A county (Latin comitatus ) is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French comté denoting a jurisdiction under the sovereignty of a count ( earl ) or, in his stead, a viscount ( vicomte ). Literal equivalents in other languages, derived from the equivalent of "count", are now seldom used officially, including comté , contea , contado , comtat , condado , Grafschaft , graafschap , and zhupa in Slavic languages ; terms equivalent to 'commune' or 'community' are now often instead used.
105-541: Archuleta County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado . As of the 2020 census , the population was 13,359. The county seat and the only incorporated municipality in the county is Pagosa Springs . Archuleta County was created by the Colorado legislature on April 14, 1885, out of western Conejos County . It was named for Jose Manuel Archuleta, "head of one of the old Spanish families of New Mexico ", and in honor of his son Antonio D. Archuleta , who
210-503: A "masjid" ( mosque ) or " surau " , paddy fields and Malay houses on stilts . Malay and Indonesian villagers practice the culture of helping one another as a community, which is better known as "joint bearing of burdens" ( gotong royong ). They are family-oriented (especially the concept of respecting one's family [particularly the parents and elders]), courtesy and practice belief in God ( "Tuhan" ) as paramount to everything else. It
315-433: A hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas , the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighborhoods. Villages are normally permanent, with fixed dwellings ; however, transient villages can occur. Further, the dwellings of a village are fairly close to one another, not scattered broadly over
420-534: A city ( ciudad ), typically located in a rural environment. While commonly it is the smallest administrative unit ( municipio ), it is possible for a village to be legally composed of smaller population units in its territory. There is not a clear-cut distinction between villages, towns and cities in Spain, since they had been traditionally categorized according to their religious importance and their relationship with surrounding population units. Villages are more usual in
525-544: A district, but take on district responsibilities themselves, similar to the concept of independent cities and there are 107 of them, bringing the total number of districts to 401. The administrative unit of Hungary is called vármegye (between 1950 and 2022 they were called megye , historically also comitatus in Latin ), which can be translated with the word county . The two names are used interchangeably ('megye' used in common parlance, and when referring to
630-442: A few cities ( Persian : شهر , shahar ) and rural agglomerations ( Persian : دهستان , dehestān ) in each county. Rural agglomerations are a collection of a number of villages. One of the cities of the county is appointed as the capital of the county. Each shahrestān has a government office known as farmândâri ( فرمانداری ), which coordinates different events and government offices. The farmândâr فرماندار , or
735-507: A few thousand residents, were usually larger than a typical selo in central Russia. In Ukraine , a village, ( Ukrainian : село , romanized : selo , IPA: [selo] ), is considered the lowest administrative unit. Villages are under the jurisdiction of a hromada administration. There is another smaller type of rural settlement which is designated in Ukrainian as a selyshche ( селище ). This type of community
840-487: A level of local administration that was immediately beneath a national government , within a unitary (non-federal) system of government. “County” later also became used differently in some federal systems of government, for a local administrative division subordinate to a primary subnational entity , such as a Province (e.g. Canada) or a level 3 territorial unit such as NUTS 3 ( Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics – Level 3). Examples include
945-576: A nickname), and county allegiances are taken quite seriously. See the counties of Ireland and the Gaelic Athletic Association . In Italy the word county is not used; the administrative sub-division of a region is called provincia . Italian provinces are mainly named after their principal town and comprise several administrative subdivisions called comuni ('communes'). There are currently 110 provinces in Italy. In
1050-414: A part of a municipality are called frazione , whereas the village that hosts the municipal seat is called paese (town) or capoluogo . A non-profit private association of small Italian towns of strong historical and artistic interest named I Borghi più belli d'Italia (English: The most beautiful Villages of Italy ) and affiliated to the international association The Most Beautiful Villages in
1155-611: A party, 38.3% Republican, 19.6% Democrat, .8% Libertarian, .2% Green, and .5% various other parties. Voting in the county tends to favor conservative choices, especially at the state and national level, but winning elections for unaffiliated local candidates are not uncommon. School districts include: County When the Normans conquered England, they brought the term with them. Although there were at first no counts, vicomtes or counties in Anglo-Norman England,
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#17327657328911260-640: A senator. Additionally, a women's representative is elected from each county to the Parliament of Kenya to represent women's interests. Counties replaced provinces as the second-level division after the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution of Kenya . Liberia has 15 counties, each of which elects two senators to the Senate of Liberia . The English word county is used to translate the Chinese term xiàn ( 县 or 縣 ). In Mainland China , governed by
