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Revision as of 13:16, 23 March 2005

Province is a name for a secondary, or subnational entity of government in most countries. In some countries an alternative term is used, such as state (in Australia and the United States), départment (in France), or region (in Italy, where a province is a subdivision within a region, making it a tertiary rather than a secondary unit of government in that country, analogous to a county in most of Canada and the US). As well, in the British Empire various colonies had the title of province such as the Province of Canada.

The word was introduced by the Romans, who divided their empire into provinciae. The word is thought to have originated from the Latin word provincia (zone of influence); probably from pro ("in front") and vincia ("linked").

In France, the expression en province means "outside of the region of Paris". This expression is sometimes substituted with en région.

Current

(Subdivisions called or translated into: Province)

The most populous province is Henan, China, pop. 93,000,000. Also very populous are several other Chinese provinces, as well as Punjab, Pakistan, pop. 85,000,000.

The largest provinces by area are Xinjiang, China (1,600,000 sq. km) and Quebec, Canada (1,500,000 sq. km).

There are also provinces in New Zealand, but the country is not seen as a "federal" country. However, the provinces do have a few duties like collecting rates and each province has its own Health Board and District Prisons Board.

Governorates

The term governorate is widely used in arab countries to describe an administrative unit; it translates the Arabic word muhafazah. Some governorates combine more than one wilaya; others closely follow traditional boundaries inherited from the Ottoman Empire's vilayet system.

Historical

In historical terms, Fernand Braudel has depicted the European provinces—built up of numerous small regions called by the French pays or by the Swiss cantons, each with a local cultural identity and focused upon a market town—as the political unit of optimum size in pre-industrial Early Modern Europe and asks, "was the province not its inhabitants' true 'fatherland'?" (The Perspective of the World 1984, p. 284) Even centrally organized France, an early nation-state, could collapse into autonomous provincial worlds under pressure, such as the sustained crisis of the Wars of Religion, 1562—1598.

In the Habsburg territories, the traditional provinces are partly expressed in the Länder of 19th-century Austria-Hungary

The Ottoman Empire's provinces were characterized by the term vilayet.

Designations for types of administrative division
English terms
Common English terms
Area
Borough
CantonHalf-canton
Capital
City
Community
County
Country
Department
District
Division
Indian reserve/reservation
Municipality
Prefecture
Province
Region
State
Territory
Town
Township
Unit
Zone
Other English terms
Current
Historical
Non-English terms or loanwords
Current
Historical
Used by ten or more countries or having derived terms. Historical derivations in italics.
See also
Autonomous administration
Census division
Electoral district
List of administrative divisions by country
Slavic administrative divisions
Category: