Question

Did a territory keep it's independence after an imperialist country annexed it?

Answer 1

Territories usually did not keep it's independence after a country annexed it. A perfect example would be the territories gained by the United States during the late 1800's and early 1900's. An example of a territory annexed by the US was Hawaii. This became a US territory and from there, created a government and laws similar to those of the other US states at the time. Eventually, this lead to Hawaii becoming a US state.

Another example is Puerto Rico. Even though Puerto Rico runs their own elections, their system of government was set up by the United States. The laws created in Puerto Rico were heavily influenced by the US. Based on these examples, you can see that annexed territories did not really keep their independence. Rather, they began to create political and social structures that were similar to the countries that annexed them.