1365-627: A separate set of issues, notably hospitals and public transportation for the municipalities within its borders. The counties and their expanse have changed several times, most recently in 1998. Every county council corresponds to a county with a number of municipalities per county. County councils and municipalities have different roles and separate responsibilities relating to local government. Health care, public transport and certain cultural institutions are administered by county councils while general education, public water utilities, garbage disposal, elderly care and rescue services are administered by
1470-400: 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 Gaelic Athletic Association county has its own flag/colours (and often
1575-554: A system similar to that proposed in the 1960s by the Redcliffe-Maud Report for most of Britain. 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 simply the Saxon shires, and kept their Saxon names. Several traditional counties, including Essex , Sussex and Kent , predate the unification of England by Alfred
1680-564: A type of designation in a single-tier municipal system; but this was nominally changed to " municipal district " under the Municipal Government Act , when the County Act was repealed in the mid-1990s. However, at the time the new "municipal districts" were also permitted to retain the usage of county in their official names. Village A village is a clustered human settlement or community , larger than
1785-405: A village around the lord's manor, a Cossack family often lived on its own farm, called khutor . A number of such khutors plus a central village made up the administrative unit with a center in a stanitsa ( Russian : станица , romanized : stanitsa ; Ukrainian : станиця , romanized : stanytsya , lit. 'stanytsia'). Such stanitsas , often with
1890-620: A village is ves ( Polish : wieś, wioska ; Czech : ves, vesnice ; Slovak : ves ; Slovene : vas ; Russian : весь , romanized : ves ). In Slovenia , the word selo is used for very small villages (fewer than 100 people) and in dialects; the Slovene word vas is used all over Slovenia . In Russia and Bulgaria , the word ves is archaic, but remains in idioms and locality names, such as Vesyegonsk and Belevehchevo . The most commonly used word for village in Slovak
1995-399: Is Il fascino dell'Italia nascosta ("The charm of hidden Italy"). As of November 2023, 361 villages in Italy have been listed in "The Most Beautiful Villages of Italy". In Spain, a village ( pueblo ) refers to a small population unit, smaller than a town ( villa [an archaic term that survives only in official uses, such as the official name of Spain's capital, "la Villa de Madrid"]) and
2100-651: Is dedina (dialectical also dzedzina ). The word's etymology may be (or may not be) rooted in the verb dediť ("to inherit"), referencing the inheriting of whole villages or properties within villages by noblemen or wealthy landowners. Another etymology could be related to the Sanskrit word deśá ( देश ) similar to the Afghan deh , Bengal desh and Indonesian desa . The term ves appears in settlement names (mostly villages, but also some towns that evolved over time from villages). The dialect term for village in east Slovakia
2205-700: Is sir which is derived from the English 'shire'. The word is officially used to signify counties in Wales. In the Gaelic form, Scottish traditional county names are generally distinguished by the designation siorramachd —literally "sheriffdom", e.g. Siorramachd Earra-ghaidheal (Argyllshire). This term corresponds to the jurisdiction of the sheriff in the Scottish legal system. A county in Alberta used to be
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#17327657328912310-422: Is 11%. It also stated that the state of the environment in the small towns and villages is good apart from the low level of infrastructure. In Bulgaria, it is popular to visit villages for the atmosphere, culture, crafts, hospitality of the people and the surrounding nature. This is called selski turizam ( Bulgarian : селски туризъм ), meaning "village tourism". In Russia, as of the 2010 Census , 26.3% of
2415-505: Is Yiddish, derived from the word shtot (town) with the suffix -l , a diminutive . Shtetlekh first began to appear in the 13th century, and were characteristic aspects of Jewish life in central and Eastern Europe until the 1940s. The shtetl occupies an important place in Jewish collective memory (particularly the history of Ashkenazi Jews) and has been depicted extensively in literature, visual art, theatre, and film, including such examples as
2520-558: Is a debate on the future of the county municipality as an administrative entity. Some people, and parties, such as the Conservative and Progress Party , call for the abolition of the county municipalities once and for all, while others, including the Labour Party , merely want to merge some of them into larger regions. The territorial administration of Poland since 1999 has been based on three levels of subdivision. The country
2625-420: Is administered according to traditions and customary law ( adat ), while a kelurahan is administered along more "modern" principles. Desa are generally located in rural areas while kelurahan are generally urban subdivisions. A village head is respectively called kepala desa or lurah . Both are elected by the local community. A desa or kelurahan is the subdivision of a kecamatan (district), in turn
2730-464: Is also valal (or valala ). Dedina is unrelated to the rarer east Slavic term derevna , which refers to a village with wooden ( derevo ) housing. In Bulgaria , the different types of sela vary from a small selo of 5 to 30 families to one of several thousand people. According to a 2002 census, in that year there were 2,385,000 Bulgarian citizens living in settlements classified as villages . A 2004 Human Settlement Profile on Bulgaria conducted by
