Weird places that some countries still own

Diego Garcia is still controlled by the U.K. Some weird weird shit goes on there.

[quote] I want to visit this area just to say "I went to France!" so I can troll travel snobs.

funnygurl!

The Malvinas.

Saint Helena.

Gibralter.

Northern Ireland.

[quote]Gibralter.

Oh, dear.

Alaska

Hawaii

Puerto Rico

Point Roberts, WA

Guam

Why don't you just go to France, OP?

The Falkland Islands

Alaska and Hawaii immediately come to mind.

French Guiana

Until the late 1970s: The Canal Zone

I'm familiar with St. Pierre et Miquelon. There's some amazing overproof rum available there that will knock you on your arse quicker than you can even imagine. Handle with care.

R5 I have visited Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico.

Given that not a single inhabitant calls them the Malvinas, or has done for about 200 years, your calling them that just seems sophomoric, R3.

Chatham Islands, New Zealand.

The problem right now is that the ferry is not running. My partner and I are in the Atlantic Bubble right now and were thinking of going to St. Pierre et Miquelon for a weeklong trip, but the lack of ferry connection makes it far more complicated. They do have a local airline Air St. Pierre that flies from Montreal to the island but I don't really want to leave the Atlantic Bubble just for what was originally planned to be a fun road trip.

The Polynesian Island of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) is part of Chile.

New Zealand has several of those weird dependencies in the Pacific: Niue, Tokelau, etc. And Australia has Norfolk Island (I think they even did a couple of episodes of HHI there.)

The one I really want to visit is Rapa Nui, which has just been mentioned.

Greenland is still a territory of Denmark.

Pretty much all of the major Pacific islands were colonized by European powers.

Hawaii (USA).

New Zealand, Cook Islands, Tonga (United Kingdom)

Tahiti (France)

Samoa (Germany and the US)

Rapa Nui (Chile)

Europeans all got a piece of the Pacific pie.

Macau, China was a territory of Portugal until 1999.

It still has Portugese architecture and place names.

South Georgia (owned by the UK). Like the Falklands but even more desolate and hardly any permanent population.

Plus, all those Britsish Atlantic Ocean territories: St. Helena, Ascension Island, Tristan da Cunha.

Ceuta.

Heard and McDonalds Islands are 2500 miles SW of Perth, owned by Australia.

I have been to St Pierre! It's a strange but lovely place, definitely worth a visit. As r15 mentions, the road trip part of the journey is key. Gorgeous scenery. Late summer is the best time weather wise since it can still be extremely cold or even snowing until late May/early June.

I find Jersey Island interesting.

Henry Cavill is from there.

It's right off the coast of France, but it's actually part of the UK.

I wonder how much French influence there is, on the inhabitants?

r26 Technically not "part of the UK," but owned by it.

Are Jersey and Guernsey the same thing?

OP this is how to become a world traveler without leaving your home country. Go to the capital of your home country and visit Embassy Row, most embassies are located near each other, each foreign embassy is technically sovereign territory of that country, want to visit Russia visit the Russian Embassy, visit 50 different embassies and presto you are a world traveler without leaving home.

It makes as much sense has traveling to and island near Canada and claiming you have been to France.

Don't have a cow, R28.

R29 - another option is for him to go to EPCOT.

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands - owned by Great Britain

New Caledonia - France

Reunion Island - France

[quote]South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands - owned by Great Britain

"Great Britain" is not a country.

[quote] Heard and McDonalds Islands

Johnny Depp eats Big Macs there.

[quote] South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands - owned by Great Britain

Is there a North Georgia and a North Sandwich Islands?

[quote] Heard and McDonalds Islands

[quote] Johnny Depp eats Big Macs there

Mayor McCheese is the highest elected leader there.

The travel guide also says to watch out for the Hamburglar.

I'm originally from Europe and only recently have I found out that Italy has an exclave surrounded entirely by Switzerland.

R29 That's an old wives' tale and false.

As the Foreign Affairs Manual states

"(1) Despite widespread popular belief, U.S. military installations abroad and U.S. diplomatic or consular facilities abroad are not part of the United States within the meaning of the 14th Amendment. A child born on the premises of such a facility is not born in the United States and does not acquire U.S. citizenship by reason of birth;

"(2) The status of diplomatic and consular premises arises from the rules of law relating to immunity from the prescriptive and enforcement jurisdiction of the receiving State; the premises are not part of the territory of the United States of America."

Kaliningrad - Russia

R39 Enclaves aren't that rare. A few years ago NYT was running an interesting series on enclaves and other border anomalies.

There's also the complicated autonomous status of the Åland Islands in Finland and Athos in Greece.

United States

Angle Inlet, Minnesota is adjacent to Canada but not the US.

Bouvet Island in the far southern Atlantic Ocean is nominally controlled by Norway.

Point Roberts, Washington. When the border closed, they were stuck in their little enclave until the county started running ferries to the “mainland.”

Ceuta and Melilla are Spanish enclaves in Morroco that Spain owns which is somewhat ironic considering how Spain bitches about the British owning Gibraltar.

IT'S DIFFERENT! CEUTA AND MELILLA HAVE SOME PROXIMITY!

