The Dominican Republic was independent of Spain long before the Spanish-American War. The U.S. occupied Dominican Republic for a while- 1916-1922- but while the U.S. imposed its will in many areas, it was only an occupation, not full possession.
And yes, I had no idea of this history and had to do some research for this comment. So thanks for the opportunity to learn something new.
Then you need to include West Germany, Austria, and Japan at the end of WW2 (and maybe Iceland). Definitely Iraq in recent years. Maybe Grenada and Panama in the 80s. All of these were military occupations in the same way the Dominican Republic was a military occupation. But I would not count them- military occupations maintain a country's sovereignty but without self-rule, so it's more a withdrawal than independence.
Liberia declared their independence from the United States on July 26th of 1847. On February 5th of 1862 their independence was recognized and officially granted by the United States government.
And yes, I had no idea of this history and had to do some research for this comment. So thanks for the opportunity to learn something new.
south korea was a territory of the usa after WW2 before it gained independance with north korea