Declaration of independence

For other uses, see Declaration of independence (disambiguation).

A declaration of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another state or failed state, or are breakaway territories from within the larger state. In 2010, the UN's International Court of Justice ruled in an advisory opinion in Kosovo that "International law contains no prohibition on declarations of independence",^[1] though the state from which the territory wishes to secede may regard the declaration as rebellion, which may lead to a war of independence or a constitutional settlement to resolve the crisis.

List of declarations of independence

This incomplete list is not intended to be exhaustive.

State	Declaration	Date	Association	Signatories	First recognizing state(s)
Albania	Albanian Declaration of Independence	November 28, 1912	Ottoman Empire	Assembly of Vlorë	Austria-Hungary
Armenia	Declaration of Independence of Armenia	May 28, 1918	TDFR	Armenian National Congress (1917), Armenian Revolutionary Federation	Ottoman Empire
Armenia	Declaration of State Sovereignty of Armenia	August 23, 1990	Soviet Union	Levon Ter-Petrosyan and Supreme Council of Armenia secretary Ara Sahakian	Lithuania
Artsakh	Proclamation of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic	September 2, 1991	Soviet Union	Nagorno-Karabakh Regional and Shahumyan District Councils of People's Deputies of the Azerbaijan SSR
Azawad	Azawadi Declaration of Independence	April 6, 2012	Mali	National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad
Azerbaijan	Declaration of Independence of Azerbaijan	May 28, 1918	TDFR	Azerbaijani National Council	Ottoman Empire
Azerbaijan	Act on Restoration of State Independence of Azerbaijan	October 18, 1991	Soviet Union	Supreme Council of Azerbaijan	Turkey
Bangladesh	Proclamation of Bangladeshi Independence	March 26, 1971	Pakistan	Constituent Assembly of Bangladesh	Bhutan
Belarus	Third Constituent Charter	March 25, 1918	Soviet Russia	Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic
Belarus	Announcement of the Declaration of Independence of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Byelorussia	July 31, 1920	Poland	Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Byelorussia, trade unions	Soviet Russia
Belarus	Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic	July 27, 1990	Soviet Union	Supreme Soviet of the BSSR	Turkey
Belgium	Belgian Declaration of Independence	October 4, 1830	Netherlands	Provisional Government of Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Bosnian Declaration of Independence	March 1, 1992	Yugoslavia		Bulgaria
Bougainville	Bougainville Declaration of Independence	May 1990	Papua New Guinea	Bougainville Interim Government
Brazil	Declaration of the Independence of Brazil	September 7, 1822	Portugal	Pedro I of Brazil	United States
Bulgaria	Bulgarian Declaration of Independence	September 22, 1908	Ottoman Empire	Ferdinand of Bulgaria and the Government of Bulgaria	Russia
Burma	Burmese Declaration of Independence	January 4, 1948	United Kingdom
Catalonia	Declaration of the Catalan Republic as a state of the Iberian Federation	April 14, 1931	Spain	Francesc Macià, Generalitat Government of Catalonia
Catalonia	Declaration of the Catalan state within the Federal Republic of Spain	October 6, 1934	Spain	Lluís Companys, Generalitat Government of Catalonia
Catalonia	Declaration from the representatives of Catalonia as the Catalan Republic	October 27, 2017	Spain
Central America(present day  Costa Rica  El Salvador  Guatemala  Honduras  Nicaragua)	Act of Independence of Central America	September 15, 1821	Spain
Chile	Chilean Declaration of Independence	February 12, 1818	Spain	National Congress	Portugal
Colombia	Colombian Declaration of Independence	July 20, 1810	Spain
Comoros	Comorian Declaration of Independence	July 6, 1975	France		Guinea
Crimea	Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Crimea	March 11, 2014	Ukraine	Supreme Council of Crimea	Russia
Croatia	Declaration of the Establishment of the Sovereign and Independent Republic of Croatia	June 25, 1991	Yugoslavia		Iceland
Czechoslovakia	Czechoslovak Declaration of Independence	October 18, 1918	Austria-Hungary	Czechoslovak National Council	United States
Dominican Republic	Dominican Declaration of Independence	February 27, 1844	Haiti		United Kingdom
East Timor	East Timorese declaration of independence	November 28, 1975	Portugal		Morocco
Egypt	Unilateral Declaration of Egyptian Independence	February 28, 1922	United Kingdom	Unilateral grant of independence by the British government	United Kingdom
Estonia	Estonian Declaration of Independence	February 24, 1918	Germany  Russia	Estonian Salvation Committee	Finland
Estonia	Estonian Reconfirmation of Independence	August 20, 1991	Soviet Union	Congress of Estonia	Iceland (reconfirmed earlier recognition)
Finland	Finnish Declaration of Independence	December 6, 1917	Russia	Parliament of Finland	Soviet Russia
First Mexican Empire (present day  Mexico)	Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire (real independence)[clarification needed]	September 28, 1821	Spain	Supreme Provisional Governmental Board	United Kingdom[2]
