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A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain modern nations. Historically in mainland Europe the original French term comt and its equivalents in other languages (contea contado comtat condado Grafschaft Gau etc.) denoted a jurisdiction under the sovereignty of a count (cf. conte comte conde Graf).

When the Normans conquered England they brought the term with them. But the Vikings had already introduced the term earl (from Old Norse jarl) to the British Isles. Thus "earl" and "earldom" were taken as equivalent to the continental use of "count" and "county". So the later-imported term became a synonym for the native English word scir (ir) or in Modern English shire

Since a shire was an administrative division of the kingdom the term "county" evolved to designate an administrative division of national government in most modern uses. In federal nations like the United States and Canada counties are administrative divisions of the sub-federal states commonwealths and provinces; the federal states themselves having no formal divisions.

A county may be further subdivided into townships or other administrative jurisdictions under the county's control. The boundaries of a county usually but not always contain cities villages towns or other municipal corporations. Depending on the particular nation municipalities might or might not be subject to direct or indirect county control. In the United States for example municipalities are usually independent of county authority but file certain reports and returns with state government through various organs and agencies of county government.

In the United Kingdom many county names derive from the name of the county town with the word "shire" added on: for example Gloucester in Gloucestershire; Worcester in Worcestershire; etc. 1

Outside the Anglophone community of nations the term "county" is often used to describe sub-national jurisdictions that are structurally equivalent to counties in the relationship they have with their national government; but which may or may not be operationally equivalent to the county as that entity is known in predominantly English-speaking countries. Contents 1 Canada 2 China 3 Denmark 4 Germany 5 Hungary 6 Iran 7 Ireland 8 Liberia 9 Lithuania 10 New Zealand 11 Norway 12 Poland 13 Romania 14 Sweden 15 Republic of China (Taiwan) 16 United Kingdom 17 United States 18 References Canada

Five of the ten Canadian provinces use county as a regional subdivision. These include all four original provinces New Brunswick Nova Scotia Ontario and Quebec and the seventh province Prince Edward Island. In addition to counties Ontario is also subdivided into territorial districts district municipalities metropolitan municipalities and regional municipalities. In Alberta the county used to be a type of municipal status; but this was changed to "municipal district" under the Municipal Government Act when the County Act was repealed in the mid-1990s at which time they were also permitted to retain the usage of county in their official names.2 Manitoba Newfoundland and Labrador and Saskatchewan use census divisions instead of counties and British Columbia uses regional districts. County can be abbreviated as either co. or cty. China Main article: County (China)

The word "county" is used to translate the Chinese term xin ( or ). On Mainland China under the People's Republic of China counties are the third level of local government coming under both the province level and the prefecture level.

