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
Ireland—the term is from Old Norse jarl and was
introduced by the Vikings—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 ([ʃir])—Modern English shire, as the Anglo-Saxon system of Shires was
unique and thus hard for the Norman invaders to comprehend so they resorted to calling them Counties. A shire was an
administrative division of an Anglo-Saxon kingdom (Wessex, Mercia, East Anglia, etc.), usually named after its administrative centre:
for example, Gloucester, in Gloucestershire;
Worcester, in Worcestershire; etc.[1] or originate from these forms of names (e.g. Wiltshire derived from 'Wiltonshire' with Wilton as it's old
county town). Thus, whereas the word comté denoted a sovereign jurisdiction in the
original French, the English county denotes a subdivision of a sovereign jurisdiction.
Overview
* 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.
Austria
Each Austrian state (in German Bundesland, plural Bundesländer) is divided in a number of counties (in German
Bezirk, plural Bezirke). Each county is subdivided in towns or villages. Some larger towns do not form part of a
county and are governed by a unitary administration instead which counts both for city administration as well as county
governance. The federal capital Vienna is considered as a state as well. The capital government
of Vienna is responsible for state, county and town governance. Vienna is subdivided in boroughs which are called "Bezirk" in
German as well, but have a different function than the counties in the other federal states.
Australia
-
The eastern Australian states, and parts of the western states were divided into counties, mostly in the nineteenth century.
These were further subdivided into parishes in New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland; and hundreds in South Australia. The counties currently have no political function, and became
dead letters for most purposes other than the registration of land ownership, and are unknown by most of the population today.
Local Government Areas including shires, municipalities and others
are instead used in Australia as the second level subdivision.
Canada
Five of Canada's ten provinces are divided into counties.
Outline map of Canada's Census Divisions in 2001
Main article: Census divisions of Canada
In Ontario and Nova Scotia, these are local government
units, whereas in New Brunswick, 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:
Divisions of the other provinces:
Statistics
China
Main article: County of China
The word "county" is used to translate the Chinese term xiàn (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.
The number of counties in China proper numbers about 2,000, and has remained more or
less constant since the Han Dynasty (206 BC -
AD 220). 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 xiàn 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
Denmark
Denmark was divided into counties from 1662 to 2006. On January 1, 2007, the counties were
replaced by five Regions. At the same time, the number of municipalities was slashed
from 270 to 98.
The counties were first introduced in 1662, replacing the 49 fiefs (len) in
Denmark-Norway with the same number of counties. This number does not include the
subdivisions of the Duchy of Schleswig, which was only under partial Danish control. The
number of counties in Denmark (excluding Norway) had dropped to c. 20 by 1793. Following the reunification of South Jutland with Denmark in 1920, four counties replaced the Prussian Kreise. Aabenraa and
Sønderborg County merged in 1932 and Skanderborg and
Aarhus were separated in 1942. From 1942 to 1970, the number stayed at 22.[1] The number
was further decreased by the 1970 Danish municipal reform, leaving 14 counties plus two cities unconnected to the county
structure; Copenhagen and Frederiksberg.
In 2003, Bornholm County merged with the local four municipalities, forming the
Bornholm Regional Municipality. The remaining 13 counties were abolished on effective
January 1, 2007 where they were replaced by five new
regions. In the same reform, the number of municipalities was slashed from 270 to 98
and all municipalities now belong to a region.
See also: Counties of Denmark
Hungary
The administrative unit of Hungary is called megye, (historically, they were also
called comitatus in Latin), which can be translated with the
word county. It is the highest level of the administrative subdivisions of the country, although counties are grouped into
seven statistical regions. Counties are subdivided to kistérségs, which literally means "little area", though translating
this as a commune is more proper. Communes have statistical and organizational functions
only, whilst they have their own "capital cities". Presently Hungary is subdivided into 19 "proper" counties, 22 urban counties
(cities with the same rights as a whole county) 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 areas of present-day neighbouring countries of Hungary. See the list of historic counties of Hungary.
