Administrative divisions are divisions of a political division A political division is a term of art of geography defining the concept of a geographic region accepted to be in the jurisdiction of a particular government entity. The particular government entity varies as each organizes its operations by further divisions to further its tasks and satisfy its responsibilities. In other words, they are designated portions of a country. They are also called subnational entities. They are each granted a certain degree of autonomy An autonomous area is an area of a country that has a degree of autonomy, or freedom from an external authority. Typically it is either geographically distinct from the country or is populated by a national minority. Countries that include autonomous areas are often federacies. Autonomous areas can be divided into territorial autonomies,, and are required to manage themselves through their own local governments Local governments are administrative office that are smaller than a state. The term is used to contrast with offices at nation-state level, which are referred to as the central government, national government, or federal government. Countries are divided up into these smaller units to make managing their land and the affairs of their people easier. For example, a country may be divided into provinces A province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state (or states Many sovereign independent states are made up of a number of subnational entities also called states . In some cases, such as the United States, the national government arose from a union of sovereign entities, which transferred some of their powers to the national government, while retaining the remainder of their sovereignty. These are sometimes), which in turn are divided into counties A county is a land area of local government within a country. A county may have cities and towns within its area, which in turn may be divided in whole or in part into municipalities A municipality is an administrative entity composed of a clearly defined territory and its population and commonly denotes a city, town, or village, or a small grouping of them. A municipality is typically governed by a mayor and a city council or municipal council. These are only a few of the names given to administrative subdivisions; more examples are provided below.
Administrative divisions are a type of country subdivision Country subdivision refers to the division of a country's territory for the sake of its administration, description or other such purpose. The resulting units of division are known generically as "country subdivisions". Unlike geographical or geomorphological areas such as basins, deserts, valleys and the like, country subdivisions are, and can overlap with the other types. The other types of country subdivision generally don't have governments.
Administrative divisions are conceptually separate from dependent areas A dependent territory, dependent area or dependency is a territory that does not possess full political independence or sovereignty as a State, in that the former are included in the core or mainland of the respective state A sovereign state is a political association with effective sovereignty over a geographic area and representing a population. A state usually includes the set of institutions that claim the authority to make the rules that govern the people of the society in that territory, though its status as a state often depends in part on being recognized by.
Examples of administrative divisions
English terms
In many of the following terms corresponding to British cultural influence, areas of relatively low mean population density might bear a title of an entity one would expect to be either larger or smaller. There is no fixed rule, for "all politics is local"[1] as is perhaps well demonstrated by their relative lack of systemic order. In the realm of self-government, any of these can and does occur along a stretch of road—which for the most part is passing through rural unsettled countryside. Since the terms are administrative political subdivisions of the local regional government their exact relationship and definitions are subject to home rule In the United Kingdom, it has traditionally referred to self-government, or devolution or independence, for constituent nations , and at one point Ireland. Home rule also refers analogously to the process and mechanisms of self-government by municipalities and counties in many countries with respect to their immediately-superior level of considerations, tradition, as well as state A sovereign state is a political association with effective sovereignty over a geographic area and representing a population. A state usually includes the set of institutions that claim the authority to make the rules that govern the people of the society in that territory, though its status as a state often depends in part on being recognized by statute law Statutory law or statute law is written law set down by a legislature (as opposed to regulatory law promulgated by the executive branch or common law of the judiciary). Statutes are enacted in response to a perceived need to clarify the functioning of government, improve civil order, to codify existing law, or for an individual or company to and local governmental (administrative) definition and control. In the British cultural legacy, most regional entities begin with fairly expansive counties which encompass an appreciable territorial area and proceed down in size to smaller entities.
Within those entities are the large and small cities or towns, which may or may not be the county seat A county seat is a term for an administrative center for a county or civil parish, primarily used in the United States. In the Northeast United States, the statutory term often is shire town, but colloquially county seat is the term in use there. Parts of the Canadian Maritimes also use the term shire town. In England, Wales and Ireland, the term. Some of the world's larger cities culturally, if not officially, span into multiple counties and those crossing state or provincial boundaries culturally are quite common as well, but are rarely incorporated within the same municipal government. Many sister cities share a water boundary which quite often serves as a border of both cities and counties. For example, Cambridge Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England. Cambridge is most famous for two prominent universities, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 101,355. It is and Boston, Massachusetts Boston (pronounced /ˈbɒstən/ ) is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England". Boston appear to the casual traveler as one large city, while locally they each are quite culturally different and occupy different counties.