Florida	Florida's Constitution of 1861	January 10, 1861	United States	Florida State Legislature
Galicia	Declaration of the Republic of Galicia	June 27, 1931	Spain
Georgia, Democratic Republic of	Georgian Declaration of Independence, 1918	May 26, 1918	TDFR	Georgian National Council	Germany
Georgia, Republic of	Act of Restoration of State Independence of Georgia	April 9, 1991[3]	Soviet Union	Supreme Council of the Republic of Georgia	Switzerland
Georgia, State of	Georgia's secession declaration	January 29, 1861	United States
Greece	Greek Declaration of Independence	January 15, 1822	Ottoman Empire	First National Assembly	Haiti
Guinea-Bissau	Guinea-Bissau Declaration of Independence	September 24, 1973	Portugal
Haiti	Haitian Declaration of Independence	January 1, 1804	France	Jean-Jacques Dessalines	France[4]
Hungary	Hungarian Declaration of Independence	April 14, 1849	Habsburgs
Iceland	Icelandic Declaration of Independence	June 17, 1944	Denmark		United States
India	Declaration of the Independence of India	January 26, 1930	United Kingdom
Indonesia	Proclamation of Indonesian Independence	August 17, 1945	Netherlands	Sukarno & Mohammad Hatta	Kingdom of Egypt[5]
Iraq	Iraq Declaration of Independence	October 3, 1932	United Kingdom		United Kingdom
Ireland	Proclamation of the Irish Republic	April 24, 1916	United Kingdom	Provisional Government of the Irish Republic
Irish Republic	Irish Declaration of Independence	January 21, 1919	United Kingdom	Dáil Éireann	Soviet Russia
Israel	Israeli Declaration of Independence	May 14, 1948	United Kingdom	Jewish People's Council	United States
Katanga	Katangan Declaration of Independence[citation needed]	July 11, 1960	Congo-Léopoldville
Korea	Korean Declaration of Independence	March 1, 1919	Japan	Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea	China
Kosova	Proclamation of the Republic of Kosova	September 22, 1992	FR Yugoslavia	Assembly of Kosovo	Albania
Kosovo	Kosovo declaration of independence	February 17, 2008	Serbia  UN Administration	"Democratically elected leaders of our people"[a]	Costa Rica
Latvia	Latvian Declaration of Independence	November 18, 1918	Germany  Soviet Russia	People's Council of Latvia	Soviet Russia
Latvia	On the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia	May 4, 1990	Soviet Union	Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR	Iceland
Liberia	Liberian Declaration of Independence	July 16, 1847	American Colonization Society	Liberian Constitutional Convention	United Kingdom
Lithuania	Act of Independence of Lithuania	February 16, 1918	Germany  Soviet Russia	Council of Lithuania	Germany
Lithuania	Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania	March 11, 1990	Soviet Union	Supreme Council of Lithuania	Iceland
Lower Canada	Declaration of Independence of Lower Canada	February 22, 1838	United Kingdom	Robert Nelson
Macedonia	Independence of the Republic of Macedonia	September 8, 1991	Yugoslavia		Bulgaria
Malaya (present day Malaysia)	Federation of Malaya Independence Act 1957	August 31, 1957	United Kingdom	Tunku Abdul Rahman, Prime Minister of Malaysia	United Kingdom[6]
Mississippi	A Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of the State of Mississippi from the Federal Union	January 9, 1861	United States
Moldova	Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Moldova	August 27, 1991	Soviet Union	Parliament of the Republic of Moldova	Romania
Montenegro	Montenegro declaration of independence	June 3, 2006	Serbia and Montenegro	Assembly of the Republic of Montenegro	Iceland
Morocco	Moroccan Declaration of Independence	January 11, 1944	France	Istiqlal Party
Netherlands	Act of Abjuration	July 26, 1581	Spain	Union of Utrecht
Northern America (present day)  Mexico	Solemn Act of the Declaration of Independence of Northern America	November 6, 1813	Spain	Congress of Anáhuac
Northern Cyprus	Declaration of Independence of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus	November 15, 1983	Cyprus		Turkey
Northern Epirus	Northern Epirote Declaration of Independence	February 28, 1914	Albania	Provisional Government of Northern Epirus
North Solomons	Declaration of Independence of the Republic of the North Solomons	September 1, 1975	Territory of Papua and New Guinea (Australia)	Unknown	Vatican City
Norway (Kingdom of Norway)	Declaration of Independence of Norway (short after[clarification needed], sovereign under the Swedish monarchy), and the Constitution of Norway	May 17, 1814	Denmark-Norway (As of Treaty of Kiel)	Norwegian Constituent Assembly
North Korea	National Liberation Day of Korea	September 9, 1948	Japan	Kim Il Sung	Soviet Union
Padania	Padanian Declaration of Independence	September 15, 1996	Italy
Pakistan	Lahore Resolution	March 24, 1940	United Kingdom	Muslim League (Pakistan)
Palestine	Palestinian Declaration of Independence	November 15, 1988	Palestinian territories  Jordan (claimed the West Bank until 1988)	Palestinian National Council	Arab League
Peru	Act of the Declaration of Independence of Peru	July 28, 1821	Spain	José de San Martín	Argentina