There are 1464 counties in mainland China out of a total of 2862 county-level divisions. The number of counties has remained more or less constant since the Han Dynasty (206 BCAD 220). The county remains one of the oldest levels of government in China and significantly predates the establishment of provinces in the Yuan Dynasty (12791368). The county government was particularly important in imperial China because this was the lowest layer at which the imperial government functioned. The head of a county during imperial times was the magistrate. In older context "prefecture" and "district" are alternative terms to refer to xin before the establishment of the Republic of China. The English nomenclature "county" was adopted following the establishment of the ROC. Denmark Main article: Counties of Denmark Denmark was divided into counties (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 from 271 to 98. The counties were first introduced in 1662 replacing the 49 fiefs (len) in DenmarkNorway with the same number of counties. This number does not include the subdivisions of the Duchy of Schleswig which was only under partial Danish control. The number of counties in Denmark (excluding Norway) had dropped to c. 20 by 1793. Following the reunification of South Jutland with Denmark in 1920 four counties replaced the Prussian Kreise. Aabenraa and Snderborg County merged in 1932 and Skanderborg and Aarhus were separated in 1942. From 1942 to 1970 the number stayed at 22.3 The number was further decreased by the 1970 Danish municipal reform leaving 14 counties plus two cities unconnected to the county structure; Copenhagen and Frederiksberg. In 2003 Bornholm County merged with the local four municipalities forming the Bornholm Regional Municipality. The remaining 13 counties were abolished on 1 January 2007 where they were replaced by five new regions. In the same reform the number of municipalities was slashed from 270 to 98 and all municipalities now belong to a region. Germany Counties in Germany are local level government that are responsible for issuing IDs prosecuting civil infractions marrying couples among other things4. Depending on the state they are either called Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Amt Verbandsgemeinde or Samtgemeinde and vary in administrative functions. Hungary Main articles: Counties of Hungary and Administrative divisions of the Kingdom of Hungary The administrative unit of Hungary is called megye (historically they were also called vrmegye or comitatus in Latin) which can be translated with the word county. 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 to municipalities the two types of which are towns and villages each one having their own elected mayor and council. 23 of the towns have the rights of a county although they do not form independent territorial units equal to counties. Municipalities are grouped within counties into subregions (kistrsg in Hungarian) which have statistical and organizational functions only. The vrmegye 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 comt. Actual political and administrative role of counties changed much through history. Originally they were subdivisions of the royal administration but from the 13th century A.D. they became self-governments of the nobles and kept this character until the 19th century when in turn they became modern local governments. Iran Main article: Counties of Iran Counties of Iran The provinces of Iran are further subdivided into counties called shahrestan (Persian: shahrestn) an area inside an ostan and consisting of a city centre a few bakhsh (Persian: bakhsh) and many villages around them. There are usually a few cities (Persian: shahr) and rural agglomerations (Persian: dehestn) 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 shahrestan has a government office known as Farmandari which coordinates different events and government offices. The Farmandar or the head of Farmandari is the governor of the Shahrestan. Fars Province has the highest number of Shahrestans with 23 while Semnn and South Khorasan have only 4 Shahrestans each; Qom uniquely has one being coextensive with its namesake county. Iran had 324 Shahrestans in 2005. Ireland Main article: Counties of Ireland The island of Ireland was historically divided into 32 counties of which 26 later formed the Republic of Ireland and 6 made up Northern Ireland. These counties are traditionally grouped into 4 provinces - Leinster (12) Munster (6) Connacht (5) and Ulster (9). Historically the counties of Meath 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 Cuige from Cuig five means "a fifth"); however these have long since become the three northernmost counties of Leinster province. In the Republic each county is administered by an elected "county council" and the old provincial divisions are merely traditional names with no political significance. The number and boundaries of administrative counties in the Republic of Ireland were reformed in the 1990s. For example County Dublin was broken into three: Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown Fingal and South Dublin - the City of Dublin had existed for centuries before. In addition "County Tipperary" is actually two administrative counties called North Tipperary and South Tipperary while the major urban centres Cork Galway Limerick and Waterford have been separated from the town and rural areas of their counties. Thus the Republic of Ireland now has thirty-four 'county-level' authorities although the borders of the original twenty-six counties are still officially in place.5 In Northern Ireland the six county councils and the smaller town councils were abolished in 1973 and replaced by a single tier of local government. However in the north as well as in the south the traditional 32 counties and 4 provinces remain in common usage for many sporting cultural and other purposes. County identity is heavily reinforced in the local culture by allegiances to county teams in Hurling and Gaelic football. Each GAA county has its own flag/colours (and often a nickname too) and county allegiances are taken quite seriously. See the counties of Ireland and the Gaelic Athletic Association. Liberia Main article: Counties of Liberia Liberia has 15 counties each of which elects two senators to the Liberian Senate. Lithuania Apskritis (pl. apskritys) is the Lithuanian word for county. Since 1994 Lithuania has 10 counties; before 1950 it had 20. The only purpose with the county is an office of a state governor who shall conduct law and order in the county. See counties of Lithuania. New Zealand Main