Citizendia
Your Ad Here

For other uses, see Independent city (disambiguation).

An independent city is a city that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity. A city is an Urban area with a large Population and a particular Administrative, Legal, or Historical status Local governments are administrative offices that are smaller than a State.

Independent cities should not be confused with city-states (such as Singapore), which are fully sovereign cities that are not part of any other nation-state. A city-state is a Region controlled exclusively by a City, usually having Sovereignty. Singapore

Contents

North America

United States

In the United States, an independent city is a city that does not belong to any particular county. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A city is an Urban area with a large Population and a particular Administrative, Legal, or Historical status A county is a Land area of Regional Government within a larger State. Because counties have historically been a strong institution in local government in most of the United States, independent cities are relatively rare outside of Virginia (see below), whose state constitution makes them a special case. The Commonwealth of Virginia ( is an American state Every state in the United States possesses its own constitution The U.S. Census Bureau uses counties as its base unit for presentation of statistical information, and treats independent cities as county equivalents for those purposes. The United States Census Bureau (officially Bureau of the Census as defined in Title) is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census Independent cities should not be confused with consolidated city-counties, such as Denver, Colorado, the City and County of San Francisco, California or Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In American Local government, a consolidated city-county is a city and county that have been merged into one unified jurisdiction The City and County of Denver (pronounced /ˈdɛnvɚ/ is the Capital and the most populous city of Colorado, in the United States The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city Philadelphia (ˌfɪləˈdɛlfiə

Virginia

Main articles: List of cities in Virginia and Political subdivisions of Virginia

Of the 42 independent cities in the United States,[1] 39 are in Virginia. This is a complete list of independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The political subdivisions of Virginia are the areas into which the Commonwealth of Virginia, a U The three that are not in Virginia are Baltimore, Maryland; St. Louis, Missouri; and Carson City, Nevada.

In the Commonwealth of Virginia, all municipalities incorporated as "cities" have also been "independent cities," also called "free cities," since 1871. The Commonwealth of Virginia ( is an American state Other municipalities, even though they may be more populous than some existing independent cities, are incorporated as "towns", and as such form part of a county. A town is a type of settlement ranging from a few to several thousand (occasionally hundreds of thousands inhabitants although it may be applied loosely even to huge metropolitan An independent city in Virginia may serve as the county seat of an adjacent county, even though the city by definition is not part of that county. A county seat is a term for an Administrative center for a County, primarily used in the United States.

Several Virginia counties, whose origins go back to the original eight shires of Virginia formed in 1634 during the colonial period, have the word city in their names; however, politically they are counties. The eight Shires of Virginia were formed in 1634 in the Virginia Colony. Examples are Charles City County and James City County. Charles City County is a county located in the US state &mdash officially " Commonwealth " &mdash of Virginia. James City County (formally the County of James City) is a county located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads region of the These names originated with earlier "incorporations" created in 1619 by the Virginia Company as Charles Citiie (sic) and James Citiie (sic). The Virginia Company refers collectively to a pair of English joint stock companies chartered by James I in 1606 with the purposes of establishing Charles City (or cittie as it was then called was one of four incorporations established in the Virginia Colony in 1619 by the proprietor the Virginia Company. James City (or cittie as it was then called was one of four incorporations established in the Virginia Colony in 1619 by the proprietor the Virginia Company. The Virginia Company lost its charter in 1624, and Virginia became a royal colony.

Arlington County

Arlington County, commonly referred to as just "Arlington," is not an independent city. However, it is often thought of as a city because it is fully urbanized, is close in size to other independent cities in the state, and includes no municipalities within its borders. It consists solely of most of the land ceded by Virginia to the Federal Government to form Washington, D.C. in the late 18th century, and retroceded to Virginia in 1846. Washington DC ( formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D The District of Columbia, the National capital of the United States, was formed in 1790 from that were ceded to the federal government by the states

Former cities

See also: Lost counties, cities, and towns of Virginia. Lost counties cities and towns of Virginia are those which formerly existed in the English Colony of Virginia, or the Commonwealth of Virginia after it became a state

Former independent cities now extinct that were long extant in Virginia include:

