# Have any countries given up territory eagerly? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 2, 2012, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-countries-given-up-territory-eagerly/636526 "2012-10-02T22:28:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-countries-given-up-territory-eagerly/636526/61 "2012-10-04T19:27:05Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Britain essentially does not like, want or need the Falkland Islands. They would have been happy to hand over the territory to Argentina decades ago. But the Islanders have refused, wishing to stay British, and the government can’t lose face by going against their wishes. Ditto, I suspect, for Gibraltar. And for the French, Martinique and French Guiana. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-countries-given-up-territory-eagerly/636526/62 "2012-10-04T19:49:30Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > Ditto, I suspect, for Gibraltar. And for the French, Martinique and French Guiana. Concerning French Guiana, France has very strong interests to keep it. They have a considerable military presence there (Foreign Legion, with a training center for jungle warware). And Kourou in French Guiana is also the site where the European rocket Ariane is launched into space. The French tend to stick to their overseas territories (for instance St. Pierre & Miquelon off the coast of Canada). ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-countries-given-up-territory-eagerly/636526/63 "2012-10-04T21:31:01Z")
The USA transferred to Panama the Panama Canal Zone which was a USA territory. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-countries-given-up-territory-eagerly/636526/64 "2012-10-04T23:45:26Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > Concerning French Guiana, France has very strong interests to keep it. They have a considerable military presence there (Foreign Legion, with a training center for jungle warware). > > And Kourou in French Guiana is also the site where the European rocket Ariane is launched into space. > > The French tend to stick to their overseas territories (for instance St. Pierre & Miquelon off the coast of Canada). They do, for what purpose other than pride? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-countries-given-up-territory-eagerly/636526/65 "2012-10-05T01:29:23Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > The USA transferred to Panama the Panama Canal Zone which was a USA territory. The Panama Canal Zone was never officially US territory. The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty gave the US the right to the “use, occupation, and control” of the Zone, and the right to act as if it were sovereign there, but the area technically remained part of the Republic of Panama. Children born there to non-US citizens were regarded as Panamanian citizens. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-countries-given-up-territory-eagerly/636526/66 "2012-10-05T02:32:51Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > Without Hawaii, the Philippine islands were useless to the US, for distance-related reasons already mentioned (one concern that is kind of funny to look back on today is that they wouldn’t be able to defend isolated overseas territories against the British if war broke out). As an interesting historical footnote, the US and Germany almost got into a fight over them right before WWI (German had significant colonial possessions in the Pacific at the time), but the two naval forces got distracted by a hurricane that blew through the area and other issues came to the front soon after. That’s Samoa you’re thinking of there… ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-countries-given-up-territory-eagerly/636526/67 "2012-10-05T06:49:27Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > That’s Samoa you’re thinking of there… Is it? My apologies. It’s amazing what you can think you know if you don’t fact-check yourself. :eek:😃 ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-countries-given-up-territory-eagerly/636526/68 "2012-10-05T09:04:11Z")
> [@phreesh](#): > > I see what you did there. So did I, but I wasn’t sure if I should give it a knowing smile. I should’ve. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-countries-given-up-territory-eagerly/636526/69 "2012-10-05T09:14:53Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > The Panama Canal Zone was never officially US territory. The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty gave the US the right to the “use, occupation, and control” of the Zone, and the right to act as if it were sovereign there, but the area technically remained part of the Republic of Panama. Children born there to non-US citizens were regarded as Panamanian citizens. This became an issue (sort of…) in 2008 with regards to Presidential candidate John McCain who was born in the Panama Canal Zone: [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/us/politics/28mccain.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/us/politics/28mccain.html) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-countries-given-up-territory-eagerly/636526/70 "2012-10-05T15:01:36Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > This became an issue (sort of…) in 2008 with regards to Presidential candidate John McCain who was born in the Panama Canal Zone: Many people assumed that McCain’s birth within territory that was controlled by the US was what made him a US citizen. It was actually his birth to US citizen parents that did so. However, because of a technicality in the law, at the time of his birth McCain would not have been a US citizen exactly _because_ he was born in the Canal Zone. But because of a retroactive law passed shortly after he was born, he was considered to be have been a citizen from birth. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-countries-given-up-territory-eagerly/636526.md?page=3)