In international politics, a territory is a non-sovereign geographic area which has come under the authority of another government; which has not been granted the powers of self-government normally devolved to secondary territorial divisions; or both.
Types of administrative and/or political territories include:
For example, American Samoa, Guam and Puerto Rico are all territories of the government of the United States with varying local autonomy. Similarly, with regard to the Canadian provinces and territories, the major difference between a Canadian province and a Canadian territory is that the federal government has more direct control over the territories, while the provinces are run by provincial governments empowered by the constitution. The same distinction applies between States and territories of Australia. The former British Crown colony of Hong Kong has became a British dependent territory (now called 'British overseas territory') since the British Nationality Act 1981 and was referred to as a "territory" until the handover to the People's Republic of China, when the UK lost sovereignty over Hong Kong.