>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).

The CNMI is a U.S. posession. We have nothing equivalent to the British Commonwealth of Nations. Calling itself a "commonwealth" implies that it has a status equal to Puerto Rico with is also called that. Since they aren't a state, they don't vote for president, don't have voting representation in congress, and don't pay federal income tax. They do elect a governor (and presumably a legislature) and may have a non-voting delegate in congress who can vote in comittee (like the District of Columbia) or maybe not. Some states such as Virginia call themselves a "commonwealth" sometimes but in that case it doesn't mean anything.

I don't remember if any of the more substantial U.S. posessions (U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa) call themselves a commonwealth or if they have the same deal. Smaller posessions like Wake Island or Midway Island with little or no permanent population are probably just "territories". The rest of the old U.S. Trust Territory of the Pacific is now all independent, more or less.

When this came up before, I answered because J.'s time zone wasn't out of bed yet. I don't remember what we said then, so I again invite her to correct any errors.