure from both Mauritius and the United Nations. To me, this is just one more colony that the British Empire has given up. I refer to any part of the world where the Monarch of the United Kingdom is the head of state (and where the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is their Prime Minister) as a part of the British Empire. That means the British Empire looks like this:

Most people seem to think the British Empire is gone, and some place its end at the transfer of Hong Kong to China in 1997. I think that is quite mistaken. Although the United Kingdom does not directly govern areas of land larger than Britain anymore, it still has plenty of colonies. The words "colony" and "empire" are unwanted to 21st century ears, and no government officials of any country seem to speak of themselves as empires having colonies. However, it only takes a beginner map-reader to notice that there are pieces of land distant from their "mother countries" where their capitals are. Often, these "mother countries" are in Europe. Well then, where were the empires of two or three hundred years ago? Most were in Europe. Which countries had overseas colonies? Most were in Europe. Therefore, you can see that today's so-called "overseas territories", "crown dependencies", etc. are really just leftover European colonies.

What is an "empire" or a "colony", anyway? People will have different opinions, but here is mine. An empire is any country that has expanded its boundaries since its foundation. Therefore, a colony is any piece of land that is now within a country that did not have that land when that country was founded. (Yes, that means the United States is an empire too. Yes, that also means all the states west of the Mississippi are colonies, and that's okay.)

Although the United Kingdom does not rule any part of mainland America or Africa anymore, it still rules pieces of land close by. Notice how many lands the United Kingdom has in the West Indies, and Gibraltar just north of Morocco. The Cayman Islands, one of the British colonies in the Caribbean, were taken by the British even before some of the 13 Colonies that became the United States. Likewise, Gibraltar was taken from the Spanish mainland (ironic - one empire colonizing another) about 70 years before the 13 Colonies fought for their independence.

The British Empire will soon lose the Chagos Archipelago, but what about the other colonies? The United Kingdom has 13 other "British Overseas Territories", a cute way of calling their current colonies. Most are in the middle of the ocean, but some are near enough to other countries that there is some contention with them (e.g. Spain wanting Gibraltar and Argentina wanting the Falkland Islands). Usually, decolonization happens when an empire gives a colony back to the country it was taken from (e.g. China getting back Hong Kong), or when a colony is given independence (too many examples to list). The ironic thing is that for the three colonies that have had referendums on decolonization in the past few decades - Bermuda, the Falkland Islands, and Gibraltar - the citizens decided (sometimes in overwhelming numbers) to stay British. Therefore, unless some dramatic change happens, the British Empire will still be around for a long time.