A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal.[1]

Lapland is a sparsely populated territory in Northern Europe. A view from Saana in Finnish Lapland

In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, i.e. an area that is under the jurisdiction of a sovereign state.

As a subdivision, a territory in most countries is an organized division of an area that is controlled by a country but is not formally developed into,[1] or incorporated into, a political unit of that country, which political units are of equal status to one another and are often referred to by words such as "provinces", "regions", or "states". In its narrower sense, it is "a geographic region, such as a colonial possession, that is dependent on an external government."[2]

Etymology

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The origins of the word "territory" begin with the Proto-Indo-European root ters ('to dry').[3] From this emerged the Latin word terra ('earth, land') and later the Latin word territorium ('land around a town').[4][5] 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.[6]

Types

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Examples for different types of territory include the following:

Overseas territory

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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:

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "territory". Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
  2. ^ Territory. American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. Accessed 28 January 2022. Archived 29 January 2022.
  3. ^ Harper, Douglas. "*ters-". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  4. ^ Harper, Douglas. "territory". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  5. ^ "Definition of TERRITORY". Merriam Webster Dictionary. merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  6. ^ Dunmore, Charles W.; Fleischer, Rita M. (2008). Studies in Etymology (Second ed.). Focus. p. 236. ISBN 9781585100125. JSTOR 288048.
  7. ^ "Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples". United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV). the United Nations General Assembly. 14 December 1960. Archived from the original on 4 May 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2019 – via Wikisource.
  8. ^ "The Overseas Territories" (PDF). Foreign and Commonwealth Office. June 2012. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 May 2019. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
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