Can you name the countries of today that have territory that was once part of the British Empire? by tbwilson

Can you name the countries of today that have territory that was once part of the British Empire?

created by tbwilson

Enter a country in the box below
Correctly named countries will show up below
Answers do not have to be guessed in order
Source: Wikipedia
This quiz has not been verified by Sporcle

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There are 34 comments for this game.
(Warning: comments may contain spoilers)

British Empire Countries Quiz

by tbwilson

Created Sep 29, 2009 in History
Game Plays 1,253

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	Caesar:	Sep 29th, 2009 at 13:13 GMT		2 points
	Excellent Quiz!! Absolutely loved it. Many thanks for making it!

	SPU:	Sep 29th, 2009 at 13:54 GMT		1 point
	Great! But long as this quiz is, I still think there are some things missing: Honduras (Bay Islands were formerly British), Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, and Bhutan (formerly British protectorates).

	tbwilson:	Sep 29th, 2009 at 14:26 GMT		1 point
	Thank you for you input! Honduras was actually already there, but Bhutan and the Middle Eastern countries have been added. I can't believe I overlooked them...

	Toungesten:	Sep 29th, 2009 at 16:50 GMT		2 points
	Geat idea - can you find another source apart from wikipedia? It may make it seem more reliable (and perhaps more likely to be published).

	dolby:	Sep 29th, 2009 at 18:27 GMT		3 points
	and it would be better if you could order them alphabetically or group them by location... otherwise it is just like naming all the countries of the world....

	SPU:	Sep 29th, 2009 at 20:04 GMT		1 point
	Tbwilson, thanks! I've got two more additions: the Philippines and Colombia, both of which contain areas that were briefly British (Manila in the Philippines and San Andres y Providencia in Colombia). The map in the Wikipedia article is somewhat ambiguous as to the status of Nepal; apparently, it was under heavy British influence but never really became a protectorate.

	Arthur:	Sep 29th, 2009 at 20:14 GMT		21 points
	Palestine isn't a country

	AdamL:	Sep 29th, 2009 at 20:39 GMT		0 points
	good quiz, but there's so many answers it is a little bit like doing the countries of the world quiz but with less time, and leaving out south america which the uk didn't bother/couldn't conquer!

	Peanut:	Sep 29th, 2009 at 21:47 GMT		2 points
	All over the world like a bad rash :P And I agree with Arthur, although I'd call Palestine a country, Sporcle doesn't include it.

	Geo_Crazy:	Sep 30th, 2009 at 00:47 GMT		6 points
	A quiz of countires that the UK never conquered would be easier.

	swellwrench:	Sep 30th, 2009 at 01:37 GMT		7 points
	Palestine is not an independent country. Also, by your extremely loose criteria I guess Morocco should be included since Tangiers was under English control from 1661-1679 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangiers#History)

	jfmk:	Sep 30th, 2009 at 02:32 GMT		8 points
	Why is Palestine on this list? It isn't a country. How can anybody get that right when the title specifically says "countries of today"?

	tbwilson:	Sep 30th, 2009 at 02:37 GMT		3 points
	The West Bank and Gaza Strip do not belong to any sovereign nation. Maybe I should use "Palestinian National Authority" instead?

	tkeene:	Sep 30th, 2009 at 09:15 GMT		5 points
	Sporcle's standard does not have Palestine as a 'country' - if only for regularity's sake, it should not be included...

	Plussios:	Sep 30th, 2009 at 19:36 GMT		1 point
	I wonder what the criteria are for being a part of the British Empire. Mostly I wonder, because I find countries such as Austria, Denmark and especially Iceland on the list.

	tbwilson:	Sep 30th, 2009 at 19:53 GMT		2 points
	I actually agree with you, Plussios, and I'm tempted to remove them. Austria, Denmark, and Iceland are only included because of British occupation of them (Greenland in the case of Denmark) during World War II. I'm not sure that really counts, though, so if someone can better explain the political situation there to me then I'll gladly remove them. Of course, as people have probably figured out, countries like France, the Netherlands, Germany, and Japan are included due to former British claims on exclaves and overseas possessions, such as Guadeloupe, Aruba, Heligoland, and the Bonin islands, respectively.

	MaxCanning:	Sep 30th, 2009 at 21:35 GMT		1 point
	"The empire on which the sun never sets."

	marisbest:	Oct 1st, 2009 at 01:12 GMT		1 point
	palestine is not a country at all even like you said gaza and the west bank- east has its own and bad government and it isnt recognized by most countries. also sporcle has set a standard with the countries of the world quiz. also any country that was occupied during the war should just be a bonus otherwise it is too confusing.

	tbwilson:	Oct 1st, 2009 at 01:49 GMT		-1 points
	"it isnt recognized by most countries" That's not a very convincing argument... Over 100 countries recognize a State of Palestine, whereas only 23 recognize the Republic of China when Taiwan is commonly an answer on Sporcle.