article: Counties in New Zealand After New Zealand abolished its provinces in 1876 a system of counties similar to other countries' systems was instituted lasting until 1989. They had chairmen not mayors as boroughs and cities had; many legislative provisions (such as burial and land subdivision control) were different for the counties. During the second half of the 20th century many counties received overflow population from nearby cities. The result was often a merger of the two into a "district" (e.g. Rotorua) or a change of name to "district' (e.g. Waimairi) or "city" (e.g. Manukau City). The Local Government Act 1974 began the process of bringing urban mixed and rural councils into the same legislative framework. Substantial reorganisations under that Act resulted in the 1989 shake-up which covered the country in (non-overlapping) cities and districts and abolished all the counties except for the Chatham Islands County which survived under that name for a further 6 years but then became a "Territory" under the "Chatham Islands Council". Norway Norway is divided into 19 counties (sing. fylke plur. fylke/fylker) since 1972. Up to that year Bergen was a separate county but is today a municipality in the county of Hordaland. All counties form administrative entities called county municipalities (sing. fylkeskommune plur. fylkeskommunar/fylkeskommuner) further subdivided into municipalities (sing. kommune plur. kommunar/kommuner). One county Oslo is not divided into municipalities rather it 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 as high schools and local roads and until 1 January 2002 hospitals as well. This responsibility was transferred to the state-run health authorities and health trusts and there 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 abolishment of the county municipalities once and for all while others including the Labour Party merely want to merge some of them into larger regions. Poland See also: List of counties in Poland A second-level administrative division in Poland is called a powiat. (This is a subdivision of a voivodeship or province and is further subdivided into gminas.) The term is often translated into English as county (or sometimes district). Romania Main article: Romania See also: Counties of Romania See also: Category:Administrative divisions Romania is divided into 41 jurisdictions. A jurisdiction is called a jude. The Romanian word for county comitat is not currently used for any Romanian administrative divisions. Sweden The Swedish division into counties was established in 1634 and was based on an earlier division into Provinces. Sweden is today divided into 21 counties and each county is further divided into municipalities. At the county level there is a county administrative board led by a governor appointed by the central government of Sweden as well as an elected county council that handles a separate set of issues notably hospitals and public transportation. The Swedish term used is ln which literally means "fief". Republic of China (Taiwan) County is the common English translation for the Mandarin term that denotes the current first level political division in Taiwan. See County (Republic of China) United Kingdom Main article: Counties of the United Kingdom The United Kingdom is divided into a number of metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties. There are also ceremonial counties which group small non-metropolitan counties into geographic areas broadly based on the historic counties of England. The metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties had replaced in 1974 a system of administrative counties and county boroughs which were introduced in 1889. Most non-metropolitan counties in England are run by county councils and divided into non-metropolitan districts each with its own council. Local authorities in the UK are usually responsible for running education emergency services planning transport social services and a number of other functions. In England in the Anglo-Saxon period Shires were established as areas used for the raising of taxes and usually had a fortified town at their centre. These became known as the shire town or later the county town. In most cases the shires were named after their shire town (for example Bedfordshire) however several exceptions exist such as Cumberland Norfolk and Suffolk. In several other cases such as Buckinghamshire the town which came to be accepted as the county town is different from that after which the shire is named. (See Toponymical list of counties of the United Kingdom) 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 the Great and originally existed as independent kingdoms. In Northern Ireland 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. In the Gaelic form Scottish traditional county names are generally distinguished by the designation "siorramachd"- literally "sherrifdom" e.g. Siorramachd Earra-ghaidheal (County of Argyll). This term corresponding to the jurisdiction of the Sheriff in the Scottish legal system. The county boundaries of England have changed little over time. In the medival period a number of important cities were granted the status of counties in their own right such as London Bristol and Coventry and numerous small exclaves such as Islandshire were created. The next major change occurred in 1844 when many of these exclaves were re-merged with their surrounding counties (for example Coventry was re-merged with Warwickshire). In 1965 and 19741975 a major re-organisation of local government created in England and Wales several new administrative counties such as Hereford and Worcester and also created several new metropolitan counties which served large urban areas as a single administrative unit. In Scotland county-sized 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 based on the concept of smaller unitary authorities (a system similar to that which the RedcliffeMaud Report proposed for most of Britain in the 1960s). United States Main article: County (United States) There are currently 3143 counties and county-equivalents in the United States As with the shires of Anglo-Saxon England counties in U.S. states are administrative divisions of the state in which their boundaries are drawn. Where they exist they are the intermediate tier of unitary state government between the statewide tier and the immediately local government tier. Counties are used in 48 of the 50 unitary states; the other two states (Connecticut and Rhode Island) have abolished their counties as functional entities and Massachusetts is in the process of doing so. Of these remaining 48 states 