HONG KONG is Britain's richest and most populous remaining colony. When it reverts to Chinese rule at midnight on Monday local time, the last few colonial out-posts, stretching from the Carolina coast and the Caribbean to the South Pacific and from the Mediterranean to the Antarctic will remain as reminders of a global empire on which it was once said the sun never set.
They are:
Anguilla (population 8,960) is a small, storm-battered sub-tropical island at the end of the Leeward Islands in the eastern Caribbean. Colonised in 1650, it reverted to being a British territory in 1967 after refusing to follow the Associated State of St Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla into independence.
Bermuda (population 58,433) is, Britain's oldest colony, and after the return of Hong Kong becomes its most populous. Lying 900 km off the coast of South Carolina - Bermuda was settled after a ship full of settlers heading for America foundered on its reefs in 1609, and the chain of 150 coral islands has been a colony since 1612. The economy was badly hit by the closure of a US military base in 1995, but most voters decided against independence in a referendum that year.
The British Indian Ocean Territory or Chagos Islands (population 3,400), in the middle of the Indian Ocean, was ceded to Britain in 1814. The population was evicted after a US-British pact that created the Diego Garcia military base, which was later used during the 1991 Gulf War. Britain has agreed to cede the coral atolls to Mauritius when they are no longer required for military purposes.
The British Virgin Islands (Population 16,644) consist of an archipelago of 40 Caribbean islands, but only 15 are inhabited. Discovered in 1493 by Christopher Columbus, the islands became a pirate haven, but the territory was annexed by Britain in 1672 and settled by European planters and African slaves. Tourism and off-shore financial services are now mainstays of the economy.
The Cayman Islands (population 25,355), low-lying coral islands 300 km north-west of Jamaica, were settled in the 17th century and claimed by Britain in 1670. They are now on the strategic route between illegal drug producers in South America and their North American markets. About 24,000 companies have been attracted to the Cayman Islands by the lack of income tax and foreign exchange controls, and this crown dependent territory has the wealthiest economy per capita in the Caribbean.
The Falkland Islands (population 2,121) comprised a wind-swept archipelago in the South Atlantic that has been contested at different times by France, Britain, Spain and Argentina. Argentina invaded the islands in 1982, but was expelled by a British task force after fighting in which around 1,000 people were killed. Most of the island residents oppose claims by Buenos Aires, which calls the group Las Malvinas. Britain maintains a powerful and expensive military presence on the potentially resource-rich islands.
Gibraltar (Population 28,074), a strategic port at the mouth of the Mediterranean, was seized from Spain by Britain in 1704 and later held through repeated sieges. Spain contests sovereignty and cut border links in the 1960s, but the residents voted to stay British. In recent years London has rejected proposals to implement self-determination with British sovereignty because they lacked Spanish approval, and Gibraltar remains a crown colony.
Montserrat (population 11,852) is one of the Leeward Islands in the eastern Caribbean, was claimed by Britain in 1632 and settled in the 17th century. The island has luxuriant flora, a tropical climate, and many traditional ties with Ireland - including annual celebrations of St Patrick's Day. Plans in the British dependent territory to declare independence have been stalled by a series of destructive hurricanes and by the threat of a volcanic eruption that could make two-thirds of the island uninhabitable.
The Pitcairn Islands (population 52) centre on a tiny volcanic island in the South Pacific settled in 1790 by mutineers from the HMS Bounty. Since 1887, this group has been a British dependent territory. The main government revenue for Britain's most isolated dependency comes from the sale of postage stamps, and the islanders depend on regular air-drops from New Zealand and periodic visits by supply vessels.
St Helena and Dependencies (population 7,000), comprising remote islands of St Helena, Tristan da Cunha and Ascension, was first claimed by Britain in 1673, and is Britain's main dependent territory in the South Atlantic, and the last remaining dependency to need budgetary aid from London. St Helenas most famous as Napoleon's place of exile after his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. Anger among some of the 5,500 residents over high unemployment and London's refusal to allow islanders to work in Britain has made recent headlines.
No resident population is allowed on Ascension, a military base and communications centre and an important staging post in the 1982 Falklands war. Tristan da Cunha, a volcanic outcrop 2,000 km south of St Helena, is home to a small closely-knit farming community of about 300 people.
South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands (Population unknown), a British dependent territory in the south Atlantic, was first claimed for Britain by Captain Cook in 1775. South Georgia is an icy island south-east of the Falkland Islands. A small military detachment and research station are maintained on the island, which was briefly occupied by Argentina in 1982. The South Sandwich Islands, 750 km to the south-east, are uninhabited.
The Turks and Caicos Islands (population 12,350) are a group of 30 low-lying Caribbean islands 40 km south of the Bahamas. The islands were first settled by planters loyal to Britain after the American War of Independence (1771- 1781), along with their slaves. Recent politics have been dominated by scandals over official involvement in illegal drug trafficking.
Britain also maintains two survey bases at the British Antarctic Territory, which are open year-round with a population ranging from 50 to 150 scientists. The territory includes the South Orkney and South Shetland islands, and land stretching to the South Pole, but the ownership of part of the territory is contested by Argentina and Chile. The area may include oil and gas reserves, but development is forbidden by international treaty.