Cession of land

The act of cession is the assignment of property to another entity. In international law it commonly refers to land transferred by treaty. Ballentine's Law Dictionary defines cession as "a surrender; a giving up; a relinquishment of jurisdiction by a board in favor of another agency" In contrast with annexation, where property is forcibly given up, cession is voluntary or at least apparently so.

In 1790, the U.S. states of Maryland and Virginia both ceded land to create the District of Columbia, as specified in the U.S. Constitution of the previous year. The Virginia portion was given back in 1847, a process known as "retrocession".

Following the First Opium War (1839–1842) and Second Opium War (1856–1860), Hong Kong (Treaty of Nanking) and Kowloon (Convention of Peking) were ceded by the Qing dynasty government of China to the United Kingdom; and following defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War, Taiwan was ceded to the Empire of Japan in 1895.

Territory can also be ceded for payment, such as in the Louisiana Purchase and Alaska Purchase.

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