2835-483: Is an administrative unit under a province that is equivalent to a city. A regency is headed by a regent who is directly elected by the people, and is responsible for public services such as education, health, and infrastructure. The structure of a regency includes several districts ( kecamatan ) which are further divided into villages or ward. Regency in Indonesia is similar to the concept of "county" in countries such as
2940-595: Is common for Vietnamese villagers to prefer to be buried in their village upon death. Selo ( Cyrillic : село; Polish : sioło ) is a Slavic word meaning "village" in Bosnia and Herzegovina , Bulgaria , Croatia , North Macedonia , Russia , Serbia , and Ukraine . For example, there are numerous sela (села; plural of selo ) called Novo Selo (Ново Село, "New Village") in Bulgaria , Croatia , Montenegro , Serbia , and North Macedonia . Another Slavic word for
3045-667: Is common to see a cemetery near the mosque. In Sarawak and East Kalimantan , some villages are called 'long', primarily inhabited by the Orang Ulu . Malaysian kampung were once aplenty in Singapore but there are almost no remaining kampung villages; the very few to have survived until today are mostly on outlying islands surrounding mainland Singapore, such as Pulau Ubin . Mainland Singapore used to have many kampung villages but modern developments and rapid urbanisation works have seen them bulldozed away; Kampong Lorong Buangkok
3150-493: Is compulsory for the Muslim pupils in the country, a mosque, and a community centre ( Malay : balai raya or dewan kemasyarakatan ). In Indonesia , depending on the principles they are administered, villages are called kampung or desa (or kelurahan for those with urban functions). A desa (a term that derives from a Sanskrit word meaning "country" that is found in the name " Bangladesh "= bangla and desh/desha )
3255-626: Is divided into voivodeships (provinces); these are further divided into powiats (counties or districts). The term powiat is often translated into English as county (or sometimes district ). In historical contexts this may be confusing because the Polish term hrabstwo (a territorial unit administered/owned by a hrabia ( count ) is also literally translated as "county" and it was subordinated under powiat . The 380 county-level entities in Poland include 314 "land counties" (powiaty ziemskie) and
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3360-433: Is equivalent to the municipality of Oslo. Each county has its own county council ( fylkesting ) whose representatives are elected every four years together with representatives to the municipal councils . The counties handle matters such as high schools and local roads, and until 1 January 2002 hospitals as well. This last responsibility was transferred to the state-run health authorities and health trusts , and there
3465-521: Is locally known by the Malay word kampung (also spelt as kampong ). They may be villages in the traditional or anthropological sense but may also comprise delineated residential settlements, both rural and urban. The community of a village is headed by a village head ( Malay : ketua kampung ). Communal infrastructure for the villagers may include a primary school, a religious school providing ugama or Islamic religious primary education which
3570-653: Is marked by kinship and exchange relations. Auyl ( Kazakh : Ауыл ) is a Kazakh word meaning "village" in Kazakhstan . According to the 2009 census of Kazakhstan, 42.7% of Kazakhstani citizens (7.5 million people) live in 8172 different villages. To refer to this concept along with the word "auyl" often used the Slavic word "selo" in Northern Kazakhstan. In mainland China , villages 村 are divisions under township Zh:乡 or town Zh:镇 . In
3675-524: Is often referred to in English as a "settlement". In the new law about populated places in Ukraine the term "selyshche", has a specific meaning. In the past the word "selyshche" was more ambiguous and there were distinction between rural selyshche and selyshche miskoho typu ( urban-type settlement ), abbreviated smt in Ukrainian. There we also dacha , fisherman, etc. selyshches The khutir ( хутір ) and stanytsia ( станиця ) are not part of
3780-490: 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. Norway has been divided into 11 counties ( Bokmål : fylker , Nynorsk : fylke ; singular: fylke ) since 2020; they previously numbered 19 following a local government reform in 1972. Until that year Bergen
3885-593: Is the last surviving village on the country's mainland. The term "kampung", sometimes spelled "kampong", is one of many Malay words to have entered common usage in Malaysia and Singapore. Locally, the term is frequently used to refer to either one's hometown or a rural village, depending on the intended context. In urban areas of the Philippines , the term "village" most commonly refers to private subdivisions, especially gated communities . These villages emerged in
3990-485: Is very common for villagers to produce their own food. As prosperous urbanites purchase village houses for their second homes, Russian villages sometimes are transformed into dacha settlements, used mostly for seasonal residence. The historically Cossack regions of Southern Russia and parts of Ukraine , with their fertile soil and absence of serfdom , had a rather different pattern of settlement from central and northern Russia. While peasants of central Russia lived in