I think, when things are better, I'll visit some of these exotic spots. I've been to Paradise, but I've never been to me.

There are quite a few people from St Pierre who have immigrated to Canada, especially to Nova Scotia. My best friend's grandmother is one of them. She's been in Canada for 65 years, yet still speaks with the Frenchiest of French accents you can imagine.

Hawaii's been mentioned, but the strangest place there is "the forbidden island" of Ni'ihau. It's part of the state, but it was originally purchased by members of the Sinclair (Robinson) family from the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1864, and it's been passed down within the family since. It's off limits to all outsiders except except the Robinson family, their relatives, U.S. Navy personnel, government officials, and invited guests. The 2010 census showed 170 inhabitants, but witnesses put it more in the range of 35-50.

I never understood why the British made Turks and Caicos Islands a separate territory from the Bahamas. They are in the same island chain and just southeast of The Bahamas. The Bahamas became independent but Turks and Caicos Islands remains an overseas territory. Canada tried to get Turks and Caicos Islands be part of Canada twice. The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands talked about joining together once but nothing became of it.

There are the Inner and Outer Badui villages on Java. With some effort you may be able to visit the Outer Badui villages but certainly not the Inner, where anything modern is forbidden.

Has anyone here managed a visit to the Outer villages?

r44, how is the USA owned by England?

When you think about it, with Saint Pierre and Miquelon, French Polynesia, French Guiana, Guadaloupe, Martinque, Réunion, Mayotte, etc., being parts of the French Republic, that makes France a transcontinental and transoceanic country. That also makes the EU a transcontinental, transoceanic union, not strictly European.

No, it does make the EU "transcontinental" because those territories are not part of the EU.

Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) like those have a formal association with the EU, but "are neither part of the EU territory nor of the EU single market."

I've been to St. Pierre too. It's magical. But let's not kid ourselves. Adjacent Newfoundland is dirt poor. St. P ierre is not poor because France showers it with money. And it is a convenient base to try to break up Canada!

This is a fascinating thread. I'm learning so much!

Constantinople should be part Greece.

R57, because the overseas territories are integral parts of the French Republic, it has the largest Exclusive Economic Zone in the world.

Real travel snobs would not find having been to France that impressive.

Note real estate parcels N1-N7, which are Dutch, surrounded by Belgian land, within the Dutch town of Baarle-Nassau.

The area around the Cook Monument on Kealakekua Bay, Island of Hawai'i was bought by Britain and is still maintained by the Royal Navy.

The Keeling-Cocos Islands is an Australian external territory located 2,750 kms northwest of Perth, WA. Annexed by the UK in 1857, it was transferred to the Australian Government in 1955. The islands were discovered by William Keeling in 1609, but it was John Cluny-Ross, who tripped over the place in 1825 and returned with his entire family, including mother-in-law, in 1827 to settle. For almost 100 years, the islands were nothing more than a Cluny-Ross fiefdom

There’s a terrific Simon Winchester book called OUTPOSTS where he travels to some of the distant reaches of what’s left of the British Empire.

The tiny islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustasius, and Saba are part of The Netherlands. Curaçao and Aruba are independent countries which recognize the Dutch monarch as their figurehead of state. The King of The Netherlands is also The King of Aruba!

Norfolk Island (Australia)

Alaska American Virgin Islands, Samoa Mariana Islands ...

R56, R57, French Guiana, Guadaloupe, Martinique, Réunion, and Mayotte are overseas departments of France, and have the same status as the departments of Metropolitan France. They are represented in the National Assembly, Senate, and Economic and Social Council, vote to elect members of the European Parliament (MEP), and also use the euro as their currency.

Saint Pierre and Miquelon, French Polynesia, etc., are overseas collectivities, and have a different relationship with France and the EU.

Cabinda , Angola, severed from main country by a sliver of the DRC. Referred to as an exclave vs. an enclave

My first trip to France was a vacation on St. Martin.

Indeed it was, R71!

Alaska and Hawaii are not [italic]owned[/italic] by the U.S.; they are as much a part of the U.S. as any other state. Suggesting that they are owned is like saying the Mississippi Valley states are owned because they were part of the Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803.

Guam, Puerto Rico and the American Virgin Islands are "owned," or (more accurately) controlled by the U.S.

[quote] French Guiana, Guadaloupe, Martinique, Réunion, and Mayotte

Guadeloupe, not Guadaloupe.

Clipperton Island, far off the coast of Mexico is still owned by France.

While Belize obtained independence in 1981, it's still a member of the British Commonwealth, and the "Queen of Belize" maintains troops there so that Guatemala doesn't get any crazy ideas about ignoring the treaty they signed and invade the place to take back what they think belongs to them.

Sark, the smallest one of the Channel Islands, is the last remaining feudal fiefdom in Europe.

Many countries have military bases in various other countries, but the US having control and jurisdiction of Guantanamo Bay on Cuba is one of the strangest.

[quote]"Queen of Belize"

What about a queen NAMED "Belize?"

Belize was once British Honduras, which lay several miles from Spanish Honduras and separated by Guatemala and the Gulf of Honduras.

