From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Thirteen British colonies on the east coast of North America issued a Declaration of Independence in 1776
Chile, one of several Spanish colonies in South America, issued a Declaration of independence in 1818


Definition of independence


Distinction between independence and autonomy


Declarations of independence


Historical overview

Historically, there have been three major periods of declaring independence:


Continent No. Last Country to Gain Independence
Continents vide couleurs.png
54  South Sudan (2011)
35  Saint Kitts and Nevis (1983)[a]
44[b]  East Timor (2002)
50[b]  Montenegro (2006)
 Kosovo (2008)[c][3]
14  Palau (1994)[d]
8 de facto condominium international


  1. ^ Independence from the United Kingdom.
  2. ^ a b Part of Transcaucasian Region, at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. Physiographically, Armenia falls entirely in Western Asia, while Georgia and Azerbaijan are mostly in Asia with small portions north of the Caucasus Mountains divide in Europe.
  3. ^ Partially recognized de facto self-governing entity. It is recognised by 110 UN members the Cook Islands, Niue and Taiwan. Claimed by Serbia as the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija under UN administration.
  4. ^ An independent state in free association with the United States.

See also


  1. ^ Benjamin, Walter (1996) [1921]. Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings, Volume 1: 1913–1926. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 236–252. ISBN 0-674-94585-9. 
  2. ^ David Armitage, The Declaration of Independence in World Context, Organization of American Historians, Magazine of History, Volume 18, Issue 3, Pp. 61–66 (2004)
  3. ^ "Kosovo" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-02-16. Retrieved 30 July 2015. 
Retrieved from ""
This content was retrieved from Wikipedia :
This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article "Independence"; it is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA). You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the CC-BY-SA