| @Xolotl123: As I understand it (which may be wrong, I'm not American), the USA has the concept of incorporated and unincorporated territories. Incorporated means it is part of the USA itself, where as unincorporated is a dependency. It just so happens that there are no incorporated territories at the moment, but historically they have existed. I don't think DC counts as a "territory", either incorporated or unincorporated.
To be honest, it is a pretty arbitrary distinction between a dependency and an integral part of a sovereign state. You could argue that Greenland and Faroe islands are not dependencies, they are an integral part of the Kingdom of Denmark, which is a sovereign state, and they are democratically represented in the government of that state. Same goes for the Netherland's "dependencies".
You ask China about the status of Hong Kong and Macau, I think they'd say they are integral parts of China, albeit parts with a high degree of autonomy. Even though the differences between them and mainland China perhaps is comparable to the differences between say the UK and its dependencies.
There isn't really a definition of a "dependent territory" that can easily be applied across the world. Every country (and certain international organisations) has their own rules for what is and what isn't a dependency, which sometimes extends to how they define other countries' territories. As evidenced by the fact this quiz's source considers Hong Kong and Macau to be dependencies, when I don't think China does. |
Euro Users
Bordering Countries II
Fewest Water Resources