R76 British Commonwealth?! Do you mean the Commonwealth, a grouping of most of the English speaking countries, excluding of course the USA but including Canada and the United Kingdom, coming to a total of 53 nation states, and not all are former British colonies? I know some of you are knocking on a bit but the British part was dropped in 1949.

Guyana was once British Guiana, which lay betwixt Spanish Guiana and Dutch Guiana. East of Dutch Guiana was French Guiana, and east of that was Portuguese Guiana (or Brazilian Guiana). Portuguese Guiana was absorbed into Brazil (State of Amapá), Spanish Guiana was absorbed into Venezuela (Guayana Region), and Dutch Guiana became Suriname.

[quote] Belize was once British Honduras, which lay several miles from Spanish Honduras and separated by Guatemala and the Gulf of Honduras.

How interesting, R80.

I always wondered by Belize is an English speaking country surrounded by Spanish speaking countries.

Your map also shows that El Salvador used to be named "San Salvador," but now that name only refers to the capital city.

Belize also has a ton of black people, which is unusual for Central America.

[quote]Your map also shows that El Salvador used to be named "San Salvador," but now that name only refers to the capital city.

Didn't the Dominican Republic used to be called "Santo Domingo," the name of its capital city?

Mostly uninhabited, the U.S. still owns/claims Howland Island (Amelia Earhart's destination when she disappeared), Baker Island, Jarvis Island, Kingman Reef, Johnston Atoll, Wake Island, Midway Atoll, Palmyra Atoll all in the Pacific Ocean.

Swains Island is part of American Samoa and claimed by Tokelau, a New Zealand dependency.

Navassa Island in the Caribbean is under U.S. jurisdiction but claimed by Haiti.

[quote]Your map also shows that El Salvador used to be named "San Salvador," but now that name only refers to the capital city.

R83, Yes. Pedro de Alvarado originally named the place "San Salvador" (Holy Savior) as he set about conquering it for Christianity. It would take nearly 40 years to do so because the natives put up a good fight. San Salvador was later extended to "Provincia De Nuestro Señor Jesus Cristo, El Salvador Del Mundo" (Province of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the World), which was shortened to just Republic of El Salvador upon independence.

[quote]Didn't the Dominican Republic used to be called "Santo Domingo," the name of its capital city?

R85, Yes. Its colonial name was Santo Domingo, which was changed to the Dominican Republic upon independence. However, the country was still called Santo Domingo among Anglophones until maybe the early 20th century.

Now I REALLY want to go to Rapa Nui!

I had a boss who was an avid ham radio operator decades ago. He went on a popular trip to Navassa (among such people) specifically to broadcast from the location.

A lot of the African Countries that did become Independent are now being conquered again by the emerging Chinese Empire without a shot being fired.

They just exploit the poverty and bribe their way in, it's very evident if you visit Sub-Saharan Africa.

The ferry is running again and the people of Saint Pierre and Miquelon can visit Newfoundland again.

[quote]Diego Garcia is still controlled by the U.K. Some weird weird shit goes on there.

Diego Garcia is my gardener. He's controlled by ME.

[quote]Pretty much all of the major Pacific islands were colonized by European powers.

The US and Chile are "European powers"?

R92 The Pacific was a bit too far for European sail boats, even Australia an New Zealand ended up being an expensive hobby for the UK.

The U.S. maintains a military base on Diego Garcia, for "strategic" purposes.

The Galapagos are owned by Ecuador, a small country in its own right.

A friend from Belize uses Spanish as his first language. He says there are more Spanish speakers in Belize than English speakers,

I saw a program about Rapa Nui recently on one of those history/discovery channels. The men there are gorgeous! The man on the extreme left in the video in R88 shows bush. I'd take a vacation to Rapa Nui just to see him in person.

Could I be the only Newfie datalounger? It’s always interesting to see views on the place. It’s funny how off base some of the stereotypes are.

No b'y, R96.

French Guiana is a part of the French Republic and a part of the European Union. They use the euro.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands is made up of four countries -- the Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao, and St Maarten.

Hawai’i was an independent kingdom when American missionaries arranged for troops to imprison Queen Liliuokalani and lead an act of war in order to steal the land (Dole & Baldwin for ex).

They broke American laws not to mention the Hawai’ian laws and treaties. Hawai’ian people were treated as slave labor, forbidden from all native culture including hula, meme, Kapa (forced to wear American fabrics). The culture was nearly lost. The Hawai’ian language essentially disappeared since speaking and writing it was forbidden.

American imperialism at its worst.

And to reference recent threads about Christianity - what happened in Hawai’i has happened worldwide many, many times over centuries.

Great atrocities have been perpetrated because what they believe is forced on everyone. Stealing everything while subjecting others to their evil purposes. Isn’t religion wonderful?

As the late Christopher Hitchens wrote; “religion ruins everything”.

One of the most recherché items in my music collection is THE ISLAND, a protest album about Diego Garcia by Miss Cleo Laine.

China claims the entire South China Sea, even parts of it that are directly offshore of Brunei - nearly 1000 miles from Hainan island.

R102, It is the WEST PHILIPPINE SEA, dammit!

We demand respect!