India
The administrative unit in India immediately next to the state is called a Zila in Hindi
or Mavattam in Tamil as in Tamil Nadu, and
district (never County) in English.
Ireland
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.
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 small parts of surrounding
counties constituted the province of Meath, which was one of the
"Five Fifths" of Ireland (in the Irish language the word for province means "a fifth");
however, 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 1990s. 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, the Republic of Ireland now has thirty-four 'county-level' authorities, although the borders of
the original twenty-six counties are still officially in place [2].
In Northern Ireland, the six county councils and the smaller town councils were abolished in 1973 and replaced by a single
tier of local government. However, in the north as well as in the south, the traditional 32 counties and 4 provinces remain in
common usage for many sporting, cultural and other purposes. County identity is heavily reinforced in the local culture by
allegiances to county teams in Hurling and Gaelic
football. Each GAA county has its own flag/colours (and often a nickname too), and
county allegiances are taken quite seriously. See the counties of Ireland and the
Gaelic Athletic Association.
Japan
"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.
Currently, "counties" have no political power or administrative function. The division is mainly significant in
postal services.
Liberia
Liberia has 15 counties, each of which elects two senators to the Liberian Senate.
Lithuania
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.
New Zealand
-
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
Norway is divided into 19 counties (sing. fylke, plur. fylke/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.
kommunar/kommuner), the ones with incorporated cities being called city municipalities (sing. bykommune, plur.
bykommunar/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 Conservative Party of
Norway, call for the abolishment of the counties once and for all, while others, like the Norwegian Labour Party merely want to merger some of them into larger regions.
Pakistan
The administrative unit in Pakistan immediately next to the state is called a Zilla in Urdu
and district (never County) in English.
Poland
Polish second-level administration unit powiat is usually translated into
English as county or district. See List of counties in Poland
Romania
The 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.
Russia
Russian subdivisions is usually called municipality rayon (Russian:
Муниципальный район) or okrug (Russian: округ). Rayons are named as
Ulus(Улус) in Sakha Republic.
Rayon, Okrug and Ulus maybe translated into English as county or district.
Serbia and Montenegro
Subdivisions of Serbia (okrug) are sometimes translated as counties, though more often
as districts. See District#Serbia and Montenegro
Sweden
The 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."
United Kingdom
-
The United Kingdom is divided into a number of metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties. There are also
ceremonial counties which group small non-metropolitan counties into
geographic areas broadly based on the historic counties of England. The
metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties had replaced in 1974 a system of administrative counties and county boroughs
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 Bedfordshire) 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 historic 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).
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. 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.
United States
Main article: County (United States)
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.
Louisiana has entities similar to counties but calls them parishes. Alaska is divided into boroughs, which typically provide fewer local services than most
counties, as the state government provides more services directly. Some of Alaska's boroughs have merged geographical boundaries
and administrative functions with their principal (and sometimes only) cities; these are known as unified city-boroughs
and result in some of Alaska's cities ranking among the geographically largest "cities" in the world. However, Alaska officially
considers such entities to be boroughs, not cities. Alaska is also unique in that over half the geographic area of the state is
in the "Unorganized Borough", a legal entity where the state government also
functions as the local government.
In two states and parts of a third, county government has been abolished, and county refers to geographic governmental
regions or districts. In Connecticut,[2] Rhode Island[3] and parts of Massachusetts[4][5] counties
exist only to designate boundaries for such state-level functions as park districts (Connecticut) or judicial offices
(Massachusetts). In states where county government is weak or nonexistent, town
government may provide some or all of the local government services.
When possessing a functioning government, each county will have a county seat (a center
of county administration), usually in an incorporated municipality.
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.
References
- ^ Etymology of the
word county.
- ^ National Association of Counties (U.S.A.): Connecticut Counties
- ^ National Association of Counties (U.S.A.): Rhode Island Counties
- ^ National Association of Counties (U.S.A.): Massachusetts Counties
- ^ Massachusetts Leage of Women Voters: Massachusetts Government: County Government
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