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A Crown colony was a type of colonial administration of the British Empire
British Empire

The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, and other Dependent territory ruled or administered by the United Kingdom , that had originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries....
.

Crown colonies were ruled by a governor appointed by the Crown
The Crown

Throughout the Commonwealth realms, the Crown is an abstract metonymy concept which represents the legal authority for the existence of any government....
 (and, later, the Colonial Office
Colonial Office

Colonial Office is the government agency which serves to oversee and supervise their colony* Colonial Office - The British Government department...
). Though the term was not used at the time, the first of what would later become known as Crown colonies was the Colony of Virginia in the present-day United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, after the Crown took control from the Virginia Company
Virginia Company

The Virginia Company refers collectively to a pair of England joint stock company chartered by James I of England in 1606 with the purposes of establishing settlements on the coast of North America....
 in 1624.

Until the mid-nineteenth century, the term was primarily used to refer to those colonies which had been acquired through wars, such as Trinidad
Trinidad

Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and islands of Trinidad and Tobago which make up the country of Trinidad and Tobago....
 and British Guiana
British Guiana

British Guiana was the name of the United Kingdom colony on the northern coast of South America, now the independent nation of Guyana.The area was originally settled by the Netherlands as the colonies of Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice....
, but after this point it was more broadly applied to any colony other than the British Raj
British Raj

British Raj primarily refers to the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; it can also refer to the period of dominion, and even the region under the rule....
 and the colonies of British settlement such as Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
, Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
 and New Zealand
New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
 (later to become the Dominion
Dominion

A dominion, often Dominion, refers to one of a group of autonomy polity that were nominally under United Kingdom sovereignty, constituting the British Empire and Commonwealth of Nations, from the late 19th century....
s).

The term continued to be used up until 1981, when the British Nationality Act 1981
British Nationality Act 1981

The British Nationality Act 1981 was an Act of Parliament passed by the British Parliament concerning British nationality. It has been the basis of British nationality law since 1 January 1983....
 reclassified the few remaining British colonies as "British-Dependent Territories".






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A Crown colony was a type of colonial administration of the British Empire
British Empire

The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, and other Dependent territory ruled or administered by the United Kingdom , that had originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries....
.

Crown colonies were ruled by a governor appointed by the Crown
The Crown

Throughout the Commonwealth realms, the Crown is an abstract metonymy concept which represents the legal authority for the existence of any government....
 (and, later, the Colonial Office
Colonial Office

Colonial Office is the government agency which serves to oversee and supervise their colony* Colonial Office - The British Government department...
). Though the term was not used at the time, the first of what would later become known as Crown colonies was the Colony of Virginia in the present-day United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, after the Crown took control from the Virginia Company
Virginia Company

The Virginia Company refers collectively to a pair of England joint stock company chartered by James I of England in 1606 with the purposes of establishing settlements on the coast of North America....
 in 1624.

Until the mid-nineteenth century, the term was primarily used to refer to those colonies which had been acquired through wars, such as Trinidad
Trinidad

Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and islands of Trinidad and Tobago which make up the country of Trinidad and Tobago....
 and British Guiana
British Guiana

British Guiana was the name of the United Kingdom colony on the northern coast of South America, now the independent nation of Guyana.The area was originally settled by the Netherlands as the colonies of Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice....
, but after this point it was more broadly applied to any colony other than the British Raj
British Raj

British Raj primarily refers to the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; it can also refer to the period of dominion, and even the region under the rule....
 and the colonies of British settlement such as Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
, Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
 and New Zealand
New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
 (later to become the Dominion
Dominion

A dominion, often Dominion, refers to one of a group of autonomy polity that were nominally under United Kingdom sovereignty, constituting the British Empire and Commonwealth of Nations, from the late 19th century....
s).

The term continued to be used up until 1981, when the British Nationality Act 1981
British Nationality Act 1981

The British Nationality Act 1981 was an Act of Parliament passed by the British Parliament concerning British nationality. It has been the basis of British nationality law since 1 January 1983....
 reclassified the few remaining British colonies as "British-Dependent Territories". From 2002 they have been known as British Overseas Territories
British overseas territories

The British Overseas Territories are fourteen territories that are under the sovereignty of the United Kingdom, but which do not form part of the United Kingdom itself....
.

Types of Crown colony


There were three types of Crown colony as of 1918, with differing degrees of autonomy. Crown colonies with representative councils, such as Bermuda
Bermuda

Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, it is situated around 1770 kilometres northeast of Miami, Florida, and 1350 kilometres south of Halifax Regional Municipality, Canada....
, Jamaica
Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length and as much as in width situated in the Caribbean Sea. It is about south of Cuba, and west of the island of Hispaniola, on which Haiti and the Dominican Republic are situated....
, Ceylon and Fiji
Fiji

Fiji , officially the Republic of the Fiji Islands , is an island nation in the South Pacific Ocean east of Vanuatu, west of Tonga and south of Tuvalu....
 contained one or two legislative chambers, consisting of Crown appointed and some locally elected members. Those colonies with nominated councils, such as British Honduras
British Honduras

British Honduras was the former name of what is now the independent nation of Belize and was a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland colony on the east coast of Central America, southeast of Mexico....
, Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea in the northeast, Liberia in the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean in the southwest....
 and Grenada
Grenada

Grenada is an island nation that includes the southern Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea. Grenada is located northwest of Trinidad and Tobago, northeast of Venezuela, and southwest of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines....
 were staffed entirely by Crown appointed members, with some appointed representation from the local population. The third category of Crown colony, smallest in number, had the least autonomy and were ruled directly by the Governor, such as Gibraltar
Gibraltar

Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located near the southernmost tip of the Iberian Peninsula overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar. The territory shares a border with Spain to the north....
, Saint Helena
Saint Helena

Saint Helena , named after Helena of Constantinople, is an island of volcano origin and a British overseas territory in the South Atlantic Ocean....
 and Basutoland
Basutoland

Basutoland or officially the Territory of Basutoland, was a British crown colony established in 1884 after the Cape Colony's inability to control the territory....
.

See also


  • Crown dependency
    Crown dependency

    The Crown Dependencies are possessions of The Crown, as opposed to British overseas territory or colony of the United Kingdom. They comprise the Channel Islands bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey and the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea....
  • British Overseas Territory