Philippines	Philippine Declaration of Independence	June 12, 1898	Spain  United States	98 representatives of Dictatorial Government of the Philippines[7] (ratified on September 29, 1898, by the Malolos Congress[8])
Provinces of the Río de la Plata (present-day  Argentina  Bolivia  Uruguay)	Argentine Declaration of Independence	July 9, 1816	Spain	Congress of Tucumán	Hawaii
Rhodesia	Rhodesian Unilateral Declaration of Independence	November 11, 1965	United Kingdom	Ian Smith and the rest of the Cabinet
Romania	Romanian Declaration of Independence	May 22, 1877	Ottoman Empire	King Carol I
Russia	Belovezha Accords	December 12, 1991	Soviet Union	Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic	Bir Lehlou Declaration	February 27, 1976	Spanish Sahara	Polisario Front	Madagascar
Scotland	Declaration of Arbroath	April 6, 1320	England	Scottish leaders
Serbia	The Proclamation (Proglašenije/Проглашеније)	February 1809	Ottoman Empire	Karađorđe Petrović and Serbian MPs
Singapore	Proclamation of Singapore[9]	August 9, 1965	Malaysia[10][11]	Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister of Singapore	United Kingdom[12]
Czechoslovakia	Martin Declaration	October 30, 1918	Austria-Hungary	Slovak National Council	France
Slovakia	Slovak National Council's Declaration of Independence of the Slovak Nation	July 17, 1992	Czechoslovakia	Slovak National Council
Slovenia	Slovenian Declaration of Independence	June 25, 1991	Yugoslavia		Croatia
Somaliland	Somaliland Declaration of Independence	May 18, 1991	Somalia
South Korea	National Liberation Day of Korea	August 15, 1948	Japan	Syngman Rhee	United States
South Carolina	Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union	December 24, 1860	United States	South Carolinians in Charleston
Sri Lanka	Declaration of Independence of Sri Lanka (Then known as "Ceylon")	February 4, 1948	United Kingdom
Texas, Republic of	Texas Declaration of Independence	March 2, 1836	Mexico		France
Texas, State of	A Declaration of the Causes which Impel the State of Texas to Secede from the Federal Union	February 1, 1861	United States	Texas Legislature
Tibet	Tibet's Declaration of Independence	February 13, 1913	China	13th Dalai Lama	Bogd Khanate of Mongolia
Turkmenistan	About Independence and Bases of a State System of Turkmenistan	October 27, 1991	Soviet Union	none	Turkey
Ukraine	IV Universal	January 22, 1918	Soviet Russia	Central Council of Ukraine
Ukraine	Declaration of Independence of Ukraine	August 24, 1991	Soviet Union	Verkhovna Rada	Canada  Poland[13]
United States	United States Declaration of Independence	July 4, 1776[b]	Great Britain	Second Continental Congress	Morocco[16][17]
United Tribes of New Zealand	Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand	October 28, 1835	—	Māori chiefs	United Kingdom[18]
Uzbekistan	Declaration of Independence	August 31, 1991	Soviet Union	Supreme Council of Uzbekistan	Turkey
Venezuela	Venezuelan Declaration of Independence	July 5, 1811	Spain	National Congress
Vermont	Vermont Declaration of Independence	January 15, 1777	United States British Quebec
Vietnam	Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam	September 2, 1945	France	Hồ Chí Minh	China
Democratic Republic of the Yorubaland	Declaration of Independence	April 13, 2024	Nigeria	Modupe Onitiri-Abiola and Ominira Yoruba Group

See also

• Independence referendum
• List of national independence days
• List of sovereign states by date of formation
• Political history of the world
• Separatism
• Unilateral declaration of independence

Explanatory notes

1. No reference in original Albanian text to the declaration being the work of the Assembly of Kosovo. The language used in the declaration differs from that employed in acts of the Assembly of Kosovo in that the first paragraph commences with the phrase "We, the democratically-elected leaders of our people . . .", whereas acts of the Assembly of Kosovo employ the third person singular. Moreover, the procedure employed in relation to the declaration differed from that employed by the Assembly of Kosovo for the adoption of legislation. It was not transmitted to the Special Representative of the Secretary General and was not published in the Official Gazette of the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government of Kosovo. As the practice shows, he would have been under a duty to take action with regard to acts of the Assembly of Kosovo which he considered to be ultra vires. Taking all factors together, the authors of the declaration of independence of 17 February 2008 did not act as one of the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government within the Constitutional Framework, but rather as persons who acted together in their capacity as representatives of the people of Kosovo outside the framework of the interim administration.
2. The Continental Congress voted in favor of the Declaration of Independence on July 2.^[14] Versions were not printed until July 4 and later, while the signatories did not sign the Matlack declaration until August.^[15]

   Further information: Lee Resolution