According to the United Nations, which of the following locations is considered non-self governing?
And the answer: Gibraltar.
As of 2021, the United Nations had identified 17 locations around the world that were Non-Self-Governing Territories, or "territories whose people have not yet attained a full measure of self-government." These include American Samoa, French Polynesia, and the British territories of Bermuda and Gibraltar.
The Iberian Peninsula is home to four countries: Spain, Portugal, France, and Pandora (extra points if you can locate it on a map). Just at the bottom of the peninsula, however, exists a little territory called Gibraltar. This unique region is still technically owned by Britain, and offers an extensive colonial history whose origins date back to the early 1700s.
When King Charles II of Spain died without an heir in 1700, a succession crisis ensued. Charles II had elected Philip, Duke of Anjou of France, to succeed him in the throne – a move which enraged the Spanish and their colonial subjects across the continent. War erupted against Spain and France, and in 1704, English and Dutch soldiers landed in Gibraltar to seize Mediterranean access from the Spanish. Some 10 years later, Spain ceded the territory of Gibraltar to Britain indefinitely in a negotiation of terms to end the war. Although Spain made many more grabs for the territory over the centuries, Britain maintains their governance of Gibraltar to this day.
Learn more about the extensive colonial history of Gibraltar below.