Urban or rural regions:
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- Borough A borough is an administrative division of various countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing township although, in practice, official use of the term varies widely or alternatively, "boro"
- Burgh A Burgh is an autonomous corporate entity in Scotland, usually a town. This type of administrative division has existed since the 12th century, when David I created the first Royal burghs. Recognition of burgh status today, however, has little more than ceremonial value. Burgh status is broadly analogous to borough status, found in the rest of the
- City A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement, particularly a large urban settlement. Although there are no agreed on technical definitions distinguishing a city from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law — for example an article of
- Shire In Britain "shire" is the original term for what is usually known as a county; the word county having been introduced at the Norman Conquest. The two are synonymous. Although in modern British usage counties are referred to as "shires" mainly in poetic contexts, terms such as Shire Hall remain common. Shire also remains a
- Town A town is a type of settlement ranging from a few hundred to several thousand inhabitants, although it may be applied loosely even to huge metropolitan areas; the precise meaning varies between countries and is not always a matter of legal definition. Usually, a "town" is thought of as larger than a village but smaller than a "city&
- Township A township is a settlement which has the status and powers of a unit of local government. Specific use of the term to describe political subdivisions has varied by country
- Village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet, but smaller than a town or city. Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New York City and the Saifi Village in Beirut, Lebanon. Villages are normally permanent,
- Commune A commune is an intentional community of people living together, sharing common interests, property, possessions, resources, work and income. In addition to the communal economy, consensus decision-making, non-hierarchical structures and ecological living have become important core principles for many communes
- County A county is a land area of local government within a country. A county may have cities and towns within its area
- Constituency A constituency is any cohesive body of people bound by shared identity, goals, or loyalty. Constituency can be used to describe a business's customer base and shareholders, or a charity's donors or those it serves. In politics, a constituency can mean either the people from whom an individual or organization hopes to attract support, or the people - usually refers to an electoral division (which is not an administrative division), but in Namibia and in Canton of St. Gallen The Canton of St. Gallen (German: Kanton St. Gallen ) is a canton of Switzerland. St. Gallen is located in the north east of Switzerland. It covers an area of 2,026 km², and has a population of 465,937 (2007) of which 97,461 (or 20.9%) are foreigners. The capital is St. Gallen. Spelling variations include: St. Gall, Saint Gall, Saint Gallen, in Switzerland Switzerland (German: die Schweiz French: la Suisse, Italian: Svizzera, Romansh: Svizra, officially the Swiss Confederation is a landlocked alpine country of roughly 7.7 million people (2009) in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km². Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states, called cantons. Bern is the seat of the federal, "constituency" means "administrative division".
- Department (administrative division) In the terminology of political geography and historiography a national department is an administrative political subdivision of a country established by the cognizant (usually legislative) government authority holding sovereign power for the territory
- Despotate Despot , was a Byzantine court title, also granted in the states under Byzantine influence, such as the Latin Empire, Bulgaria, Serbia, and the Empire of Trebizond. In the last two hundred years or so, the term "despot" is perceived negatively, as it is associated with despotism, but the original title had no such connotations. This (not subnational)
- District Districts are a type of administrative division, in some countries managed by a local government. They vary greatly in size, spanning entire regions or counties, several municipalities, or subdivisions of municipalities
- Division In the People's Republic of China,also there exits a similar subdivision, it is translated as Prefecture in English, and was given different Chinese names in the history, the subdivision is a level of division between the province(first-level political entity of China,as the States in India or provinces in Pakistan) and county(theoretically the
- Duchy Some duchies were sovereign in areas that would become unified realms only during the Modern era . In contrast, others were subordinate districts of those kingdoms that unified either partially or completely during the Medieval era (such as England, France, and Spain) (partial subnational)
- Empire The term empire comes from the Latin imperium. Politically, an empire is a geographically extensive group of states and peoples united and ruled either by a monarch (emperor, empress) or an oligarchy. Geopolitically, the term empire has denoted very different, territorially-extreme states — at the strong end, the extensive Spanish Empire (16th c (not subnational)
