Independence is a condition of anation,country, orstate, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exerciseself-government, and usuallysovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of adependent territory orcolony. The commemoration of the independence day of a country or nation celebrates when a country is free from all forms ofcolonialism; free to build a country or nation without any interference from other nations.
Whether the attainment of independence is different fromrevolution has long been contested, and has often been debated over the question of violence aslegitimate means to achieving sovereignty.[2] In general, revolutions aim only to redistribute power with or without an element of emancipation, such as indemocratizationwithin a state, which as such may remain unaltered. For example, theMexican Revolution (1910) chiefly refers to a multi-factional conflict that eventually led to anew constitution; it has rarely been used to refer to thearmed struggle (1821) against Spain. However, somewars of independence have been described as revolutions, such as the ones in theUnited States (1783) andIndonesia (1949), while some revolutions that were specifically about a change in the political structure have resulted in breakaway states.Mongolia andFinland, for example, gained their independence during the revolutions occurring inChina (1911) andRussia (1917) respectively. Causes for a country or province wishing to seek independence are many, but most can be summed up as a feeling of inequality compared to the dominant power. The means can extend from intended peaceful demonstrations as in the case ofIndia (1947), to aviolent war as in the case ofAlgeria (1962). In some cases, a country may also have declared independence, but may only be partially recognized by other countries; such asKosovo (2008), whose independenceSerbia, from which Kosovo has seceded, hasnot formally recognized.[3][4][5]
Autonomy refers to a kind of independence which has been granted by an overseeingauthority that itself still retains ultimate authority over that territory (seeDevolution). Aprotectorate refers to an autonomous region that depends upon a larger government for its protection as an autonomous region.
During the 20th century wave ofdecolonization colonies gained rights to independence through documents such as the 1960Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, but this right remained mostly applicable only to unfree territorial entities, such as colonies.[6]How much these rights apply to all people has been a crucial point of discussion. The rights tonationality andself-determination allow clarification. The right of self-determination allowsself-governance, as for example in the case ofindigenous peoples, but is not a right of secession, except in extreme cases of oppression as a remedy from the oppression.[7] Therefore, theright to secession is generally determined by the legislation ofsovereign states and independence by the capacity to be a state.
Sometimes, a state wishing to achieve independence from a dominating power will issue adeclaration of independence; the earliest surviving example isScotland'sDeclaration of Arbroath in 1320, with the most recent examples beingAzawad's declaration of independence in 2012 andCatalan declaration of independence in 2017. Declaring independence and attaining it, however, are quite different. A well-known successful example is theU.S. Declaration of Independence issued in 1776. The dates of established independence (or, less commonly, the commencement of revolution), are typically celebrated as a nationalholiday known as anindependence Day.
Part ofTranscaucasian Region, at the crossroads of Europe and Asia.Physiographically, Armenia falls entirely in Western Asia, while Georgia and Azerbaijan are mostly in Asia with small portions north of theCaucasus Mountains divide in Europe.
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