United Nations trust territories
United Nations trust territories were the successors of the remaining League of Nations mandates and came into being when the League of Nations ceased to exist in 1946. All of the trust territories were administered through the United Nations Trusteeship Council. The concept is distinct from a territory temporarily and directly governed by the United Nations. The one League of Nation mandate not succeeded by a trust territory was South-West Africa, at South Africa's insistence. South Africa's apartheid regime refused to commit to preparing the territory for independence and majority rule, as required  by the trust territory guidelines, among other objections. South-West Africa eventually gained independence in 1990 as Namibia. All trust territories have either attained self-government or independence. The last was Palau, formerly part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, which became a member state of the United Nations in December 1994. Trust territories (and administering powers). Former German. All these territories previously were League of Nations mandates.