What is the Commonwealth?

The violence of the two communities in Palestine led Britain to relinquish quickly its charge there and the independent state of Israel emerged. Burma, on receiving its independence in 1947, immediately left the Commonwealth. In I 960 British Somaliland joined up with Italian Somalia to become an independent state outside the Commonwealth; similarly, the Southern Cameroons joined the French Cameroons in 1961 and left the Commonwealth. The People’s Republic of Southern Yemen pulled out in 1967, while Pakistan left in 1972 after failing to receive support in its civil war. East Pakistan, however, stayed within the Commonwealth, as the new state of Bangladesh.  In 1961 South Africa voluntarily withdrew from the Commonwealth, probably just before being pushed out because of its racial policies. The white settlers of Southern Rhodesia in 1965 unilaterally declared their independence of Britain; this followed prolonged attempts by the British government and Black pressure groups to coax or coerce the whites into granting adequate political rights to the black majority population. Finally, in April1980, Rhodesia attained legal independence as the state of Zimbabwe. It became the forty-third member state of the Commonwealth.

Commonwealth Membership as at 31 December 1980

Date of Membership

Key:

*  Special member
Q  Queen Elizabeth as Head of State
M  Other monarchy
R  Republic

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