- Kingdom There is no clear definition of monarchy. Holding unlimited political power in the state is not the defining characteristic, as many constitutional monarchies such as the United Kingdom and Thailand are considered monarchies. Hereditary rule is often a common characteristic, but elective monarchies are also considered monarchies and some states
- Local council
- Municipality A municipality is an administrative entity composed of a clearly defined territory and its population and commonly denotes a city, town, or village, or a small grouping of them. A municipality is typically governed by a mayor and a city council or municipal council
- rural municipality A rural municipality, often abbreviated RM, is a form of municipality in the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, perhaps best comparable to counties or townships in the western United States
- regional municipality A Regional Municipality is a type of Canadian municipal government similar to and at the same municipal government level as a county, although the specific structure and servicing responsibilities may vary from place to place. Regional municipalities were formed in highly populated areas where it was considered more efficient to provide certain
- regional county municipality The term regional county municipality or RCM is used in the Canadian province of Quebec to designate one of 86 county-like political and geographic units. In most cases, they are also census divisions. Regional County Municipalities are a supralocal type of "Regional Municipality" and are still commonly referred to as counties. "RCM&
- Okrug Okrug is an administrative division of some Eastern European Slavic states. The word "okrug" is a loanword in English, but it is nevertheless often translated as "area", "district", or "region". In meaning, the word is similar to the German term Bezirk ("district") and the French word
- Parish A parish is an administrative division used by several countries. In England and in the U.S. State of Louisiana, it is sometimes called a "civil parish" to distinguish it from the religious parish
- Periphery
- Prefecture Prefecture indicates the office, seat, territorial circumscription of a Prefect. The term prefecture is also used to refer to offices analogous to prefectures
- Principality A principality is a monarchical feudatory or sovereign state, ruled or reigned over by a monarch with the title of prince or princess, or (in the widest sense) a monarch with another title within the generic use of the term prince (partial subnational)
- Province A province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state
- Region In most regions, region is a geographical term that is used in various ways among the different branches of geography. In general, a region is a medium-scale area of land or water, smaller than the whole areas of interest , and larger than a specific site. A region may be seen as a collection of smaller units (as in "the New England states&
- Republic A republic is a form of government in which the head of state is not a hereditary monarch and the people have an impact on its government. The word 'republic' is derived from the Latin phrase res publica which can be translated as "public affairs" (partial subnational)
- Riding The word riding is descended from late Old English *þriðing or *þriding . It came into Old English as a loanword from Old Norse þriðjungr, meaning a third part (especially of a county), cf. farthing. The modern form riding was the result of initial th being absorbed in the final th or t of the words north, south, east and west, by which it
- Indigenous:
- Tribe A tribe, is a social group of humans connected by a shared system of values and organized for mutual care, defense, and survival beyond that which could be attained by a lone individual or family. A 'tribe' is defined in anthropology. When viewed historically or developmentally, a tribe is a mutual care system which, unlike a kingdom or state or
- Indian reservation An Indian reservation is an area of land managed by a Native American tribe under the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs. Because Native American tribes have limited national sovereignty, laws on tribal lands vary from the surrounding area. These laws can permit legal casinos on reservations, which attract tourists
- Indian reserve
- Band
- State
- Special Administrative Region
- Territory
- Voivodship
Native terms
See: List of terms for administrative divisions
Translation into English sometimes is difficult.
Compare
- Sovereign state, a national or supra-national division.
- Country, a national or supra-national division.
- Empire, a supra-national division.
See also
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Subnational entities |
- Political division
- ISO 3166-2 Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions — Part 2
- List of terms for administrative divisions
- List of etymologies of country subdivision names
- List of country subdivisions by population
- List of the largest administrative divisions by area
- Table of administrative country subdivisions by country
- List of administrative division name changes
- List of subnational monarchs
External links
- United Nations' Second Administrative Level Boundaries (SALB) dataset
- "Statoids" - an international convention with standard two-letter, multi-level summaries (e.g. GH.AH.AE represents Adansi East in the Accra Home region in Ghana)
Categories: Administrative divisions | Country subdivisions | Subdivisions by country
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