Dominion

A dominion was a self-governing country that was part of the British Empire and then the British Commonwealth of Nations, especially in the first half of the 20th century. The dominions in 1926 were Australia, Canada, the Irish Free State, New Zealand, Newfoundland, and South Africa; in 1948 Ceylon, and in 1947 India and Pakistan. In the years following the Second World War, the British Empire was refashioned into the more modern Commonwealth of Nations. By the time this transition was formally finalised, in 1949, the old dominions had become more autonomous and independent nation states, each in their own right, either as a Commonwealth republic or a Commonwealth realm.