46 use the term "county" while Alaska and Louisiana use the terms "borough" and "parish" respectively for analogous jurisdictions. Depending on the individual state counties or their differently named equivalent may be administratively subdivided themselves into civil townships e.g. Michigan which has civil townships and charter townships (or townships are called "towns" in states where "township" means "a town" or "village" e.g. New York); or counties may contain no large municipal corporations e.g. Virginia where all cities are independent cities; or they may contain cities and unincorporated areas e.g. California which historically divided its counties into townships but has abolished the latter.citation needed Louisiana has entities equivalent to counties called parishes. Alaska is divided into boroughs which typically provide fewer local services than do most U.S. counties as the state government furnishes many services directly. Some of Alaska's boroughs have merged geographical boundaries and administrative functions with their principal (and sometimes only) cities; these are known as unified city-boroughs and result in some of Alaska's cities ranking among the geographically largest "cities" in the world. Nevertheless Alaska considers such entities to be boroughs not cities. Alaska is also unique in that more than half the geographic area of the state is in the "Unorganized Borough" a legal entity in which the state also functions as the local government.citation needed New York has a unique system where 57 of its 62 counties are administrative divisions of the state with normal county executive powers; while the remaining five are administrative divisions of the City of Greater New York. These five are each called borough in context of City government Manhattan The Bronx Queens Brooklyn and Staten Island (formerly Richmond); but are still called "county" where state function is involved e.g. "New York County Courthouse" not "Manhattan". The county names correlate to the borough names respectively as New York County Bronx County Queens County Kings County and Richmond County. In two states and parts of a third county government as such does not exist and county refers to geographic regions or districts. In Connecticut6 Rhode Island7 and parts of Massachusetts89 counties exist only to designate boundaries for such state-level functions as park districts (Connecticut) or judicial offices (Connecticut and Massachusetts). In states where county government is nonexistent or weak (e.g. New Hampshire Vermont) town government may provide some or all of the local government services. Most counties have a county seat usually a city where its administrative functions are centered. Exceptions include the nation's smallest county Arlington County Virginia which contains no municipalities; the City and County of San Francisco a metropolitan municipality in which city and county government have been merged into one jurisdiction so the county seat is coextensive with the whole county; and of course New York City which is coextensive with five counties that thus all have the same county seat making the question superfluous. Some New England states use the term shire town to mean "county seat". References Etymology of the word county. Province of Alberta. "Transitional Provisions Consequential Amendments Repeal and Commencement (Municipal Government Act)". http://www.municipalaffairs.alberta.ca/cfml/pdfsearch/pdf/TOWN/0361/CrowsnestPassTransitionalfromFormertothisAct1994.pdf. Retrieved 2010-11-17.  "Amternes administration 1660-1970 (in Danish)". Dansk Center for Byhistorie. http://www.byhistorie.dk/kommuner/artikel.aspxartikelamter.xml.  http://www.weida-land.de/index.phpid118009000057 OSI.ie National Association of Counties (U.S.A.): Connecticut Counties National Association of Counties (U.S.A.): Rhode Island Counties National Association of Counties (U.S.A.): Massachusetts Counties Massachusetts League of Women Voters: Massachusetts Government: County Government v d eTypes of administrative country subdivisions Smallcaps indicate a type used by ten or more countries. Current English terms Alpine resort  Area (Insular area  Local government area  Special area  Urban (urbanized) area)  Bailiwick  Banner (Autonomous banner)  Block  Borough (County borough  Metropolitan borough)  Canton  Capital (Federal capital)  Circle  Circuit  City (Autonomous city  Chartered city  Independent city  Rural city)  Colony  Commune  Community (Autonomous community  Residential community)  Condominium  Constituency  County (Administrative county  Autonomous county  Metropolitan county)  Department  District (Autonomous district  Capital district  City district  Federal district  Metropolitan district  Municipal district  Subdistrict  Regional district)  Division (Cadastral division)  Duchy  Eldership  Federal dependency  Governorate  Hamlet  Municipality (Direct-controlled municipality  District municipality  Regional municipality  Regional county municipality  Rural municipality  Specialized municipality)  Neighbourhood  Parish (Civil parish)  Periphery  Prefecture (Autonomous prefecture  Subprefecture  Super-prefecture)  Principality (Co-principality)  Protectorate  Province (Autonomous province)  Quarter  Regency  Region (Autonomous region  Capital region  Special administrative region)  Republic (Autonomous republic)  Reservation (Reserve)  Riding  Sector  Shire  State  Suzerainty  Territory (Capital territory  Dependent territory  National territory  Union Territory)  Unit (Autonomous territorial unit  Local administrative unit)  Town  Townland  Township (Civil township)  Village (Summer village)  Ward Current non-English and loanword terms Amt  Arrondissement  Bairro  Bakhsh  Baladiyah  Barangay  Bezirk / Regierungsbezirk  Comarca  Comune  Dara  Deme  Frazione  Freguesia  Gmina  l  Jude  Kommun  Localit  Mahalle  Megye  Nome  Oblast  Okrug (Autonomous okrug)  Ostn  Powiat  Raion  Ranchera  Shabiyah  Shahr  Shahrestn  Ssla  Taluka  Tehsil  Vingtaine  Voivodeship  Wilayah  Woreda Defunct and historical English terms Agency  Barony  Burgh  Diocese  Exarchate  Free imperial city  Hide  Hundred  Imperial Circle  March  Praetorian prefecture  Presidency  Residency  Rural district  Sanitary district  Tithing  Urban district  Viscountcy (Viscounty) Defunct and historical non-English terms Commote  Heerlijkheid  Katepanikion  Liwa  Naucrary  Pagus  Pargana  Plas  Satrapy  Theme  Subah See also: Census division  Electoral division  Political division  Arabic terms for country subdivisions  French terms for country subdivisions  Spanish terms for country subdivisions