History of Commonwealth

The Commonwealth roots lie in the 19th century:

-1867 Canada became the first British colony to be transformed into a self-governing “Dominion”

- 1884 Lord Rosebery became the first to call this changing empire a “Commonwealth of Nations”

- 1931, the UK Parliament adopted the Statute of Westminster forming the legal foundation for what was to become the Commonwealth

Under the Statute, the Dominions of Canada, Newfoundland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the Irish Free State became “autonomous communities within the British Empire, equal in status and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations”

It began with the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947

1949 - India’s desire to become a republic and to cut all constitutional ties with the British monarchy while remaining within the Commonwealth forced leaders to rethink the principles of Commonwealth membership

1949 – London Declaration marks a pivotal point

- dropped the word “British” from the association’s title

- removed the requirement that member countries have the British monarch as their Head of State

- recognized King George VI as the “symbol of their free association and as such Head of Commonwealth”

Thus – India – was the first republican member in a modern and voluntary association

Commonwealth

- committed to racial equality and national sovereignty

- became the natural association of choice for many new nations emerging out of decolonisation in the 1950s and 1960s

1957 – Ghana achieved independence and became the first majority-ruled African member

1962 Jamaica claimed its independence

From this point on, the Commonwealth expanded rapidly