4095-498: Is worshiped, a common well, "đồng lúa" ( rice field), "chùa" (temple) and houses of all families in the village. All the people in Vietnam's villages usually have a blood relationship. They are farmers who grow rice and have the same traditional handicraft . Vietnam's villages have an important role in society (Vietnamese saying: "Custom rules the law" -"Phép vua thua lệ làng" [literally: the king's law yields to village customs]). It
4200-457: The 2011 census of India , 69% of Indians (around 833 million people) live in villages. As per 2011 census of India, there are a total of 649,481 villages in India .The size of these villages varies considerably. 236,004 Indian villages have a population of fewer than 500, while 3,976 villages have a population of 10,000+. Most of the villages have their own temple, mosque, or church, depending on
4305-463: The English language ) for "a Malay hamlet or village in a Malay-speaking country". In Malaysia, a kampung is determined as a locality with 10,000 or fewer people. Since historical times, every Malay village came under the leadership of a penghulu (village chief), who has the power to hear civil matters in his village (see Courts of Malaysia for more details). A Malay village typically contains
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4410-573: The Han dynasty (206 BC – AD 220). It remains one of the oldest titles of local-level 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 level at which the imperial government is functionally involved, while below it the local people are managed predominantly by
4515-562: The Lincolnshire Wolds , the villages are often found along the spring line halfway down the hillsides, and originate as spring line settlements , with the original open field systems around the village. In northern Scotland , most villages are planned to a grid pattern located on or close to major roads, whereas in areas such as the Forest of Arden , woodland clearances produced small hamlets around village greens. Because of
4620-501: The People's Republic of China (PRC), counties and county-level divisions are the third level of regional/local government, coming under the provincial level and the prefectural level , and above the township level and village level . There are 1,464 so-named "counties" out of 2,862 county-level divisions in the PRC, and the number of counties has remained more or less constant since
4725-484: The ROC-controlled territories . During most of the imperial era, there were no concepts like municipalities in China. All cities existed within counties, commanderies , prefectures, etc., and had no governments of their own. Large cities (must be imperial capitals or seats of prefectures) could be divided and administered by two or three counties. Such counties are called 倚郭縣 ( yǐguō xiàn , 'county leaning on
4830-465: The Republic of China ( Taiwan ), villages are divisions under townships or county-administered cities . The village is called a tsuen or cūn (村) under a rural township (鄉) and a li (里) under an urban township (鎮) or a county-controlled city. See also Li (unit) . In Brunei , villages are officially the third- and lowest-level subdivisions of Brunei below districts and mukims . A village
4935-1070: The Russian Empire in the Cossack Hetmanate , Sloboda Ukraine , Southern Ukraine , and Right-Bank Ukraine . In 1913 there were 126 counties in Ukrainian-inhabited territories of the Russian Empire. Under the Austrian Empire in 1914 there were 59 counties in Ukrainian-inhabited Galicia, 34 in Transcarpathia , and 10 in Bukovina . Counties were retained by the independent Ukrainian People's Republic of 1917–1921, and in Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Romania until
5040-545: The Russian Empire , a volost , or its Soviet or modern Russian successor, a selsoviet , was typically headquartered in a selo and embraced a few neighboring villages. In the 1960s–1970s, the depopulation of the smaller villages was driven by the central planners' drive in order to get the farm workers out of smaller, " prospectless " hamlets and into the collective or state farms ' main villages or even larger towns and cities , with more amenities. Most Russian rural residents are involved in agricultural work, and it
5145-484: The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs stated that: The most intensive is the migration "city – city". Approximately 46% of all migrated people have changed their residence from one city to another. The share of the migration processes "village – city" is significantly less – 23% and "city – village" – 20%. The migration "village – village" in 2002
5250-628: The administrative division any longer, primarily due to collectivization . Khutirs were very small rural localities consisting of just few housing units and were sort of individual farms. They became really popular during the Stolypin reform in the early 20th century. During the collectivization, however, residents of such settlements were usually declared to be kulaks and had all their property confiscated and distributed to others ( nationalized ) without any compensation. The stanitsa likewise has not survived as an administrative term. The stanitsa
5355-646: The gentries . The head of a county government during imperial China was the magistrate , who was often a newly ascended jinshi . In older context, district was an older English translation of xiàn before the establishment of the Republic of China (ROC). The English nomenclature county was adopted following the establishment of the ROC. In addition, provincial cities have the same level of authority as counties. Above county, there are special municipalities (in effect) and province (suspended due to economical and political reasons). There are currently 13 counties in
