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Territories of the United States are sub-national administrative divisions and dependent territories overseen by the federal government of the United States. The American territories differ from the U.S. states and Indian reservations in that they are not sovereign entities .
After World War II, the islands were part of the United Nations trust territories under American administration before formally joining the United States as a territory in 1986, with their population gaining United States citizenship. The United States Department of the Interior cites a landmass of 183.5 square miles (475.26 km 2). [14]
United States territory can also include disputed territory, which is a geographic area claimed by the United States of America and one (or more) rival governments. Under the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, United States territory can include areas occupied by and controlled by the United States Armed Forces. When de facto military control ...
The United States of America is a federal republic [1] consisting of 50 states, a federal district (Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States), five major territories, and various minor islands. [2] [3] Both the states and the United States as a whole are each sovereign jurisdictions. [4]
The United States took possession of the islands on March 31, 1917, and the territory was renamed the Virgin Islands of the United States. [27] [29] Every year, Transfer Day is recognized as a holiday, to commemorate the acquisition of the islands by the United States. [30] Rear Admiral James H. Oliver was the first American governor of the ...
In 1917, at the height of World War I, Denmark sold the Danish Virgin Islands to the United States. [4] The U.S. Navy annexed Kingman Reef in 1922. Spain had sold the Northern Mariana Islands to Germany in 1899. [5] The islands passed to Japan, which in turn lost them to the United States in 1945 after the end of World War II.
In 1867, Russia sold Alaska to the U.S. for $7.2 million, with the territory soon placed under the control of the U.S. Army. Both countries shared hostility towards Britain, so the sale was a ...
American Samoa [c] is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the Polynesia region of the South Pacific Ocean.Centered on , it is 40 miles (64 km) southeast of the island country of Samoa, east of the International Date Line and the Wallis and Futuna Islands, west of the Cook Islands, north of Tonga, and some 310 miles (500 km) south of Tokelau