County
A
county is generally a sub-unit of regional self-government within a sovereign jurisdiction. Originally, in continental Europe, a county was the land under the jurisdiction of a
count. Counts are called
earls in post-Celtic
Britain and
Irelandâ€"the term is from
Old Norse jarl and was introduced by the
Vikingsâ€"but there is no correlation between counties and earldoms. Rather,
county, from
French comté, was simply used by the
Normans after
1066 to replace the native English term
scir ()â€"
Modern English shire. A shire was an administrative division of an Anglo-Saxon kingdom (
Wessex,
Mercia,
East Anglia, etc.), usually named after its administrative centre: for example,
Gloucestershire, in
Gloucester;
Worcestershire, in
Worcester; etc.
[Etymology of the word county.]Thus, whereas the word
comté denoted a sovereign jurisdiction in the original French, the English
county denotes a subdivision of a sovereign jurisdiction.
* The
32 refers to the counties of the
Republic of Ireland and
Northern Ireland combined. For more information, see the sections on
Ireland and
United Kingdom below.
Queensland
Queensland has geographical divisions called counties and
parishes, that are only used for the purposes of land ownership and registration. Local government is organised in a system of cities, towns, and shires.
New South Wales
While New South Wales was divided into counties in the early days of the colony, often preceding European settlement,
hundreds,
parishes and
counties became dead letters for most purposes other than the registration of land ownership, which, under the
Torrens title system, is centralised in the state capital of
Sydney. Sydney lies in the
County of Cumberland.
Local government is organised as
municipalities for urban areas, and
shires for rural areas. Large urban areas are called "cities".
Western Australia
Local government in the metropolitan area are called cities or town. Rural areas are called Shires.
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Outline map of Canada's Census Divisions in 2001 |
Main article: Census divisions of Canada
Five of Canada's ten provinces are divided into counties. In
Ontario,
Nova Scotia, and
New Brunswick, these are local government units, whereas in
Quebec and
Prince Edward Island they are now only geographical divisions. Most counties consist of several municipalities, however there are a few that consist of a single large city. In sparsely populated northern Ontario and Quebec, these units are called
districts not counties, and in densely populated areas of south-central Ontario new
regional municipalities are used for local government instead of counties.
See also:
*
List of New Brunswick counties *
List of Nova Scotia counties*
List of Prince Edward Island counties*
List of Ontario counties*
List of Quebec counties*
List of Quebec county regional municipalitiesDivisions of the other provinces:
* In
Saskatchewan,
Manitoba, and
Newfoundland and Labrador, instead of counties,
divisions are used.
* Alberta has several types of
municipalities with varying degrees of local autonomy. While some rural municipalities are known as "counties", this no longer has any substantive meaning; Alberta counties were once rural municipalities which combined the local government and school board in one body.
* In
British Columbia,
regional districts are used. (see
List of British Columbia Regional Districts)
* The
Yukon Territory is one district in itself
* The
Northwest Territories and
Nunavut are divided into districts.
Statistics
*
Census division statistics of CanadaMain article: County of China
The word "county" is used to translate the
Chinese term
xià n (县 or 縣). On
Mainland China under the
People's Republic of China, counties are the
third level of local government, coming under both the
province level and the
prefecture level. On Taiwan, the streamlining of
Taiwan Province has left the county the major governmental level below the
Republic of China central government.
The number of counties in
China proper numbers about 2,000, and has remained more or less constant since the
Han Dynasty (
206 BC -
220 AD). The county remains one of the oldest levels of government in China and significantly predates the establishment of provinces in the
Yuan Dynasty (
1279 -
1368). The county government was particularly important in imperial China because this was the lowest layer at which the imperial government functioned. The head of a county during imperial times was the
magistrate.
In older context, "prefecture" and "district" are alternative terms to refer to
xià n before the establishment of the
Republic of China. The English nomenclature "county" was adopted following the establishment of the ROC.
See also:
Political divisions of China,
Counties of TaiwanCounties have been units of regional self-government in
Croatia since 1990. There are twenty counties and the city of
Zagreb which has the same status. They are called
županije and they are each headed by a
župan (whose replacement is called a
dožupan).
See also:
Counties of CroatiaThe administrative unit of
Hungary is called
megye, or in Latin:
comitatus, which can be translated with the word
county. Presently Hungary is subdivided into 19 "proper" counties, 22 city counties and 1 capital,
Budapest. See the list of
counties of Hungary.
The comitatus was also the historic administrative unit in the
Kingdom of Hungary, which included present-day neighboring countries of Hungary. See the
list of historic counties of Hungary.
The administrative unit in India immediately next to the state is called a
Zila in Hindi and
district (never County) in English.
The island of
Ireland was historically divided into
32 counties, of which 26 later formed the
Republic of Ireland and 6 made up
Northern Ireland (for current status on Northern Irish counties, see under 'United Kingdom,' below). These counties are traditionally grouped into
4 provinces -
Leinster (12),
Munster (6)
Connacht (5) and
Ulster (9). Historically, the counties of Meath, West Meath and Dublin constituted the province of
Meath - one of the "Five Fifths" of Ireland; but these have long since become the three northernmost counties of Leinster province. In the Republic each county is administered by an elected "
county council", and the old provincial divisions are merely traditional names with no political significance.
The number and boundaries of administrative counties in the Republic of Ireland were reformed in the 1990's. For example
County Dublin was broken into three:
Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown,
Fingal, and
South Dublin - the
City of Dublin had existed for centuries before. In addition "
County Tipperary" is actually two administrative counties, called
North Tipperary and
South Tipperary while the major urban centres
Cork,
Galway,
Limerick, and
Waterford have been separated from the town and rural areas of their counties. Thus, though sometimes called the 'twenty-six counties', the Republic of Ireland now has thirty-four 'county-level' authorities.
For almost all sporting, cultural and other purposes, the traditional 32 counties and 4 provinces remain in common usage. Each county has its own flag/colours (and often a nickname too), and county allegiances are taken quite seriously. See the
counties of Ireland.
"County" is one of the translations of
gun (郡), which is a subdivision of
prefecture. It is also translated as
rural district,
rural area or
district. The translation "district" is not preferred, because it comes into conflict with the usual translation of "district",
chome. In this encyclopedia,
district is used for
gun. See
Japanese translation note.
Presently, "counties" have no political power or administrative function. The division is mainly significant in
postal services.
Liberia has 15 counties, each of which elects two senators to the Liberian Senate.
Apskritis (pl.
apskritys) is the Lithuanian word for county. Since 1994
Lithuania has 10 counties; before 1950 it had 20. The only purpose with the county is an office of a state governor who shall conduct law and order in the county. See
counties of Lithuania.
After
New Zealand abolished its
provinces in 1876, a system of counties similar to other countries' systems was instituted, lasting until 1989.
They had chairmen, not mayors as
boroughs and cities had; many legislative provisions (such as
burial and
land subdivision control) were different for the counties.
During the second half of the
20th century, many counties received overflow population from nearby cities. The result was often a merger of the two into a "district" (eg
Rotorua) or a change of name to "district' (eg Waimairi) or "
city" (eg
Manukau).
The Local Government Act 1974 began the process of bringing urban, mixed, and rural councils into the same legislative framework. Substantial reorganisations under that Act resulted in the 1989 shake-up, which covered the country in (non-overlapping) cities and districts and abolished all the counties except for the
Chatham Islands County, which survived under that name for a further 6 years but then became a "Territory" under the "Chatham Islands Council".
Norway is divided into 19
counties (sing.
fylke, plur.
fylker, literally "folk") as of 1972. Up to this year
Bergen was a separate county, but is today a
municipality in the county of
Hordaland. All counties are divided into
municipalities, (sing.
kommune, plur.
kommuner), the ones with incorporated cities being called city municipalities (sing.
bykommune, plur.
bykommuner). The county of
Oslo is equivalent to the municipality of Oslo.
Each county has its own assembly (
fylkesting) whose representatives are elected every 4 years together with representatives to the municipality councils. The counties handle matters as high schools and local roads, and until recently hospitals as well. This responsibility is now transferred to the state, and there is a debate on the future of the county as an administrative entity. Some people, and parties, such as the Conservatives,
Høyre, call for the abolishment of the counties once and for all, while others merely want to merger some of them into larger regions.