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#17327657328915460-658: The historic counties of England . In 1974, the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties replaced the system of administrative counties and county boroughs which was introduced in 1889. The counties generally belong to level 3 of the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics ( NUTS 3 ). In 1965 and 1974–1975, major reorganisations of local government in England and Wales created several new administrative counties such as Hereford and Worcester (abolished again in 1998 and reverted, with some transfers of territory, to
5565-503: The municipality of Bucharest , constitute the official administrative divisions of Romania . They represent the country 's NUTS-3 ( Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics – Level 3) statistical subdivisions within the European Union and each of them serves as the local level of government within its borders. Most counties are named after a major river , while some are named after notable cities within them, such as
5670-479: The northern and central regions , Azores Islands and in the Alentejo . Most of them have a church and a "Casa do Povo" (people's house), where the village's summer romarias or religious festivities are usually held. Summer is also when many villages are host to a range of folk festivals and fairs, taking advantage of the fact that many of the locals who reside abroad tend to come back to their native village for
5775-433: The 66 "city counties" ( miasta na prawach powiatu or powiaty grodzkie ) powiat . They are subdivisions of the 16 voivodeship , and are further subdivided into 2,477 gminas (also called commune or municipality ). The Romanian word for county, comitat , is not currently used for any Romanian administrative divisions. Romania is divided into a total of 41 counties ( Romanian : județe ), which along with
5880-543: The Great , and were originally more or less independent kingdoms (although the most important Saxon Kingdom on the island of Britain, Alfred's own Wessex , no longer survives in any form). 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. This became known as the shire town or later the county town . In many cases,
5985-611: The Netherlands. A village in the UK is a compact settlement of houses, smaller in size than a town, and generally based on agriculture or, in some areas, mining (such as Ouston, County Durham ), quarrying or sea fishing. They are very similar to those in Ireland. The major factors in the type of settlement are: location of water sources, organization of agriculture and landholding, and likelihood of flooding. For example, in areas such as
6090-671: The Soviet annexations at the start of World War II. 99 counties formed the Ukrainian SSR in 1919, where they were abolished in 1923–25 in favour of 53 okruhas (in turn replaced by oblasts in 1930–32), although they existed in the Zakarpattia Oblast until 1953. 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 geographical areas broadly based on
6195-535: The UK are usually responsible for education, emergency services, planning, transport, social services, and a number of other functions. Until 1974, the county boundaries of England changed little over time. In the medieval 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. In 1844, most of these exclaves were transferred to their surrounding counties. In Northern Ireland ,
6300-641: The United States and Canada, which evolved from British colonial America and inherited British governmental traditions, where counties often remain as local administrative divisions that evolved from historic (pre-federal) counties governed by courts/magistracy. A county may be further subdivided into smaller jurisdictions such as hundreds , or townships . A county usually, but not always, contains cities, towns, townships , villages , or other municipal corporations , which in most cases are somewhat subordinate or dependent upon county governments. Depending on
6405-480: The United States and the United Kingdom, but with differences in cultural context and government system. Indonesia has more than 400 regencies spread across all provinces. The ostans (provinces) of Iran are further subdivided into counties called shahrestān ( Persian : شهرستان ). County consists of a city centre, a few bakhsh ( Persian : بخش ), and many villages around them. There are usually
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#17327657328916510-704: The World , was created in 2001 on the initiative of the Tourism Council of the National Association of Italian Municipalities with the aim of preserving and maintaining villages of quality heritage. Founded to contribute to safeguarding, conserving and revitalizing small villages and municipalities, but sometimes even individual hamlets, which, being outside the main tourist circuits, they risk, despite their great value, being forgotten with consequent degradation, depopulation and abandonment. Its motto
6615-685: The basis of local organisation of police, fire departments and, sometimes, administration of elections. Each administrative district consists of an elected council and an executive, and whose duties are comparable to those of a county executive in the United States, supervising local government administration. Historically, counties in the Holy Roman Empire were called Grafschaften . The majority of German districts are "rural districts" (German: Landkreise ), of which there are 294 as of 2017 . Cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants (and smaller towns in some states) do not usually belong to
6720-465: The city walls') or 附郭縣 ( fùguō xiàn , 'county attached to the city walls'). The yamen or governmental houses of these counties exist in the same city. In other words, they share one county town. In this sense, a yǐguō xiàn or fùguō xiàn is similar to a district of a city. For example, the city of Guangzhou (seat of the eponymous prefecture, also known as Canton in the Western world)
