A crown colony is a territory.
Crown colony . The term continued to be used until 1981 , when the British Nationality Act 1981 reclassified the remaining British colonies as `` British Dependent Territories '' . Bermuda had already been internally self-governed for sixty-four years , however , and by the Twentieth Century the definition of `` crown colony '' had narrowed to include only those territories without internal self-government . From 2002 , all remaining British colonies , whether Crown Colonies or self-governed , have been known as British Overseas Territories .