Look up template in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Template may mean:

• a stencil, pattern or overlay used in graphic arts (drawing, painting, etc.) and sewing to replicate letters, shapes or designs
• a pre-developed page layout in electronic or paper media used to make new pages with a similar design, pattern, or style
• Form letter, a predefined letter which retains its primary intent when individually customised with variable data or text.

Computer science and information technology[link]

• Template (file format), a standardized non-executable file type used by computer software as a pre-formatted example on which to base other files, especially documents
• Template (C++), a tool for generic programming especially in the C++ language
• Template metaprogramming, a programming technique used by a compiler to generate temporary source code
• Template method, an object-oriented design pattern
• Template processor, a system that combines a template with data to produce an output.
• Template (word processing), a standard document containing layout and styles used to configure word processing software
• Style sheet (web development) or master page on which you can globally edit and format graphic elements and text common to each page of a document
• Web template or web template system, a master page used to produce web pages
• A main document from which mail merge documents are created

Manufacturing[link]

• Mechanical template, used to cut and shape a product, such as:
  • a die (manufacturing)
  • a mold

Molecular genetics[link]

• a strand of DNA which sets the genetic sequence of new strands
• a strand of RNA which translates genes into proteins

Miscellaneous[link]

• Template (racing), a device used in car racing to ensure that the body of the race vehicle adheres to specifications

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An insular area is a United States territory, that is neither a part of one of the 50 U.S. states nor the District of Columbia, the federal district of the U.S.^[1] They are called "insular" from the Latin word insula ("island") because they were once administered by the War Department's Bureau of Insular Affairs, now the Office of Insular Affairs at the Department of the Interior. The term insular possession is also sometimes used.

Because those insular areas that are inhabited are unincorporated territories, their native-born inhabitants are not constitutionally entitled to United States citizenship, under the Citizenship Clause.^{[citation needed]} However, Congress has extended citizenship rights to all inhabited territories except American Samoa, and these citizens may vote and run for office in any U.S. jurisdiction in which they are residents. The people of American Samoa are U.S. nationals, but not U.S. citizens; they are free to move around and seek employment within the whole United States without immigration restrictions, but cannot vote or hold office outside of American Samoa.^{[citation needed]}

Residents of insular areas do not pay U.S. federal income taxes, but are required to pay other U.S. federal taxes such as import/export taxes,^[2] federal commodity taxes,^[3] social security taxes, etc. Individuals working for the federal government pay federal income taxes while all residents are required to pay federal payroll taxes (Social Security^[4] and Medicare).

The U.S. State Department uses the term insular area to refer not only to these territories under the sovereignty of the United States, but also those independent nations that have signed a Compact of Free Association with the United States. While these nations participate in many otherwise domestic programs, they are legally distinct from the United States and their inhabitants are not United States citizens or nationals.^{[citation needed]}

U.S. insular areas can be incorporated territories (i.e., incorporated within all provisions of the U.S. Constitution) or unincorporated (areas in which the U.S. Constitution applies partially). From the organization of the Northwest Territory in 1789, all areas not admitted as States were under the direct control of Congress as organized incorporated territories, with some political autonomy at the local level. Since the admission of Hawaii to the Union in 1959, there have been no incorporated territories other than the uninhabited Palmyra Atoll (formerly part of the Hawaii Territory, it was excluded from the act of admission). Several overseas unincorporated territories are now independent countries, such as Cuba, the Philippines, Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of Palau.

Unlike within the states, sovereignty over insular areas rests not with the local people, but in Congress. In most areas, Congress has granted considerable self-rule through an Organic Act, which functions as a local constitution. The Northwest Ordinance grants territories the right to send a non-voting delegate to the U.S. Congress.

The United States government is part of several international disputes over the disposition of certain maritime and insular sovereignties some of which would be considered territories. See International territorial disputes of the United States.

List and status of insular areas[link]

Locations of the insular areas of the United States

Several islands in the Caribbean and the Pacific are considered insular areas of the United States.

Incorporated (integral part of United States)[link]

Inhabited[link]

• none

Uninhabited[link]

•  Palmyra Atoll (uninhabited, mostly owned by The Nature Conservancy but administered by the Office of Insular Affairs; part of the United States Minor Outlying Islands)

Unincorporated (United States' possessions)[link]

Inhabited[link]

•  American Samoa (officially unorganized, although self-governing under authority of the U.S. Department of the Interior)
•  Guam (organized under Organic Act of 1950)
•  Northern Mariana Islands (commonwealth, organized under 1977 Covenant)
•  Puerto Rico (territory with commonwealth status, organized under terms of Puerto Rico-Federal Relations Act)
•  United States Virgin Islands (organized under Revised Organic Act of 1954)

Uninhabited[link]

Along with Palmyra Atoll, these form the United States Minor Outlying Islands:

•  Baker Island
•  Howland Island
•  Jarvis Island
•  Johnston Atoll
•  Kingman Reef
•  Midway Atoll (administered as a National Wildlife Refuge)
•  Navassa Island (disputed with Haiti)
•  Wake Island (disputed with Marshall Islands)
• Serranilla Bank (disputed with Colombia)
• Bajo Nuevo Bank (disputed with Colombia)

From July 18, 1947 until October 1, 1994, the U.S. administered the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, but later entered into a new political relationship with all four political units (one of which is the Northern Mariana Islands listed above, the others being the three freely associated states noted below).

Freely associated states[link]

The freely associated states are the three sovereign states with which the United States has entered into a Compact of Free Association.

•  Marshall Islands
•  Federated States of Micronesia
•  Palau

Former territories[link]

•  Philippines, granted to U.S. through the Treaty of Paris in 1898, achieved independence on July 4, 1946.
•  Cuba, granted to U.S. through the Treaty of Paris in 1898, achieved independence on May 20, 1902.
•  Panama Canal Zone, under effective joint Panama-U.S. control under provisions of the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty from 1903 to 1979.

See also[link]

• Commonwealth (United States insular area)
• Dependent territory
• Guano Islands Act
• Guantanamo Bay
• Insular Cases
• Political divisions of the United States
• Territorial acquisitions of the United States
• Territories of the United States
• Unorganized territory

References[link]

External links[link]

• Office of Insular Affairs
• Department of the Interior Definitions of Insular Area Political Types
• Rubin, Richard, "The Lost Islands", The Atlantic Monthly, February 2001
• Chapter 7: Puerto Rico and the Outlying Areas, U.S. Census Bureau, Geographic Areas Reference Manual

v t e Political divisions of the United States States Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Federal district Washington, D.C. (District of Columbia) Insular areas American Samoa Guam Northern Mariana Islands Puerto Rico U.S. Virgin Islands Outlying islands Bajo Nuevo Bank Baker Island Howland Island Jarvis Island Johnston Atoll Kingman Reef Midway Atoll Navassa Island Palmyra Atoll Serranilla Bank Wake Island

Coordinates: 18°15′N 66°30′W / 18.25°N 66.5°W / 18.25; -66.5