6825-521: The concentration of people caused many villages to grow into towns and cities. This also enabled specialization of labor and crafts and the development of many trades. The trend of urbanization continues but not always in connection with industrialization. Historically, homes were situated together for sociability and defence, and land surrounding the living quarters was farmed. Traditional fishing villages were based on artisan fishing and located adjacent to fishing grounds. In toponomastic terminology,
6930-502: The context of pre-modern Italy, the Italian word contado generally refers to the countryside surrounding, and controlled by, the city state. The contado provided natural resources and agricultural products to sustain the urban population. In contemporary usage, contado can refer to a metropolitan area, and in some cases large rural/suburban regions providing resources to distant cities. Apskritis (plural apskritys )
7035-511: The counties of Meath and Westmeath and small parts of surrounding counties constituted the province of Mide , which was one of the "Five Fifths" of Ireland (in the Irish language the word for province, cúige , means 'a fifth': from cúig , 'five'); however, these have long since been absorbed into Leinster. In the Republic each county is administered by an elected " county council ", and
7140-520: The counties of other states), just like before 1950, when the word 'megye' even appeared in legal texts. The 19 counties constitute the highest level of the administrative subdivisions of the country together with the capital city Budapest, although counties and the capital are grouped into seven statistical regions. Counties are subdivided into districts ( járás ) and municipalities, the two types of which are towns ( város ) and villages ( község ), each one having their own elected mayor and council. 23 of
7245-416: The country's population lives in rural localities ; down from 26.7% recorded in the 2002 Census . Multiple types of rural localities exist, but the two most common are derevnya ( деревня ) and selo ( село ). Historically, the formal indication of status was religious: a city ( gorod , город ) had a cathedral , a selo had a church, while a derevnya had neither. The lowest administrative unit of
7350-479: The county is one type of municipal-level division. Denmark was divided into counties ( Danish : amter ) from 1662 to 2006. On 1 January 2007 the counties were replaced by five Regions . At the same time, the number of municipalities was slashed 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
7455-435: The county seat. The Swedish division into counties, län , which literally means ' fief ', was established in 1634, and was based on an earlier division into provinces ; Sweden is divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities ( kommuner ). 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
7560-406: The earlier Anglo-Saxons did have earls , sheriffs and shires . The shires were the districts that became the historic counties of England , and given the same Latin translation comitatus . Many English county names derive from the name of the county town ( county seat ) with the word shire added on, for example Gloucestershire and Worcestershire . The term "county" evolved to designate
7665-515: The head of farmândâri , is the governor of the shahrestān . Fars Province has the highest number of shahrestāns , with 36, while Qom uniquely has one, being coextensive with its namesake county . Iran had 324 shahrestāns in 2005 and 443 in 2021. County is the common English translation for the character 군 ( gun or kun ) that denotes the current second level political division in South Korea . In North Korea ,
7770-512: The histories of Jewish communities destroyed during the Holocaust. The Insee classifies French communes into four groups according to population density: A commune in Group 3 or 4 is considered as a village ( commune rurale ). An independent association named Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (affiliated to the international association The Most Beautiful Villages in the World ),
7875-425: The holidays. In the flood-prone districts of the Netherlands, particularly in the northern provinces of Friesland and Groningen, villages were traditionally built on low man-made hills called terpen before the introduction of regional dyke-systems. In modern days, the term dorp (lit. "village") is usually applied to settlements no larger than 20,000, though there's no official law regarding status of settlements in
7980-497: The landscape, as a dispersed settlement . In the past, villages were a usual form of community for societies that practice subsistence agriculture and also for some non-agricultural societies. In Great Britain , a hamlet earned the right to be called a village when it built a church . In many cultures, towns and cities were few, with only a small proportion of the population living in them. The Industrial Revolution attracted people in larger numbers to work in mills and factories;
8085-663: The local religious following. The majority of Pakistanis live in rural areas. According to the 2017 census , about 64% of the Pakistani population lives in rural areas. Most rural areas in Pakistan tend to be near cities, and are peri-urban areas. This is due to the definition of a rural area in Pakistan being an area that does not fall within an urban boundary. A village is called deh or gaaon in Urdu . Pakistani village life
8190-412: The mid-20th century and were initially the domain of elite urban dwellers. Those are common in major cities in the country and their residents have a wide range of income levels. Such villages may or may not correspond to a barangay (the country's basic unit of government, also glossed as village), or be privately administered. Barangays correspond more to precolonial villages; the chairman (formerly
8295-404: The municipalities. Gotland is a special case of being a county council with only one municipality and the functions of county council and municipality are performed by the same organisation. In Ukraine the county ( Ukrainian : повіт , romanized : povit ) was introduced in Ukrainian territories under Poland in the second half of the 14th century, and in the eighteenth century under
8400-721: The name like " Srinagar "= sri and nagar/nagari ). In some areas such as Tanah Toraja, elders take turns watching over the village at a command post. As a general rule, desa and kelurahan are groupings of hamlets ( kampung in Indonesian, dusun in Javanese , banjar in Bali). a kampung is defined today as a village in Brunei and Indonesia . Kampung is a term used in Malaysia , (sometimes spelling kampong or kompong in
8505-543: The names of individual villages are called Comonyms (from Ancient Greek κώμη / village and ὄνυμα / name, [cf. ὄνομα]). From Middle English village , from Old French village , from Latin villāticus , ultimately from Latin villa (English villa ). In Afghanistan, the village, or deh ( Dari / Pashto : ده) is the mid-size settlement type in Afghan society, trumping the United States hamlet or qala ( Dari : قلعه, Pashto : کلي), though smaller than
8610-471: The nation, municipality , and local geography, municipalities may or may not be subject to direct or indirect county control. The functions of both levels are often consolidated into a city government when the area is densely populated, and are generally not when it is less densely populated. Outside English-speaking countries , an equivalent of the term county is often used to describe subnational jurisdictions that are structurally equivalent to counties in
8715-512: The number stayed at 22. 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 five municipalities, forming the Bornholm Regional Municipality . The remaining 13 counties were abolished on 1 January 2007 where they were replaced by five new regions. In
8820-472: 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 divided into three: Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown , Fingal , and South Dublin ; the City of Dublin had existed for centuries before. The cities of Cork and Galway have been separated from
8925-426: The region and the settlement's market rights. Smaller villages usually do not have their own government. Instead, they are part ( Ortsteil ) of the municipality of a nearby town. In Italy, villages are spread throughout the country. No legal definition of village exists in Italian law; nonetheless, a settlement inhabited by less than 2000 people is usually described as "village". More often, Italian villages that are
9030-462: The relationship they have with their national government; but which may not be administratively equivalent to counties in predominantly English-speaking countries. Counties are the current second-level political division in Kenya. Each county has an assembly where members of the county assembly (MCAs) sit. This assembly is headed by a governor. Each county is also represented in the Senate of Kenya by
9135-500: The royal administration, but from the 13th century they became self-governments of the nobles and kept this character until the 19th century when in turn they became modern local governments. 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 four provinces : Leinster (12 counties), Munster (6), Connacht (5) and Ulster (9). Historically,
9240-571: The same reform, the number of municipalities was slashed from 270 to 98 and all municipalities now belong to a region. A comté was a territory ruled by a count ( comte ) in medieval France. In modern France, the rough equivalent of a county as used in many English-speaking countries is a department ( département ). Ninety-six departments are in metropolitan France , and five are overseas departments , which are also classified as overseas regions. Departments are further subdivided into 334 arrondissements , but these have no autonomy; they are
9345-519: The shires were named after their shire town (for example Bedford shire ), but there are several exceptions, such as Cumberland , Norfolk and Suffolk . In several other cases, such as Buckinghamshire , the modern county town is different from the town after which the shire is named. (See Toponymical list of counties of the United Kingdom ) Most non-metropolitan counties in England are run by county councils and are divided into non-metropolitan districts , each with its own council. Local authorities in
9450-436: The six county councils, if not their counties, were abolished in 1973 and replaced by 26 local government districts. The traditional six counties remain in common everyday use for many cultural and other purposes. The thirteen historic counties of Wales were fixed by statute in 1539 (although counties such as Pembrokeshire date from 1138) and most of the shires of Scotland are of at least this age. The Welsh word for county
9555-703: The subdivision of a kabupaten (regency) or kota (city). The same general concept applies all over Indonesia. However, there is some variation among the vast numbers of Austronesian ethnic groups. For instance, in Bali villages have been created by grouping traditional hamlets or banjar , which constitute the basis of Balinese social life. In the Minangkabau area in West Sumatra province, traditional villages are called nagari (a term deriving from another Sanskrit word meaning "city", which can be found in
9660-593: 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 around 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,