Two other independent cities existed only for a short time:

Other states

Some states have created independent cities in order to cater for the special requirements of governing their largest cities and/or capitals:

Other entities similar to independent cities

An independent city is not the same as:

Canada

In the Canadian province of Ontario, the same type of city is referred to as a single-tier municipality (there are also separated municipalities). Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page Ontario (ɒnˈtɛrioʊ is a province located in the central part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest after Quebec In the Canadian province of Ontario, there are three different types of Census divisions: single-tier municipalities upper-tier municipalities (which can In the Canadian province of Ontario, municipalities operate in various hierarchies In Quebec they are often called separated cities, as they are not Regional County Municipalities. Quebec (kwɨˈbɛk The term regional county municipality or RCM ( French: municipalité régionale de comté MRC) is used in the Canadian Cities and towns in Alberta are not part of rural municipalities such as counties. Alberta (ælˈbɝtə is one of Canada's prairie provinces. It became a province on September 1 1905 In New Brunswick, all county government was abolished in 1967, therefore, in theory, all cities, townships, and settlements in New Brunswick could be considered independent cities. New Brunswick ( French: Nouveau-Brunswick /nuvobʁɔnzwik/ is one of Canada 's three Maritime provinces and is the only constitutionally Year 1967 ( MCMLXVII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the 1967 Gregorian calendar.

Europe

Austria

In Austria, a similar concept is the Statutarstadt. Austria (Österreich ( officially the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich A Statutory city ( Statutarstadt in Austria, or Statutární město in Czech Republic) is a city with its own municipal Law

Germany

See also: List of German urban districts. This is a list of urban districts in Germany. Germany is divided into 429 districts (not to be confused with the larger Regierungsbezirk) these consist

In Germany, different states have either the Stadtkreis ("Urban County") or Kreisfreie Stadt (literally, "County-Free City"). Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Germany (Deutschland is a Federal Republic consisting of sixteen States, known in German as Länder (singular

Examples of German independent cities are:

Additionally, the German City-states of Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg function as federal states. This sort of fix restores section edit linkpoints to where they belong Munich (München; Minga is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. Duisburg (ˈdyːsbʊɐ̯k is a German city in the western part of the Ruhr Area ( Ruhrgebiet) in North Rhine-Westphalia. ||-||-||-||} Oldenburg ( Low German: Ollnborg) is an Independent City in Lower Saxony, Germany. A city-state is a Region controlled exclusively by a City, usually having Sovereignty. Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. Bremen (ˈbʁeːmən is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany (official name Stadtgemeinde Bremen / City Municipality of Bremen Hamburg (English, German: ˈhambʊɐk local pronunciation Low German / Low Saxon: Hamborg) is the second-largest city in Germany The City-state of Bremen is comprised solely of the cities of Bremen and Bremerhaven (which was originally founded as an ocean port for the city of Bremen). A city-state is a Region controlled exclusively by a City, usually having Sovereignty. The Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (German Freie Hansestadt Bremen) is the smallest of Germany's 16 Federal States ( Bundesländer) Bremen (ˈbʁeːmən is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany (official name Stadtgemeinde Bremen / City Municipality of Bremen Bremerhaven (bʁeːmɐˈhaːfən is the seaport of the free city and federal state of Bremen, Germany.

Norway

In Norway, Oslo is both a municipality (kommune) and a county (fylke) within itself. Norway ( Norwegian: Norge ( Bokmål) or Noreg ( Nynorsk) officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Constitutional

Poland

See also: Powiat. A powiat (pronounced; Polish plural powiaty) is the second-level unit of Local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a County

In Poland, many of the biggest cities comprise their own city counties (formally "cities with county rights"). Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland They are suitably marked on the list of counties in Poland. The following is an alphabetical list of all 379 county-level entities in Poland

Hungary

See also: List of towns in Hungary

In Hungary 23 of the cities are "cities with county rights", these cities have equal rights with the 19 counties of Hungary. Hungary has 3152 localities as of January 1, 2008: 298 towns (Hungarian term város, plural városok; the terminology doesn't distinguish Hungary (Magyarország 'mɔɟɔrorsaːg) officially in English the Republic of Hungary ( Magyar Köztársaság, literally Magyar (Hungarian Republic

