this of course is the conventional list found in standard reference sources
but in reality the list of actually external sovereign territories of the usa is much longer
& i mean not even counting any of the silly military or diplomatic or ceremonial or other
miscellaneous parcels of nonsovereign or semisovereign real estate properties &or
leaseholds that people are so fond of discovering & reporting & discussing as if they really
counted
for tho it could stand some minor updating & corrections
http://egroups.com/group/BoundaryPoint/message/2240
ultimately identifies as many as 52 noncontiguous territories of the usa
all presumably still extant & distinct sovereign spaces
unless i am mistaken
& while several of these disjunct spaces are legal parts of the 50 united states per se
& thus might not be considered external despite their territorial disconnection
nevertheless roughly 3 dozens of these territories are still fully external to the usa as such
--- In
BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com, "Lowell G. McManus" <mcmanus71496@m...>
wrote:
> The territory of the United States consists of:
>
> 1. the 50 states of the Union
> 2. the District of Columbia
> 3. one Incorporated Territory: Palmyra
>
> American law is fully applicable to these three. In addition, the USA possesses
> several other places:
>
> 1. Puerto Rico
> 2. Guam
> 3. US Virgin Islands
> 4. American Samoa
> 5. Wake
> 6. Midway
> 7. Baker
> 8. Howland
> 9. Jarvis
> 10. Johnston
> 11. Kingman
> 12. Navassa
> 13. Northern Marianas
>
> Various of these are styled unincorporated territories (both organized and
> unorganized), commonwealths, or possessions. They have a variety of legal
> statuses, some highly individualized. See
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BoundaryPoint/message/14346
> for a discussion of some of the complexities.
>
> Finally, there are three places that are styled "freely associated states."
> These are former holdings of the German empire that became Japanese mandates at
> the end of WWI and US trusteeships at the end of WWII. They were granted their
> current status in recent decades. (The Northern Marianas share a similar
> history, but they did not opt for sovereign status.) These three are
> theoretically sovereign and make their own laws, but the USA is responsible for
> their defense, provides them with post offices, and gives them much of their
> money:
>
> 1. Republic of the Marshall Islands
> 2. Federated States of Micronesia
> 3. Republic of Palau
>
> There are no remaining islands in dispute between the USA and other
> nations--only some disputed wet boundaries between US lands and other nations.
>
> None of the US military, naval, or air bases in other countries (including
> Guantanamo in Cuba and those in the "freely associated states") are sovereign US
> territory. Such US bases are sovereign territories of the host governments, let
> out to US use under various kinds of lease agreements. Typically, the US has
> jurisdiction over its people within these bases under the terms of the
> agreements.
>
> A lease agreement for Guantanamo in Cuba dates from 1903, and a 1934 treaty gave
> the US a lease until we choose to abandon it. Every July, the US government
> sends Cuba a check for the annual lease payment. Since the communist dictator
> Fidel Castro seized power there in 1959, he has chosen to cash only one of the
> checks. He would prefer to have the Americans out, but that's not likely to
> happen. The money from the uncashed checks will be available to whatever
> government Cuba has after Castro is gone.
>
> Lowell G. McManus
> Leesville, Louisiana, USA
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "fabio" <fabiov@f...>
> To: <BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2005 11:16 PM
> Subject: Re: [BoundaryPoint] U.S. External Territories list
>
>
> >
> > Hello,
> > it is a very nice thread this one. I would like to know which are ALL the
> > External Territories of USA, I know only few far islands in Pacific Ocean
> > and few others from the CIA facts book.. But in Morocco I saw personally a
> > large U.S. military airport where it was forbidden to enter, but is it
> > a. U.S. Territory or not?
> > There is anybody who has a complete list of these External USA territories?
> > Thanks
> > Fabio V.