	Doctor_Tom:	Oct 2nd, 2009 at 00:08 GMT		2 points
	Great quiz. I completely forgot about the Caribbean countries otherwise I would've done relatively well. And I agree with the above statements; Palestine is not a country.

	tbwilson:	Oct 2nd, 2009 at 07:19 GMT		6 points
	In regards to the Sporcle precedent that people keep harking back on, that precedent seems to go back to a single comment in the world country quiz by its creator: .............."@radiogarfunkel: It's discussed way up the page but, essentially, Taiwan and Kosovo are widely recognized as independent states, while Transnistria, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Northern Cyprus are recognized by only a handful of countries each (and Transnistria is not recognized by any well-recognized country). The Palestinian Territories and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (Western Sahara) are interesting cases, which are much more widely-recognized than I thought (96 and 49 UN members, respectively), which I hadn't realised. I think there is a distinction, though, in that Kosovo and Taiwan have effective sovereignty over their territory, while the Palestinian Territories and SADR don't, yet."........... "Effective sovereighty" isn't a very convincing argument to me, as some widely-recognized countries such as Somalia do not have effective control over their territories, either. I'm sorry if Palestine's inclusion in this quiz offends anyone, but davidr is one person with an opinion and I am another person. I made this quiz because I've been wanting to see a quiz like this and no one else had made it yet. Although it would be nice, my aim is not necessarilly to get published - It's just to have fun. If you'd like to see a version of this quiz that does not include Palestine, by all means please go ahead and make it.

	Tomyris:	Oct 3rd, 2009 at 09:36 GMT		1 point
	Nice quiz, I made one too with a similar theme where you have to name the colonies of the Empire at its largest extent :) http://www.sporcle.com/games/Tomyris/british_empire

	ElDavo:	Oct 6th, 2009 at 01:45 GMT		1 point
	Including the UK was questionable, but I understand it. The real problem I had here was that the answers were random instead of alphabetical.

	witulski:	Oct 9th, 2009 at 09:26 GMT		4 points
	The arguments for and against Palestine being considered a country are compelling, however for the purposes of every single quiz published on Sporcle, it's not. I wouldn't be surprised if more than a few people get upset when you make them tear their hair out over that one final answer.

	nyo:	Oct 17th, 2009 at 11:11 GMT		3 points
	Palestine shoudln't be included. I actually agree with your reasoning for including it. But quizes need to be consistent for the reason witulski pointed out above.

	Uhlan:	Oct 20th, 2009 at 19:37 GMT		3 points
	Japan???!!!???

	Sibley:	Oct 24th, 2009 at 12:57 GMT		2 points
	You're missing Eritrea.

	darrylboyd:	Oct 27th, 2009 at 22:42 GMT		1 point
	on an anal grammatical point countries that "territory that was once part of the British Empire" wouldnt really include the UK, as well last time i checked it was still a pretty major part of the British Empire...

	abanazerb:	Feb 6th, 2010 at 12:35 GMT		1 point
	Good game. It would be much better if you (a) put them into some sequence or other, and (b) put some kind of explanation next to each one, such as dates or circumstances of British control. Also, shouldn't Panama be on the list? Darien colony (Scottish, just before the Union of 1707).

	Endaf:	May 12th, 2010 at 22:58 GMT		0 points
	On that anal grammatical point Darryl, the British Empire no longer exists. It's now the United Kingdom, so I think it's valid to include it as a country to have emerged from the ashes of the Empire. Regarding the Israel/Palestine thing, it's tricky but I tend to agree that probably for the sake of fairness Israel should be used consistently, but then Sporcle itself has chosen to use Jerusalem as its capital when this fact is not recognized by most other countries. I suspect a lot of the comments were as usual motivated by a pro-Israel bias (particularly the person who couldn't resist pointing out that Palestine has a "bad" government - who doesn't?!)

	Chipmunkdavis:	May 27th, 2010 at 09:34 GMT		1 point
	@Endaf: I disagree with the idea that the UK "emerged from the ashes of the Empire". That implies that the Empire suddenly collapsed and the UK reemerged as a power. The British Empire has no clear definition, starting perhaps during the avignon empire, perhaps during the race to conquer north america. Ending perhaps 1980, perhaps 1997, perhaps not yet. I agree with the anal grammatical point, it really makes it seem as the UK is not included. As stated by many, for the sake of Sporcle Standard, Palestine should not be included. I agree its much more a country than Taiwan and Kosovo, and is actually in a quite similar situation, claimed by a larger more powerful country, but the standard is there. I wish there was a place to debate the standard!

	lpw88:	Jul 6th, 2010 at 13:37 GMT		2 points
	good quiz, but im not sure why u included germany,italy,spain,france,japan,netherlands,israel there are others, not avin a go but they were never part of our empire, and the whole of china wasnt either it was just hong kong

	carbon_rod:	Jul 15th, 2010 at 21:45 GMT		1 point
	Two possible additions: Senegal was a British colony for about 30 years in the late 1700s, and Equatorial Guinea was administered by the British from 1827-1844.

	wasting2muchtime:	Dec 26th, 2010 at 15:09 GMT		1 point
	how is italy on here and not the vatican? unless it only included northern italy (okay that makes sense nvm my bad haha). but really they never conquered any of the tiny european nations? andorra?