valley_girl

Joined: 22 Sep 2004 Posts: 272 Location: Somewhere in Canada
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Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2005 11:40 pm Post subject: |
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You piqued my curiosity, Justin, so I did a little search and it turns out you are right. From Wikipedia:
Puerto Rico
The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Spanish: Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico) is a self-governing unincorporated organized territory of the United States located east of the Dominican Republic in the northeastern Caribbean. Puerto Rico, the smallest of the Greater Antilles, includes the main island of Puerto Rico and a number of smaller islands and keys, including Mona, Vieques, and Culebra.
Although Puerto Rico is still, politically speaking, a Commonwealth of the United States, Puerto Ricans (including many among those who want Puerto Rico to be a part of the United States) and people from other nations refer to the Puerto Rico as a pa�s, a Spanish word for country. This is a very common and accepted international status given to all dependent territories, also called dependent "states" by the UN. This is highlighted by the fact, for example, that Puerto Rico is an independent country in the sports world, even having their own Olympic teams. In the jargon of international law, an inhabited territory that is not a first-order administrative division, but rather forms an external, non-sovereign territory governed by a sovereign one, is both a "state" and a "country." In some cases, even the first-order administrative units of some federal states, like the United Kingdom, are refered to as countries (i.e., the "countries" of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland). But none of these cases -- neither US "states," UK "countries," nor dependent "states/countries" -- are considered sovereign international entities. |
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