Dictionary
(United Kingdom) a region created by territorial division for the purpose of local government "the county has a population of 12,345 people" (United States) the largest administrative district within a state "the county plans to build a new road"
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Wikipedia
dablinkHyundai County is a bus built by Hyundai Motor Company. Originally, in continental Europe, a county was the land under the jurisdiction of a count. Counts are called "earls" in post-Celtic Great Britain and Ireland - the term is from Old Norse ''jarl'' and was introduced by the Vikings - but there is no correlation between "county" and "earldom." Rather, the term "county," from French ''comté'', was simply used by the Normans after 1066 to replace the native English term ''scir'' ("sheer") or "shire," in Modern English. A shire was an administrative division of an Anglo-Saxon kingdom (Wessex, Mercia, East Anglia, etc.), usually named after its administrative centre (e.g., Gloucester > Gloucestershire, Worcester > Worcestershire, etc.).Thus, whereas the word ''comté'' denoted a sovereign jurisdiction in the original French, the English word "county" denotes a subdivision of a sovereign jurisdiction.
Overview -
Australia -
New South Wales - While New South Wales was divided into counties in the early days of the colony, often preceding European settlement, hundreds, parishparishes and counties became dead letters for most purposes other than the registration of land ownership, which, under the Torrens title system, is centralised in the state capital of Sydney. Sydney lies in the County of Cumberland.Local government is organised as municipalitymunicipalities for urban areas, and shires for rural areas. Large urban areas are called "cities".
Canada - ''Main article: Census division''Five of Canada's ten provinces are divided into counties. In Ontario, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, these are local government units, whereas in Quebec and Prince Edward Island they are now only geographical divisions. Most counties consist of several municipalities, however there are a few that consist of a single large city. In sparsely populated northern Ontario and Quebec, these units are called ''districts'' not counties, and in densely populated areas of south-central Ontario new ''regional municipalities'' are used for local government instead of counties.See also: List of New Brunswick counties List of Nova Scotia counties List of Prince Edward Island counties List of Ontario counties List of Quebec counties List of Quebec county regional municipalitiesDivisions of the other provinces: In Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Newfoundland and Labrador, instead of counties, ''divisions'' are used. (Though Alberta has "counties," they are not equivalent to Census Divisions). See list of Alberta Census Divisions. In British Columbia, ''regional districts'' are used. (see List of British Columbia Regional Districts) The Yukon Territory is one district in itself The Northwest Territories and Nunavut are divided into districts.StatisticsCensus division statistics of Canada
China - ''Main article: County of China''The word "county" is used to translate the Chinese languageChinese term ''xiàn'' (县 or 縣). On Mainland China under the People's Republic of China, counties are the Political division of China#County levelthird level of local government, coming under both the Political division of China#Province levelprovince level and the Political division of China#Prefecture levelprefecture level. On Taiwan, the streamlining of Taiwan Province has left the county the major governmental level below the Republic of China central government. The number of counties in China proper numbers about 2,000, and has remained more or less constant since the Han dynasty. The county remains one of the oldest levels of government in China and significantly predates the establishment of provinces in the Ming dynasty. The county government was particularly important in imperial China because this was the lowest layer at which the imperial government functioned.In older context, "prefecture" and "district" are alternative terms to refer to ''xiàn'' before the establishment of the Republic of China. The English nomenclature "county" was adopted following the establishment of the ROC.The head of a county is the magistrate.See also: Political divisions of China, Counties of Taiwan
Croatia - Counties have been units of regional self-government in Croatia since 1990. There are twenty counties and the city of Zagreb which has the same status. They are called ''županije'' and they are each headed by a ''župan'' (whose replacement is called a ''dožupan'').See also: Counties of Croatia
Hungary - The administrative unit of Hungary is called ''megye'', or in Latin: comitatus, which can be translated with the word ''county''. Presently Hungary is subdivided into 19 "proper" counties, 22 city counties and 1 capital, Budapest. See the list of counties of Hungary.The comitatus was also the historic administrative unit in the Kingdom of Hungary, which included present-day neighboring countries of Hungary. See the list of historic counties of Hungary.
Ireland - The island of Ireland is divided into Counties of Ireland32 counties, of which 26 later formed the Republic of Ireland and 6 made up Northern Ireland (for current status on Northern Irish counties, see under 'United Kingdom,' below). The counties are traditionally grouped into Provinces of Ireland4 provinces - Leinster (12), Munster (6) Connacht (5) and Ulster (9). Historically, the counties of Meath, West Meath and Dublin constituted the province of Meath - one of the "Five Fifths" of Ireland; but 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 1990's. 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, though sometimes called the 'twenty-six counties', the Republic of Ireland now has thirty-four 'county-level' authorities.For almost all sporting, cultural and other purposes, the traditional 32 counties and 4 provinces remain in common usage. Each county has its own flag/colours (and often a nickname too), and county allegiances are taken quite seriously. See the counties of Ireland.
