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66-819: The Ellen is a river in the English county of Cumbria , flowing from Skiddaw in the Northern Fells to the Solway Firth at Maryport . It was historically in the county of Cumberland . It is approximately 25 miles (40.2 km) in length. The river rises on the Skiddaw massif, and runs in a generally westerly direction, passing Uldale , Ireby , Boltongate , Baggrow and Blennerhasset parish boundary and Aspatria . From there, it continues southwest (instead of more northwesterly) past Oughterside , Gilcrux , Bullgill , Crosby and Dearham , and skirts

132-421: A second language , estimates of the total number of Anglophones vary from 1.5 billion to 2 billion. David Crystal calculated in 2003 that non-native speakers outnumbered native speakers by a ratio of three to one. Besides the major varieties of English — American , British , Canadian , Australian , Irish , New Zealand English —and their sub-varieties, countries such as South Africa , India , Nigeria ,

198-597: A stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article related to a river in England is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . 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, the earlier Anglo-Saxons did have earls , sheriffs and shires . The shires were

264-1034: 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 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

330-544: 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

396-442: 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

462-576: 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

528-640: 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

594-627: 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

660-400: 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

726-554: 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

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792-547: 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. English-speaking countries The English-speaking world comprises

858-645: 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

924-558: 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

990-604: Is also the primary native language and English is the primary language of government and education, such as Ireland , Gibraltar , and the Commonwealth Caribbean . While English is also spoken by a majority of people as a second language in a handful of countries such as Denmark , the Netherlands , Norway and Sweden , these countries are not considered part of the English-speaking world as

1056-483: 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

1122-626: 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

1188-433: 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

1254-525: Is so widely spoken, it has often been called a " world language ", the lingua franca of the modern era, and while it is not an official language in most countries, it is currently the language most often taught as a foreign language . It is, by international treaty, the official language for aeronautical and maritime communications. English is one of the official languages of the United Nations and many other international organizations, including

1320-1108: Is studied most often in the European Union , and the perception of the usefulness of foreign languages among Europeans is 67% in favour of English, ahead of 17% for German and 16% for French (as of 2012 ). In some of the non–English-speaking EU countries, the following percentages of adults claimed to be able to converse in English in 2012: 90% in the Netherlands; 89% in Malta; 86% in Sweden and Denmark; 73% in Cyprus, Croatia, and Austria; 70% in Finland; and over 50% in Greece, Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia, and Germany. In 2012, excluding native speakers, 38% of Europeans consider that they can speak English. Books, magazines, and newspapers written in English are available in many countries around

1386-490: 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

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1452-616: The Anglosphere . Speakers of English are called Anglophones . Early Medieval England was the birthplace of the English language; the modern form of the language has been spread around the world since the 17th century, first by the worldwide influence of England and later the United Kingdom, and then by that of the United States . Through all types of printed and electronic media of these countries, English has become

1518-561: The Commonwealth of Nations . English is the primary natively spoken language in several countries and territories. Five of the largest of these are sometimes described as the " core Anglosphere "; they are the United Kingdom , the United States , Australia , Canada , and New Zealand . The term "Anglosphere" can sometimes be extended to include other countries and territories where English or an English Creole language

1584-573: 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

1650-883: The International Olympic Committee . It is also one of two co-official languages for astronauts (besides the Russian language) serving on board the International Space Station . The English language has a particular significance in the Commonwealth of Nations, which developed from the British Empire. English is the medium of inter-Commonwealth relations. The English language as used in the Commonwealth has sometimes been referred to as Commonwealth English , most often interchangeably with British English . English

1716-501: 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

1782-482: The Philippines , Singapore , Jamaica , and Trinidad and Tobago also have millions of native speakers of dialect continua ranging from English-based creole languages to Standard English . Other countries and territories, such as Ghana , also use English as their primary official language even though it is not the native language of most of the people. English holds official status in numerous countries within

1848-484: 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

1914-1070: 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

1980-701: 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

2046-603: 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

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2112-498: The leading language of international discourse and the lingua franca in many regions and professional fields, such as science , navigation and law . The United States and India have the most total English speakers, with 306 million and 129 million, respectively. These are followed by Pakistan (104 million), the United Kingdom (68 million), and Nigeria (60 million). As of 2022, there were about 400 million native speakers of English. Including people who speak English as

2178-440: 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

2244-433: 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

2310-430: The 88 countries and territories in which English is an official, administrative, or cultural language. In the early 2000s, between one and two billion people spoke English, making it the largest language by number of speakers , the third largest language by number of native speakers and the most widespread language geographically. The countries in which English is the native language of most people are sometimes termed

2376-543: 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,

2442-671: 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

2508-583: 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 ,

2574-416: 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

2640-685: 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

2706-465: 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)

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2772-502: 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 )

2838-511: 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

2904-520: 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

2970-479: 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

3036-435: 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

3102-415: 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 a level of local administration that was immediately beneath a national government , within

3168-461: The grounds of Netherhall School before flowing into the Solway Firth at Maryport. The river contains populations of brown trout , eels , lamprey , minnows , salmon , sea trout , and stickleback . In 2023, it was reported that a pipe owned by the water company United Utilities had discharged sewage into the river for almost 7,000 hours in 2022. This Cumbria location article is

3234-515: 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 ,

3300-536: The language is still viewed primarily as a foreign tongue and does not serve an important cultural role in society. English is an official language ( de facto or de jure ) of the following countries and territories. Although not official, English is also an important language in some former colonies and protectorates of the British Empire where it is used as an administrative language , namely Brunei , Malaysia , and Sri Lanka . Because English

3366-461: 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

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3432-471: 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

3498-512: 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

3564-472: 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

3630-462: 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

3696-500: 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,

3762-571: 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

3828-519: 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

3894-436: 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

3960-593: 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,

4026-410: 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

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4092-577: 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

4158-480: 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:

4224-462: The world; English is the most commonly used language in the sciences, with Science Citation Index reporting as early as 1997 that 95% of its articles were written in English, even though only half of them came from authors in English-speaking countries. In publishing, English literature predominates considerably, with 28% of all books published in the world [Leclerc 2011] and 30% of web content in 2011 (down from 50% in 2000). The increasing use of

4290-400: 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

4356-710: 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

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