Polish second-level administration unit
powiat is usually translated into
English as
county or
district. See
List of counties in PolandThe administrative subdivisions of
Romania are called
judeţ (plural:
judeţe), name derived from
jude, a mayor and judge of a city (akin to English
judge; both are derived from Latin) Presently Romania is subdivided into 41 counties and the capital,
Bucharest having a separate status. See the list of
counties of Romania.
Subdivisions of Serbia (
okrug) are sometimes translated as counties, though more often as districts. See
District#Serbia and MontenegroThe Swedish division into
counties was established in 1634, and was based on an earlier division into
Provinces.
Sweden is today divided into 21 counties, and each county is further divided into
municipalities. At the county level there is a
county administrative board led by a governor appointed by the central
government of Sweden, as well as an elected
county council that handles a separate set of issues, notably
hospitals and
public transportation.
The Swedish term used is
län, which literally means "
fief."
The
United Kingdom is divided into a number of
metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties. There are also
ceremonial counties and
traditional counties which have no administrative function but exist as geographic areas. The metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties had replaced in 1974 a system of
administrative counties which were introduced in 1889.
Most non-metropolitan counties in England are run by
county councils and divided into
non-metropolitan districts, each with its own council. Local authorities in the UK are usually responsible for running education, emergency services, planning, transport, social services, and a number of other functions.
In
England, in the
Anglo-Saxon period,
Shires were established as areas used for the raising of
taxes, and usually had a fortified town at their centre. These became known as the
shire town or later the
county town. In most cases, the shires were named after their shire town (for example Bedford
shire) however exceptions to this rule exist, such as
Wiltshire. In several other cases, such as
Devon, the shire has a county town different from that which it is named after. The name 'county' was introduced by the
Normans, and was derived from a Norman term for an area administered by a
Count (lord). These Norman 'counties' were geographically based upon the Saxon shires, and kept their Saxon names. Several traditional counties, including
Essex,
Sussex and
Kent, predate the unification of England by
Alfred the Great, and originally existed as independent kingdoms.
The thirteen
traditional counties of Wales were fixed by Statute in 1539 (although counties such as
Pembrokeshire date from 1138) and most of those of Scotland are of at least this age.
The county boundaries of England have changed over time. In the
mediæval period, a number of important cities were granted the status of counties in their own right, such as
London,
Bristol and
Coventry, and numerous small
exclaves such as
Islandshire were created. The next major change occurred in 1844, when many of these exclaves were re-merged with their surrounding counties (for example Coventry was re-merged with
Warwickshire).
For centuries, the counties were used mainly for legal administration and tax raising. Modern
local government did not come into being until 1889, when
administrative counties (county councils) were created which were based upon the traditional county areas. In 1965 and 1974 a major re-organisation of local government created several new administrative counties such as
Hereford and Worcester and also created several new
metropolitan counties which served large urban areas as a single administrative unit. In 1986, however, the metropolitan county councils were abolished, and divided into a series of
unitary authorities, although the counties still exist in name and for some administrative and ceremonial purposes. Traditionalists still refer to
traditional counties for geographic purposes rather than administrative ones. Uniquely, the
Isle of Wight is a unitary authority with county status.
Modern local government in
Scotland,
Wales, Northern Ireland and a large part of England is based on the concept of smaller unitary authorities, a system similar to that proposed for most of Britain in the 1960s.
See also:
*
Association of British Counties*
County WatchMain article: County (United States)
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Map of the United States with county outlines. |
The term
county is used in 48 of the 50
states of the
United States for a tier of organization immediately below the statewide tier and above (where created) the municipal or
civil township tier.
Two states,
Alaska and
Louisiana, have entities similar to counties, but call them
boroughs and
parishes, respectively.
In two states and part of a third, counties are vested with almost no significance or authority. In
Connecticut[
1],
Rhode Island[
2] and parts[
3] of
Massachusetts[
4], counties exist only to designate boundaries for such state-level functions as park districts (Connecticut) or judicial offices (Massachusetts).
When functioning as a government, each county will have a
county seat, usually an incorporated municipality, for its administrative offices. In states where county government is weak or nonexistant,
townships may provide some or all of the local government services.
Independent cities and census districts are termed
county equivalents when they function as the first jurisdiction below state level but are not part of any county.
*
County Facts - Look-up State/County/City/ZIP Code in the United States
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