Commonwealth of Nations

The Commonwealth of Nations, usually known as The Commonwealth, is an association of independent sovereign states, almost all of which are former territories of the British Empire.

Membership

The Commonwealth encompasses a population of approximately 1.8 billion people, making up about 30% of the world's total. India is the most populous member, with a billion people at the 2001 census, while Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nigeria each contain more than 100 million people; Tuvalu, by contrast, the smallest, has only 11,000 inhabitants. The land area of the Commonwealth nations equals about a quarter of the world's land area, with Australia, Canada—the world's second-largest nation by area—and India each having more than 1.5 million square miles.

Related Topics:
India - Pakistan - Bangladesh - Nigeria - Tuvalu - Australia - Canada

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Membership is open to countries that accept the association's basic aims. Members are also required to have a present or past constitutional link to the United Kingdom or to another Commonwealth member. Not all members have had direct constitutional ties to the United Kingdom: some South Pacific countries were formerly under Australian or New Zealand administration, while Namibia was governed by South Africa from 1920 until independence in 1990. Cameroon joined in 1995 although only a fraction of its territory had formerly been under British administration through the League of Nations mandate of 1920–46 and United Nations Trusteeship arrangement of 1946–61.

Related Topics:
Namibia - Cameroon - 1995 - League of Nations mandate - United Nations

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There is only one member of the present Commonwealth which has never had any constitutional link to the British Empire or a Commonwealth member. Mozambique, a former Portuguese colony was admitted in 1995 on the back of the triumphal re-admission of South Africa and Mozambique's first democratic elections, held in 1994. The move was supported by Mozambique's neighbours, all of whom were members of the Commonwealth and who wished to offer assistance in overcoming the losses incurred as a result of the country's opposition to white minority regimes in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and South Africa. In 1997, amid some discontent, Commonwealth Heads of Government agreed that Mozambique's admission should be seen as a special case and should not set a precedent.

Related Topics:
Mozambique - Portuguese - Colony - 1995 - South Africa - Rhodesia - Zimbabwe - 1997

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