Hi Bret,

I don't know an "official" answer, but surmising from the list given...

"Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas" suggests to me that a collection of entities has chosen to call *itself* a commonwealth.
A "territory" would be something that some other entity that holds authority over.

For instance, Canada was a member of the "British Commonwealth" (maybe still is, but I *think* it has dissolved). We were basically a totally separate and sovereign entity who chose to associate itself (for gain, of course) with others of like status. Now Canada also has an entity called the "Northwest Territories" which are NOT self-governing (though they have some very limited control over some things, always overrideable by the Federal government) but controlled by the Federal government.

In summary, they are two very different things (as I understand them).

Cheers,

jimN

>>I SO agree! I'm in a place that has a "US ZIP" code in the mailing address, and actually have a 2 letter state designation ("MP"), yet most applications don't recognize that...also I've seen various values for this country:
>>
>>Saipan
>>Island of Saipan
>>CNMI
>>Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas
>>Northern Marianas
>>US outlying islands
>>US territories (we are NOT a territory)
>>etc.
>>
>>(This is a pet peeve of mine also).
>>
>>J
>
>I know it came up before, but what is the difference between a commonwealth and a territory?