United Nations trust territories

Trust territories (and administering powers)

Former German

• The Trust Territory of the Cameroons under French administration : Achieved independence as the Republic of Cameroon in 1960.
• The Trust Territory of the Cameroons under British administration : Somewhat smaller than the French Cameroons, this territory was administered in two parts. Following a plebiscite, Northern Cameroons became part of Nigeria in May 1961 and Southern Cameroons joined the Republic of Cameroon in October 1961.
• The Territory of New Guinea : The north-eastern section of this island had been a League of Nations mandate, the south-eastern section had been Australian before World War I; after World War II, the two were combined into a unified entity for administrative purposes, although the legal distinction between the Territory of Papua and the Territory of New Guinea was maintained. In 1975, the two entities were legally unified and granted independence as Papua New Guinea. The western half of the island, formerly Dutch and now part of Indonesia, was never part of either territory.
• The Trust Territory of Ruanda-Urundi : Separately gained independence in 1962 as Rwanda and Burundi.
• The Trust Territory of Tanganyika : Granted independence in 1961. Federated with the former British protectorate Zanzibar in 1964 to form Tanzania.
• The Trust Territory of Togoland under French administration : Became independent as Togo in 1960.
• The Trust Territory of Togoland under British administration : This territory was merged in 1956 with the British colony of the Gold Coast, which was granted independence as Ghana in 1957.
• The Trust Territory of Western Samoa : Granted independence in 1962, known since 1997 simply as Samoa.

  Former German and/or Japanese colonies

• The Trust Territory of Nauru : Granted independence in 1968.
• The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands : Split into the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the Republic of Palau. With the exception of the Northern Mariana Islands, which is an American commonwealth, these are all associated states of the United States.

  Former Italian possessions

• The Trust Territory of Somaliland under Italian administration: Italy was appointed U.N. trustee of the former Italian Somaliland in 1950. In 1960, the Trust Territory merged with the former British Somaliland protectorate to form the Somali Republic.

  Proposed trust territories

• Korea: In wartime talks, Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed that Korea be placed under an American–Soviet trust administration. The plan was eclipsed after Roosevelt's death on 12 April 1945, although it was expressed in the December Moscow Conference, and caused considerable civil unrest in Korea.
• Italian Libya: Between 1945 and 1947 the Soviet Union made various proposals that Tripolitania be placed under Soviet trusteeship for ten years, or a joint trusteeship with Britain and the United States, or that Libya as a whole become an Italian trusteeship.
• Mandatory Palestine: United States government under Harry Truman proposed a UN trusteeship status for the Mandatory Palestine in 1948.