Alderney is the most northerly of the Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown dependency. It is 5 km long and 2.4 km wide. The area is 8 km2, making it the third-largest island of the Channel Islands, and the second largest in the Bailiwick. It is around 15 km to the west of La Hague on the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy, in France, 30 km to the north-east of Guernsey and 100 km from the south coast of Great Britain. It is the closest of the Channel Islands to both France and the United Kingdom.
While the inhabitants are British citizens, the island is not part of the United Kingdom or the European Union, but rather is a separate possession of the British Crown with independent administrations.
The States of Alderney is the legislature of the island; it sends two representatives to the States of Guernsey as well. The origin of the States is unknown, but it has operated from the medieval period. | 
