Region
Region can be used to mean:# Any considerable and connected part of a space or surface; specifically, a
tract of land or sea of considerable but indefinite extent; a
country; a district; in a broad sense, a place without special reference to
location or extent but viewed as an entity for geographical, social or cultural reasons. The proper techniques of space delimitation covers
regionalization.#:
the equatorial regions#:
the temperate regions#:
the polar regions#:
the upper regions of the atmosphere# An
administrative subdivision of a
city, a
territory, a
country or the
European Union.# The geographically-specific
encoding present on many commercially-produced
DVDs.# (
historical) Such a
division of the city of
Rome and of the territory about Rome, of which the number varied at different times; a
district,
quarter, or
ward.# (
figuratively) The
inhabitants of a region or district of a country. # (
anatomy) A place in or a part of the
body in any way indicated.#:
the abdominal regions# {
obsolete}
Place;
rank;
station;
dignity.# {
obsolete} The
space from the earth's
surface out to the
orbit of the
moon: properly called the
elemental region. # For the QuickDraw data structure, see
QuickDraw.
Regions are conceptual constructs and, thus, may vary among cultures and individuals.
The word "region" is taken from the
Latin regio, and a number of countries have borrowed the term as the formal name for a type of
subnational entity (eg, the
región, used in
Chile). In
English, the word is also used as the conventional translation for equivalent terms in other languages (e.g., the
область (
oblast), used in
Russia alongside with a broader term
регион).
Countries using administrative regions
The following countries use the term "region" (or its
cognate) as the name of a type of subnational administrative unit:
*
Belgium (in
French,
région; in
German,
Region; the
Dutch term
gewest is often translated as "region")
*
Chile (
región)
*
Congo (
région)
*
Côte d'Ivoire (
région)
*
Denmark (effective from 2007)
*
Eritrea*
France (
région)
*
Ghana*
Guinea (
région)
*
Guinea-Bissau (
região)
*
Hungary (
régió)
*
Italy (
regione)
*
Mali (
région)
*
Namibia*
New Zealand*
Peru (
región)
*
Philippines (
region)
*
Senegal (
région)
*
Tanzania*
Togo (
région)
The
Canadian province of
Québec also uses the "administrative region" (
région administrative).
Scotland had
local government regions from 1975 to 1996.
In Spain the official name of the
autonomous community of
Murcia is 'Región de Murcia'. Also, some single-province autonomous communities such as
Madrid use the term 'región' interchangeably with 'comunidad autónoma'.
The government of the
Philippines uses the region (in
Filipino,
rehiyon) when it's necessary to group provinces, the primary administrative subdivision of the country. this is also the case in
Brazil which groups its primary administrative divisions (
estados; "states") into
grandes regiões (≈"
greater regions") for statistical purposes, while Russia uses
экономические районы ("
economic regions") in a similar way, as do
Romania and
Venezuela.
The government of
Singapore makes use of regions for its own administrative purposes. Similarly,
England and
Serbia also use the name or have attempted to popularize its use.
The following countries use an administrative subdivision conventionally referred to as a region in English:
*
Bulgaria, which uses the
област (
oblast)
*
Russia, which uses the
область (
oblast)
*Ukraine, which uses the область
(oblast)
*
Slovakia (
kraj)
China has five 自治区 (
zìzhìqū) and two 特別行"區 (or 特别行"区;
tèbiéxíngzhèngqū) which are translated as "
autonomous region" and "
special administrative region", respectively.
The traditional territorial divisions of some countries are also commonly rendered in English as "regions". These informal divisions do not form the basis of the modern administrative divisions of these countries, but still define and delimit local regional identity and sense of belonging. Examples include:
*
Finland*
Japan*
Korea*
Norway (
landsdeler)
*
Romania*
SlovakiaSee also Lists of unofficial regions by country.A region can also be used for a geographical area; with this usage, there is an implied distinctiveness about the area that defines it. Such a distinction is often made on the basis of a historical, political, or cultural cohesiveness that separates the region from its neighbours.
Geographical regions can be found within a country (e.g., the
Midlands, in
England), or transnationally (e.g., the
Middle East).
Similarly, the
United Nations Statistics Division has devised
a scheme for classifying macrogeographic regions (continents), continental
subregions, and selected socioeconomic groupings.
Examples of geographical regions
*
Geographical regions in Serbia and Montenegro*
Historical regions of Central Europe*
Historical regions of the Balkan Peninsula*
List of regions in Australia*
List of regions of Canada*
List of regions of the United States*
List of traditional regions of Slovakia*
Regions of Japan*
Lists of unofficial regions by country*
Regional state*
Subregion
