Lesson 4 of 4

Overseas territories

British overseas territories include Gibraltar, the Falkland Islands, and St Helena. They have constitutional links with the UK but are geographically and politically distinct from its four countries.

The lesson

British overseas territories include places such as Gibraltar, the Falkland Islands, and St Helena. They are geographically separate from the UK and are not among its four constituent countries.

Locate the overseas territories

South Atlantic map: Falkland Islands marked east of the southern tip of South America, with Africa to the east.

Falkland Islands — in the South Atlantic, east of southern South America. The marker shows the island group, not its size.

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South Atlantic map: St Helena marked west of southern Africa, south of Ascension and north of Tristan da Cunha.

St Helena — the specific island in the South Atlantic west of southern Africa. Ascension lies further north; Tristan da Cunha lies further south. They are separate islands within the same overseas territory.

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Their constitutional relationship with the UK is different from that of Crown dependencies. When revising, keep the three categories distinct: the four countries of the UK, Crown dependencies, and British overseas territories.

More on this topic

British Overseas Territories include places such as Gibraltar, the Falkland Islands, Bermuda, and St Helena. They have constitutional links with the UK, but are not parts of England, Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland.

The Commonwealth is a different category: it is a voluntary association of independent countries. A Commonwealth member is not automatically governed by Britain, and many members are republics. Keep UK countries, Crown dependencies, Overseas Territories, and Commonwealth members as four separate concepts.