Pitcairn's recent appearance in the headlines has been a shock. Who knew Britain still had territories in the Pacific, let alone ones where the populace descended from the mutiny on the Bounty? What other bits of the globe are shaded pink? Might we still be hanging on to Calais?

So, just to check we have not forgotten about any medium-sized African nations, ak13 decided it was time to open an atlas.

1. Bermuda

Since rejecting independence in a 1995 referendum, Bermuda has consolidated its position as one of the world's premier sites for businesses to pretend to be based. The authorities recently vowed to end the "harmful" practices that have given the colony its reputation as a tax haven. Still, it is not all bad: it has given the locals a per capita income on par with the US.

2. Gibraltar

Gibraltar currently booms in a similar fashion to Bermuda. There are rumours that it has more registered companies than inhabitants. Luckily, most of these consist of pieces of paper in drawers, as space is at a premium: the territory covers 6.5 square kilometres – of which more than a tenth is reclaimed from the sea.

The Spanish claim to the island's sovereignty lay dormant for 150 years, until General Franco threw a hissy fit after an official visit by the Queen in 1954 and demanded his ball back. This has led to the mildly bizarre situation of one European country accusing a close ally of maintaining a military occupation of its territory into the 21st century. Imagine the uproar if the Germans occupied Southend.

3. Akrotiri and Dhekelia

While most of the empire had dissolved by 1970, the UK has a habit of hanging on to randomly scattered military outposts on the off chance that they might come in useful. In the run up to Cyprus' accession to the EU earlier this year, there was much debate about the question of reunification, and accusations flew that both Turkish and Greek forces had, in the past, attempted to control the island.

However, no one seemed to think it worth mentioning that a third European power still maintained two sovereign military bases on the island, left over from the time when it was a dependency of the Crown. Looks like we have the Mediterranean sewn up, lads.

4. Diego Garcia

The Ilois, the native inhabitants of this island in the Indian Ocean, were victims of British military might. The British forced the Ilois to relocate in the late sixties so that their home could be turned into a joint US-UK air and naval refuelling station.

Nearby islands were a little peeved to find their neighbours suddenly evicted and replaced with cruise missiles. The Ilois were even less happy, and most now live in the slums of Mauritius and the Seychelles. The island has since been used to spy on the Soviets, and provide support to bombers during the Gulf, Afghanistan and Iraq Wars.

5. Ascension Island

Another island: another step closer to world domination. This one is in the South Atlantic and is home to the marvellously named Wideawake Field USAF base. It also came in handy for refuelling during the Falklands war. Luckily, this one had no indigenous population to evict. If you want to get away from it all for a bit, ascension-island.gov.ac has a page helpfully listing job vacancies.

6. Tristan da Cunha

Tristan is an archipelago 2,800km west of Cape Town and the most isolated inhabited place in the world. The colony's 300 inhabitants live in the village of Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, a mere 2,350km from their nearest neighbours on St. Helena, which makes it a bugger if you want to borrow a cup of sugar.

The islanders speak their own variety of English, which includes such idiosyncrasies as "How you is?" for "How are you?" and "pennemin" for penguin. Visitors must get permission to stay from the island council and administrator, enough travel insurance to cover emergency evacuation to Cape Town and stay with an islander. It is not for nothing that one of the islands is named Inaccessible.

7. Montserrat

This one is a Carribbean island to the east of Cuba with a population of roughly 9,000. Or, at least, it was until 1995, when about 8,000 of them legged it after the local volcano devastated two-thirds of the island. The volcano has not quietened down yet, but that has not stopped the US Department of Homeland Security telling 292 refugees to get out of the US by February. Apparently, the continuing volcanic activity means they no longer qualify for temporary asylum.

8. The Falklands

You knew we had to get here eventually. 655 Argentine and 255 British servicemen died during the 1982 war, which may not sound like that much for a war, but looks a lot more bloody when you realise that only about 3,000 people live on the islands. The Argentineans seem to have learnt their lesson though, and have not made a second attempt to oust the plucky Brits, although they do maintain their claim to the territory.

Other hostilities: Max Hastings' claim to have been the first British man into occupied Port Stanley – he ran ahead of some paratroopers and interviewed the Argentine colonel in charge – was questioned by other journalists as recently as February 2002 in a letter to the Daily Mail.

9. Antarctica

Well, a bit of it. Between 20°W and 80°W to be precise. It is the bit south of the Falklands, although Argentina – and Chile – question our claim there too. The Empire appropriated the British Antarctic Territory in 1908, before any other power had thought to do that same, although exactly what it was hoping to achieve is not immediately clear, particular after the Antarctic Treaty of 1961 prevented colonisation.

Thus far, the territory has provided sites for three polar research stations and an excuse for lots of commemorative postage stamps. One set in 1984 celebrated plankton. I swear I am not making this up.

10. Berwick-upon-Tweed

Okay, this one is kind of cheating, but, until 1885, Berwick did enjoy its own peculiar diplomatic status. So regularly has it changed hands between England and Scotland that diplomatic documents got round the ambiguity by referring to "the United Kingdom of England, Scotland, Ireland and Berwick-upon-Tweed".

Unfortunately, while Berwick got a mention in the declaration of the Crimean War, those drafting the peace treaty forgot all about it. Hostilities between Berwick and Russia technically continued until 1966, when a treaty was signed and the town's mayor assured the Russian people that they could at last sleep peacefully in their beds.