A territory is an administrative division, usually an area that is under the jurisdiction of a state. In most countries, a territory is an organized division of an area that is controlled by a country but is not formally developed into, or incorporated into, a political unit of the country that is of equal status to other political units that may often be referred to by words such as "provinces" or "states". In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or any non-sovereign geographic area which has come under the authority of another government; which has not been granted the powers of self-government normally devolved to secondary territorial divisions; or both.
Etymology
The origins of the word territory begin with the Proto-Indo-European rootters. From this emerged the Latin word terra and later the Latin word territorium. Territory made its debut as a word in Middle English during the 14th century. At this point the suffix -orium, which denotes place, was replaced with -ory which also expresses place.
Types
Examples of terms for types territory include the following:
[|Capital territory]
[|Dependent territory]
[|Federal territory]
Overseas territory
Unorganized territory, a region of land without a "normally" constituted system of government. This does not mean that the territory has no government at all or that it is unclaimed territory. In practice, such territories are always sparsely populated.
Disputed territory, a geographic area claimed by two or more rival governments. For example, the territory of Kashmir is claimed by the governments of both India and Pakistan; for each country involved in the dispute, the territory is claimed as part of the existing state. Another example is the Republic of China, whose sovereignty status is disputed by and territory claimed by the People's Republic of China.
A capital territory or federal capital territory is usually a specially designated territory where a country's seat of government is located. As such, in the federal model of government, no one state or territory takes pre-eminence because the capital lies within its borders. A capital territory can be one specific form of federal district.
Dependent territory is a designation for a territory that is not an independent sovereign state, yet remains politically outside the governing state's integral area. Presently, all dependent territories are either overseas territories or non-sovereign associated states. Only four countries currently possess dependent territories: the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Norway and the United States. Examples include:
A federal territory is an area within the direct and usually exclusive jurisdiction of the central or national government within a federation. Federal territories include:
Overseas territory is a broad designation for a territorial entity that is separated from the country that governs it by an ocean. An overseas territory may be either a constituent part of the governing state or a dependent territory. Examples include:
The 14 British Overseas Territories are dependent territories of the United Kingdom with varying degrees of self-governance, not part of the United Kingdom itself nor of any of its four constituent countries.