The British Isles

Some cities in the United Kingdom are a unitary authority, and could be considered to be independent cities. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located See also Independent city A unitary authority is a type of Local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all Local government functions In the UK, however, "city" has no inherent status; city status depends on a grant from the monarch and merely confers on the place so-designated the right to call itself a city. TalkCommonewalth realm.--> The monarchy The standard for such a right was once thought to depend on whether the entity has a cathedral. As is now made clear by the Department for Constitutional Affairs [1], there are no formal criteria such as this for the city to apply for, and be granted city status in the UK. It is perhaps remarkable that there are in fact only 66 cities in the UK - 50 in England, 5 in Wales, 6 in Scotland and 5 in Northern Ireland.

County borough referred to a borough or a city independent of county council control in England and Wales from 1889 to 1974 with the term continuing in use in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (excluding Scotland) to refer to a Borough or a City A borough is an Administrative division of various countries In principle the term borough designates a self-governing Township although in practice A County council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a County. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Northern Ireland (Tuaisceart Éireann Ulster Scots: Norlin Airlann) is a Country within the United Kingdom, lying in the northeast of Ireland ( Irish: Éire, ˈeːrʲə is a country in north-western Europe. Wales re-introduced the term in 1994 for use with certain unitary authorities.

Asia

Taiwan (Republic of China)

Under the administrative division system of the Republic of China, some cities are directly administered by the Executive Yuan, some are administered by provinces (the province of Taiwan is nominal), and some are subordinate to counties. The Republic of China currently administers two historical Provinces of China (one completely and a small part of another one and centrally administers two Direct-controlled REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES Direct-controlled municipality (直辖市 zhíxiáshì) is the highest level classificiation for Cities used by Chinese governments with status equal to The Executive Yuan ( literally "Executive court" is the Executive branch of the Government of the Republic of China. Provincial cities (省轄市 shěngxiáshì) sometimes translated provincial municipalities, are cities lesser in rank than Direct-controlled municipalities A county-controlled city (縣轄市 xiànxiáshì) is one of the 32 cities in Taiwan Province of the Republic of China administered under one of the The centrally-administered and province-administered ones are like independent cities under this definition.

People's Republic of China

In mainland China under the administration of People's Republic of China, the Cities of Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing are centrally-administered province-level regions, and they do not belong to any particular province. Additionally, there are several vice provincial cities that are nominally under provinces but are in reality independent of any provinces.

Within some provinces, there are some cities that are directly under provinces, bypassing an administrative level (prefectures and prefecture-level cities).

Hong Kong and Macau are two Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China which have high degree autonomy except acts of state like diplomatic relations and national defence. Hong Kong ( officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located on China 's south coast on the Pearl River Delta, and borders For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Macau topics. A Special Administrative Region ( SAR) is a high autonomous administrative division of the People's Republic of China.

Korea (Republic of Korea)

In addition to its nine provinces, South Korea has a total of seven province-level "metropolitan cities. South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often referred to as Korea ( Korean: 대한민국 tɛː " By far the largest among these in terms of population is the capital, Seoul, called a teuk-byul-shi (특별시; literally, "specially distinguished market", to mean special city), which is home to more than 20% of the entire population of the country. Seoul ( soʊl is the Capital and largest City of South Korea. The remaining six independent cities are called gwang-yuhk-shi (광역시; literally, "large territory market", to mean large city). These include Busan, Daegu, Daejeon, Incheon, Gwangju, and Ulsan. Daegu (pronounced) also spelled Taegu (pronounced) officially called Daegu Metropolitan City, is the fourth largest city in South Korea after Daejeon ( is a capital city of Chungcheongnamdo Province and metropolitan city in the center of South Korea. Incheon is a metropolitan city and a major seaport on the west coast of South Korea, near Seoul. Gwangju Metropolitan City is the sixth largest city in South Korea. Ulsan is a metropolitan city in the south-east of South Korea, facing the East Sea