Japan - "County" is one of the translations of ''gun'' (郡), which is a subdivision of prefecture. It is also translated as rural district, rural area or district. The translation "district" is not preferred, because it comes into conflict with the usual translation of "district", ''chome''. In this encyclopedia, district is used for ''gun''. See Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style (Japan-related articles)/Translation noteJapanese translation note.Presently, "counties" have no political power or administrative function. The division is mainly significant in Mailpostal services.
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 - After New Zealand abolished its Provinces of New Zealandprovinces 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" (eg Rotorua) or a change of name to "district' (eg Waimairi) or "city" (eg Manukau).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 of Norwaycounties (sing. ''fylke'', plur. ''fylker'', literally "folk") as of 1972. Up to this year Bergen, NorwayBergen was a separate county, but is today a municipality in the county of Hordaland. All counties are divided into Municipalities of Norwaymunicipalities, (sing. ''kommune'', plur. ''kommuner''), the ones with incorporated cities being called city municipalities (sing. ''bykommune'', plur. ''bykommuner''). The county of Oslo is equivalent to the municipality of Oslo.Each county has its own assembly (''fylkesting'') whose representatives are elected every 4 years together with representatives to the municipality councils. The counties handle matters as high schools and local roads, and until recently hospitals as well. This responsibility is now transferred to the state, and there is a debate on the future of the county as an administrative entity. Some people, and parties, such as the Conservatives, Høyre, call for the abolishment of the counties once and for all, while others merely want to merger some of them into larger regions.
Poland - Polish second-level administration unit ''powiat'' is usually translated into English languageEnglish as ''county'' or ''district''.''See also'':List of counties in PolandList of counties in Poland by voivodships
Romania - The administrative subdivisions of Romania are called ''judeţ'' (plural: ''judeţe''), name derived from ''jude'', a mayor and judge of a city (akin to English ''judge''; both are derived from Latin) Presently Romania is subdivided into 40 counties and the capital, Bucharest having a separate status. See the list of counties of Romania.
Serbia and Montenegro - Subdivisions of Serbia (''okrug'') are sometimes translated as counties, though more often as districts. See District#Serbia and Montenegro
Sweden - The Swedish division into Counties of Swedencounties was established in 1634, and was based on an earlier division into Provinces of SwedenProvinces. Sweden is today divided into 21 counties, and each county is further divided into Municipalities of Swedenmunicipalities. At the county level there is a County Administrative Boards of Swedencounty administrative board led by a governor appointed by the central government of Sweden, as well as an elected County Councils of Swedencounty council that handles a separate set of issues, notably hospitals and public transportation.The Swedish term used is ''län'', which literally means "fief."
United Kingdom - The United Kingdom is divided into a number of metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of Englandmetropolitan and non-metropolitan counties. There are also ceremonial countyceremonial counties and traditional counties which have no administrative function but exist as geographic areas. The metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties had replaced in 1974 a system of Administrative counties of Englandadministrative counties 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 Bedford''shire'') however exceptions to this rule exist, such as Wiltshire. In several other cases, such as Devon the shire has a county town different from that which it is named after. 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 geographically based upon 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.The thirteen Traditional counties of Walestraditional counties of Wales were fixed by Statute in 1539 (although counties such as Pembrokeshire date from 1138) and most of those of Scotland are of at least this age.The county boundaries of England have changed over time. In the mediæval 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).For centuries, the counties were used mainly for legal administration and tax raising. Modern local government did not come into being until 1889, when administrative countyadministrative counties (county councils) were created which were based upon the traditional county areas. In 1965 and 1974 a major re-organisation of local government created several new administrative counties such as Hereford and Worcester and also created several new metropolitan countymetropolitan counties which served large urban areas as a single administrative unit. In 1986, however, the metropolitan county councils were abolished, and divided into a series of unitary authorities, although the counties still exist in name and for some administrative and ceremonial purposes. Traditionalists still refer to traditional counties for geographic purposes rather than administrative ones. Uniquely, the Isle of Wight is a unitary authority with county status.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 proposed for most of Great Britain in the 1960s.See also:Association of British CountiesCounty Watch
United States - ''Main article: County (United States)'' The term "county" is used in 48 of the 50 U.S. statesstates of the United States for the tier of state government authority immediately below the statewide tier and above the township tier, in those states that sub-divided counties into townshiptownships. Louisiana uses the term ''parishparishes'' and Alaska uses ''boroughboroughs''. The United States Census BureauU.S. Census Bureau lists 3,141 counties or county-equivalent administrative units. The power of the county government varies widely from state to state as does the relationship between counties and incorporated municipal governments, but counties (parishes, boroughs) are ''always'' administrative divisions of the state and the power they exercise is state government power. Unlike cities, which are municipal corporations with a degree of sovereignty granted by the state, counties have no powers of their own but merely exercise powers of state government that have assigned to their jurisdiction, either by the state constitution or the state legislature.In New England, counties function primarily as Courtjudicial districts, as most local government is exercised by towntowns. In Connecticut and Rhode Island, they have even lost all governmental function and are solely geographic designations. Outside New England, counties typically maintain law enforcement agencies, public utilitypublic utilities, library systems, collect vital statistics and prepare, and/or process to the state, certificates of births, deaths, marriages, and dissolutions (divorce decrees). In some states, the county sheriff is the principal law enforcement officer in the county, usually limited to areas outside the jurisdiction of cities and towns. In parts of the U.S., counties are "policed" by sheriffs, and cities are policed by police. In other areas, county law enforcement is called "County Police" with county sheriffs providing court services.In Virginia, all municipalities incorporated as ''cities'' are organized as separate political units that are not part of any county (i.e., independent cityindependent cities). In Maryland, the city of Baltimore is independent of any county, and Baltimore County is a separate entity outside the city. In Missouri, the city of St Louis is independent of any county, and St Louis County is a separate entity outside the city. There are also a small number of independent cities (not part of any county) in other states. However, independent cities are the exception rather than the rule, as are metropolitan municipalities. (In addition, until November 7, 1997, the portion of Yellowstone National Park that was within Montana was not part of any county, but as of that date, that portion has been added to Gallatin County.)Metropolitan municipalities are consolidated city and county governments, which simultaneously operate as administrative divisions of and subordinate to state power and as municipal corporations that exercise whatever degree of sovereignty the state government or constitution confers upon them.Examples are Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee, Indianapolis, Indiana, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, Denver County, Colorado, and the City and County of San Francisco. New York CityThe City of Greater New York is a unique metropolitan municipality in the world, being coextensive with five counties, each with their own administrative organs but all of them subject to one, integrated citywide government.Some cities lie within two or more counties: examples include Houston, Texas; Chicago, Illinois; Atlanta, Georgia; and Kansas City, Missouri.Each county contains a county seat, which is where county offices are located (this is usually, but not always, an incorporated municipality). In some states, counties are subdivided into civil townshiptownships, which typically provide some or all of the local government services provided by cities and towns. The State of Michigan additionally has "charter townships," which are self-governing townships that have many of the rights of a city but few of the responsibilities, e.g., a charter township can have its own police force but it can also opt merely to use the county sheriff's deputies; and whereas ordinary townships cannot refuse to release land that a neighbouring city wishes to annex, charter townships, by virtue of having a charter from the state, have right of refusal.In most states, the county controls all unincorporated land within its boundaries. Residents of unincorporated land who are dissatisfied with county-level resource allocation decisions can incorporate as a city or village. In turn, depending on the state, the city or village government can then choose to provide all its own services, or provide only some and allow the county to provide the rest. Usually, the key difference between "city" and "village" is that a city ''must'' provide all of its own services and equivalent county authorities have no jurisdiction without the city's permision; while villages (which remain subject to township governments in those states that have them), being usually rural or semi-rural jurisdictions, are typically required to provide only those services that they can, with the rest being provided by the county.Lists of counties by state can be found through U.S. counties; for more comparative information on U.S. counties, see county statistics of the United States.Subnational entity Category:Subnational !entitiesCategory:Counties*bg:Окръгda:Amtde:Co untyes:Condadofr:Comténl:Coun tyno:Fylkept:Condado? !(administração)simple:County fi:Piirikuntasv:Länzh:县 ;
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Websites
Totally Delco
Delaware County, Pennsylvania Web Portal and Directory. Blog, Forums, and News events updated daily.
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West Ireland Holidays
West Ireland Holidays is a website for anyone interested in a holiday in the West of Ireland.
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Flagstaff Central Community Information Source [Flagstaff Arizona]
Flagstaff Central is an online city guide for Flagstaff, Arizona that features information on local travel, schools, organizations, realty, events, restaurants, health services, and a whole lot more. Flagstaff's Community Information Source!
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Black Diamond Services
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Ovest Irlanda.
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Florida Real Estate
Search virtually all Florida real estate listings for sale. Also, find or advertise Florida rentals. A top site. Comprehensive information about Florida real estate.
http://www.amstarrealty.com
The Orange County Register
Orange County's source for local news and information. Daily publication.
http://www.ocregister.com/
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Its holdings include more than 150,000 works spanning the history of art from ancient times to the present. Exhibition highlights, event schedule, and contact information.
http://www.lacma.org/
King County Government
Describes local government initiatives and provides information on county services and news.
http://www.metrokc.gov/
Orange County California Home Page
The official homepage of the County of Orange - government, information, and statistics.
http://www.oc.ca.gov/
International City/County Managers Association
Professional and educational organization that supports the development of professional management at the local government level.
http://www.icma.org/
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