The Latin names Britannia (Britain), Caledonia (Scotland), and Hibernia (Ireland) are sometimes used in poetic diction; so too is Britain's ancient Celtic name, Albion. Because of its accidental resemblance to albtis (Latin for 'white'), Albion is especially associated with the chalk cliffs that seem to gird much of the English coast like defensive walls.
The British Empire took its name from the British Isles because it was created not only by the English but also by the Irish, Scots, and Welsh, as well as by civilians and servicemen from other constituent countries of the empire. Some of the empire's overseas colonies, or crown colonies, were populated largely by settlers of European origin and their descendants. These predominantly white settler colonies, such as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, were allowed significant self-government in the nineteenth century and recognized as dominions in the early twentieth century.
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The white dominions became members of the Commonwealth of Nations, also called the Commonwealth, the British Commonwealth, and 'the Old Commonwealth' at different times, an association of sovereign states under the symbolic leadership of the British monarch.
Other overseas colonies of the empire had mostly indigenous populations (or, in the Caribbean, the descendants of imported slaves, indentured servants, and others). These colonies were granted political independence after World War II, later than the dominions, and have often been referred to since as postcolonial nations. In South and Southeast Asia, India and Pakistan gained independence in 1947, followed by other countries including Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), Burma (now Myanmar), Malaya (now Malaysia), and Singapore. In West and East Africa, the Gold Coast was decolonized as Ghana in 1957, Nigeria in 1960, Sierra Leone in 1961, Uganda in 1962, Kenya in 1963, and so forth, while in southern Africa, the white minority government of South Africa was already independent in 1931, though majority rule did not come until 1994. In the Caribbean, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago won independence in 1962, followed by Barbados in 1966, and other islands of the British West Indies in the 1970s and '80s. Other regions with nations emerging out of British colonial rule included Central America (British Honduras, now Belize), South America (British Guiana, now Guyana), the Pacific islands (Fiji), and Europe (Cyprus, Malta). After decolonization, many of these nations chose to remain within a newly conceived Commonwealth and are sometimes referred to as 'New Commonwealth' countries. Some nations, such as Ireland, Pakistan, and South Africa, withdrew from the Commonwealth, though South Africa and Pakistan eventually rejoined, and others, such as Burma (Myanmar), gained independence outside the Commonwealth. Britain's last major overseas colony, Hong Kong, was returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, but while Britain retains only a handful of dependent territories, such as Bermuda and Montserrat, the scope of the Commonwealth remains vast, with 30 percent of the world's population.
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