Historically, these independent cities have been carved from the province that surrounds them. Consequently, they typically share a strong regional and cultural identity with the adjoining province(s). This is particularly true of Gwangju, which is at the center of the southwestern Jeolla region, and Daegu, which was carved from North Gyeongsang Province in the southeast. Jeolla ( Jeolla-do in Korean formerly spelled Cholla or Chŏlla) was one of the eight provinces of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty Gyeongsangbuk-do (North Gyeongsang is a province in eastern South Korea. Similarly, Busan and Ulsan are both heavily associated with South Gyeongsang Province, while Daejeon is heavily associated with the Chungcheong provinces. Gyeongsangnam-do (South Gyeongsang is a province in the southeast of South Korea. Chungcheong ( Chungcheong-do) was one of the eight provinces of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty. Seoul and Incheon are said to make up the "capital region," along with the densely populated Gyeonggi Province that almost completely encompasses them. Gyeonggi-do is the most populous province in South Korea. The provincial capital is located at Suwon.

One interesting relic of the newer independent cities is that, in some cases, the government administrative buildings (docheong) of the provinces they were once a part of are still located within city boundaries, meaning that these provinces have capitols that are not within their borders.

In 2006, the ruling party floated a proposal to completely eliminate all current province and independent-city borders. This plan would divide the entire republic into fifty or sixty city- or county-level administrations, similar to the system in Japan. The plan was intended to help reduce regional discrimination and animosity by eliminating provincial identity.

National capitals

A number of countries have made their national capitals into separate entities. For example Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, is outside of the country's system of counties, as is the capital of Romania, Bucharest. Copenhagen (ˌkəʊpənˈheɪgən ˌkəʊpənˈhɑːgən ˈkəʊpənˌheɪgən ˈkəʊpənˌhɑːgən kʰøb̥ənˈhɑʊ̯ˀn kʰøb̥m̩ˈhɑʊ̯ˀn is the capital and largest city The Kingdom of Denmark ( ˈd̥ænmɑɡ̊ (archaic ˈd̥anmɑːɡ̊ commonly known as Denmark, is a country in the Scandinavian region of northern Europe Bucharest ( Romanian: Bucureşti) is the Capital city, industrial and commercial centre of Romania. Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, is not within any of the 50 states. Washington DC ( formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D London is actually composed of the City of London and county of Greater London, which is divided into a number of boroughs. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. For London as a whole see the main article London. The City of London is a geographically The ceremonial counties are areas of England that are appointed a Lord-Lieutenant, and are defined by the government as the Counties for the purposes of the Lieutenancies Greater London is the top-level administrative subdivision covering London, England. The German capital, Berlin, is a Federal State with the same level of autonomy as much larger states, such as Bavaria. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. Bavaria ( German:, with an area of 70553 Km² (27241 square miles and almost 12 Brussels, the capital of Belgium, is a separate region (the Brussels-Capital Region), independent of both Flanders and Wallonia, despite being entirely surrounded by Flanders (of which it is also the regional capital) and sharing a common language with Wallonia (French). Brussels (Bruxelles pronounced; Brussel pronounced) officially the Brussels Capital-Region, is The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those Flanders (Vlaanderen Flandre Flandern is a geographical region located in parts of present day Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. Wallonia, or Wallonie, (Wallonie Wallonien Wallonië Waloneye is the Meridional part of Belgium belonging to the Romance linguistic field French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people

Federal capitals

In countries with a federal structure, the federal capital is often separate from other jurisdictions in the country, and frequently has a unique system of government. A federation ( Latin: foedus, covenant is a union comprising a number of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central ("federal"

Examples include:

See also

References

  1. ^ Counties and Equivalent Entities of the United States, Its Possessions, and Associated Areas; Change Notice No. 7 (2001). In American Local government, a consolidated city-county is a city and county that have been merged into one unified jurisdiction County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (excluding Scotland) to refer to a Borough or a City See also Independent city A unitary authority is a type of Local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all Local government functions A city-state is a Region controlled exclusively by a City, usually having Sovereignty. Retrieved on 2006-05-27. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 927 - Simeon the Great, Tsar of Bulgaria, dies 1120 - Richard III of Capua is anointed

Dictionary

independent city

-noun

  1. a city that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity
© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
 Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic