Crown colony facts for kids

A Crown Colony, also known in the 17th century as royal colony, was a type of colonial administration of the English and later British Empire. Crown, or royal colonies were ruled by a governor which is decided by the Monarch. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the Sovereign appointed royal governors on the advice of the Secretary of State for the Colonies. Under the name of "royal colony", the first of what would later become known as Crown colonies was the English Colony of Virginia. This happened in 1624 after the Crown removed the Royal Charter it had given to the Virginia Company.

Until the mid-nineteenth century, the term "Crown Colony" was only used to refer to those colonies which had been obtain through wars. Examples were Trinidad and Tobago, British Guiana, and the colonies of settlement, such as The Canadas, Newfoundland, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia, and New Zealand, later to become the Dominions. The term continued to be used up until 1981, when the British Nationality Act 1981 reclassified the remaining British colonies as "British Dependent Territories". From 2002 they have been known as British Overseas Territories.

List of Crown colonies

Name of colony	from	to	Reason for change of status
Aden	1937	1967
Anguilla	1980	1981	Became British Dependent Territory in 1981
Basutoland	1884	1964	Became British protectorate in 1964; then became independent as Lesotho in 1966.
Bermuda	1684	1981	Became British Dependent Territory in 1981
British Bechuanaland	1885	1895
British Guiana	1831	1966	Became independent as Guyana in 1966.
British Honduras (renamed Belize in 1964)	1884	1981	Became independent (as Belize) in 1981
Canada	1841	1867	Became part of the Dominion of Canada in 1867.
Cape of Good Hope	1806	1910	Became part of the Union of South Africa in 1910.
Cayman Islands	1962	1981	Became British Dependent Territory in 1981
Ceylon	1815	1948	Became independent as Ceylon in 1948.
British Columbia	1866	1871	Became part of the Dominion of Canada in 1871.
Connecticut	1636	1776	Became part of the United States of America in 1776.
Cyprus	1914	1960	Became independent as Cyprus in 1960.
Delaware	1664	1776	Became part of the United States of America in 1776.
East Florida	1763	1783	Ceded to Spain.
Falkland Islands	1841	1981	Became a British Dependent Territory in 1981.
Georgia	1732	1777	Became part of the United States of America in 1777.
Gibraltar	1713	1981	Became British Dependent Territory in 1981
Hong Kong	1841	1981	Became British Dependent Territory in 1981. Ceded to China in 1997.
Jamaica	1865	1962	Became independent in 1962 as Jamaica.
Kenya	1920	1963	United with the Kenya Protectorate in 1963 to form the independent country of Kenya
Labuan	1846	1890	Administered by British North Borneo Company from 1890-1904
Labuan	1904	1906	Incorporated in Straits Settlements in 1906
Lower Canada	1791	1841	Became part of Canada in 1841.
Malta	1813	1964	Became independent in 1964 as the State of Malta.
Maryland	1632	1776	Became part of the United States of America in 1776.
Massachusetts Bay	1692	1776	Became part of the United States of America in 1776.
Natal	1843	1910	Became part of the Union of South Africa in 1910.
New Hampshire	1692	1776	Became part of the United States of America in 1776.
New Jersey	1702	1776	Became part of the United States of America in 1776.
New South Wales	1788	1901	Became part of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901.
New York	1691	1776	Became part of the United States of America in 1776.
New Zealand	1841	1907	Became a Dominion in 1907.
North Borneo	1946	1963	Became part of Malaysia in 1963
North Carolina	1729	1776	Became part of the United States of America in 1776.
Pennsylvania	1681	1783	Became part of the United States of America in 1783.
Quebec	1763	1791	Divided between Upper and Lower Canada and the Northwest Territory.
Queensland	1824	1901	Became part of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901.
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations	1806	1776	Became part of the United States of America in 1776 as the state of Rhode Island.
Sarawak	1946	1963	Became part of Malaysia in 1963
Sierra Leone	1808	1961
South Carolina	1729	1776	Became part of the United States of America in 1776.
Straits Settlements consisting of Malacca, Dinding, Penang and Singapore (with Christmas Island and the Cocos Islands).	1826	1946	Became part of the Malayan Union in 1946 and later Malaysia 1963; Singapore joined Malaysia in 1963 but became independent in 1965.
Upper Canada	1791	1841	Became part of Canada in 1841.
Vancouver Island	1848	1866	Merged with the Colony of British Columbia in 1866
Victoria	1851	1901	Became part of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901.
Virginia	1624	1776	Became part of the United States of America in 1776.
West Florida	1763	1783	Ceded to Spain.

Related pages

• Crown dependency
• British overseas territories
• British Empire

See also

In Spanish: Territorio británico de ultramar para niños