9765-410: The town and rural areas of their counties. The cities of Limerick and Waterford were merged with their respective counties in 2014. Thus, the Republic of Ireland now has 31 'county-level' authorities, although the borders of the original twenty-six counties are still officially in place. In Northern Ireland, the six county councils and the smaller town councils were abolished in 1973 and replaced by
9870-425: The town, or shār ( Dari : شهر, Pashto : ښار). In contrast to the qala , the deh is generally a bigger settlement which includes a commercial area, while the yet larger shār includes governmental buildings and services such as schools of higher education, basic health care, police stations etc. "The soul of India lives in its villages," declared Mahatma Gandhi at the beginning of 20th century. According to
9975-577: The towns have the rights of a county although they do not form independent territorial units equal to counties. The vármegye was also the historic administrative unit in the Kingdom of Hungary , which included areas of present-day neighbouring countries of Hungary. Its Latin name ( comitatus ) is the equivalent of the French comté . Actual political and administrative role of counties changed much through history. Originally they were subdivisions of
10080-480: The two separate historic counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire) and also created several new metropolitan counties based on large urban areas as a single administrative unit. In Scotland, county-level local government was replaced by larger regions , which lasted until 1996. Modern local government in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and a large part of England is trending towards smaller unitary authorities:
10185-456: The village datu ) now settles administrative, intrapersonal, and political matters or polices the area though with much less authority and respect than in Indonesia or Malaysia. Village, or "làng", is a basis of Vietnam society. Vietnam's village is the typical symbol of Asian agricultural production. Vietnam's village typically contains: a village gate, "lũy tre" (bamboo hedges), "đình làng" (communal house) where "thành hoàng" ( tutelary god )
10290-706: The writing of Mendele Mocher Sforim , Isaac Bashevis Singer , and Sholem Aleichem . Sholem Aleichem's Tevye the Dairyman stories, set in the fictional shtetl of Anatevka, were eventually adapted into the Fiddler on the Roof stage play (which itself was later adapted for film). During the Holocaust , most shtetlekh were depopulated of their Jewish communities through mass deportations or liquidations. Many are memorialized in yizkor books , written testimonies that describe
10395-427: Was 4.1% under 5 years, 17.5% under 18 years, 51.1% between 18 and 64 years, and 27.3% 65 years or older. 49.9% were female. The median household income (in 2020 dollars) was $ 55,658. The per capita income for the county was $ 32,995. About 9.40% of the population were at or below the poverty line . As of January 2022, Archuleta County had approximately 10,696 active registered voters. There were 40.6% unaffiliated with
10500-407: Was 9.9 people per square mile (3.8 people/km). As of 2021, there were 9,693 housing units at an average density of 7.2 per square mile (2.8/km). The racial makeup of the county was 90.9% White, 0.9% Black or African American, 3.8% Native American, 1.2% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, and 3.1% from two or more races. 18.5% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. The age distribution
10605-400: Was a separate county, but today it is a municipality within the county of Vestland . All counties form administrative entities called county municipalities ( fylkeskommuner or fylkeskommunar ; singular: fylkeskommune ), further subdivided into municipalities ( kommuner or kommunar ; singular: kommune ). One county, Oslo , is not divided into municipalities, rather it
10710-483: Was a type of a collective community that could include one or more settlements such as villages, khutirs , and others. Today, stanitsa -type formations have only survived in Kuban ( Russian Federation ) where Ukrainians were resettled during the time of the Russian Empire . A shtetl (plural shtetlekh ) was a small market town or village with a majority Jewish population in central and eastern Europe. The word shtetl
10815-454: Was created in 1982 to promote assets of small and picturesque French villages of quality heritage. As of July 2023, 172 villages in France have been listed in "The Most Beautiful Villages of France". In Germany a Dorf (village) usually consists of at least a few houses but can have up to a few thousand inhabitants. Larger villages can also be referred to as a Flecken or Markt depending on
10920-710: Was historically divided by Nanhai County ( 南海縣 ) and Panyu County ( 番禺縣 ). When the first modern city government in China was established in Guangzhou, the urban area was separated from these two counties, with the rural areas left in the remaining parts of them. However, the county governments remained in the city for years, before moving into the respective counties. Similar processes happened in many Chinese cities. Nowadays, most counties in mainland China, i.e. with "Xian" in their titles, are administered by prefecture-level cities and have mainly agricultural economies and rural populations. Regency ( kabupaten ) in Indonesia
11025-479: Was the Senator from Conejos County at the time. According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the county has a total area of 1,356 square miles (3,510 km), of which 1,350 square miles (3,500 km) is land and 5.3 square miles (14 km) (0.4%) is water. According to the 2020 census, there were 13,359 people, 5,736 households living in the county. The average household size was 2.34 persons. The population density
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