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Province

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For other uses, seeProvince (disambiguation).
Not to be confused withProvence.

Aprovinceis anadministrative divisionwithin acountryorstate.The term derives from theancient Romanprovincia,which was the major territorial and administrative unit of theRoman Empire'sterritorial possessions outsideItaly.The termprovincehas since been adopted by many countries. In some countries with no actual provinces, "the provinces" is a metaphorical term meaning "outside thecapital city".

While some provinces were produced artificially bycolonial powers,others were formed around local groups with their own ethnic identities. Many have their own powers independent of central orfederalauthority, especiallyin CanadaandPakistan.In other countries, likeChinaorFrance,provinces are the creation of central government, with very little autonomy.

Etymology

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TheEnglishwordprovinceis attested since about 1330 and derives from the 13th-centuryOld Frenchprovince,which itself comes from theLatinwordprovincia,which referred to the sphere of authority of amagistrate,in particular, to a foreign territory.

Apopular etymologyis fromLatinpro-( "on behalf of" ) andvincere( "to triumph" or "to take control of" ). Thus a "province" would be a territory or function that aRoman magistrateheld control of on behalf of his government. In fact, the wordprovinceis an ancient term from public law, which means: "office belonging to a magistrate". This agrees with the Latin term's earlier usage as a generic term for a jurisdiction underRoman law.

History and culture

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TheRoman Empireand itsadministrative divisions,c. 395

InFrance,the expressionen provincestill means "outside theParisregion ". Equivalent expressions are used inPeru(en provincias,"outside the city ofLima"),Mexico(la provincia,"lands outsideMexico City"),Romania(în provincie,"outside theBucharestregion "),Poland(prowincjonalny,"provincial" ),Bulgaria(в провинцията,v provincijata,"in the provinces" andпровинциален,provincialen,"provincial" ) and thePhilippines(taga-probinsiya,"from outsideMetro Manila",sa probinsiya,"in the provinces", or "in the countryside" ).

Before theFrench Revolution,France comprised a variety of jurisdictions (built around the earlyCapetianroyaldemesne), some being considered "provinces", though the term was also used colloquially for territories as small as amanor(châtellenie). Most commonly referred to as "provinces", however, were theGrands Gouvernements,generally former medieval feudal principalities, or agglomerations of such. Today the expressionen provinceis regularly replaced in the media by the more politically correcten région,régionnow being the term officially used for the secondary level of government.

InItaly,in provinciagenerally means "outside the biggest regional capitals" (likeRome,Milan,Naples,etc.).

For theUnited Kingdomuse of the word is often pejorative, assuming astereotypeof the denizens of the provinces to be less culturally aware than those in the capital.[1]

The historic European provinces—built up of many small regions, calledpaysby the French and "cantons"by the Swiss, each with a local cultural identity and focused upon amarket town—have been depicted byFernand Braudelas the optimum-size political unit in pre-industrialEarly Modern Europe.He asks, "Was the province not its inhabitants' true 'fatherland'? "[2]Even centrally-organized France, an earlynation-state,could collapse into autonomous provincial worlds under pressure, as during the sustained crisis of theFrench Wars of Religion(1562–98).

The British colonies in North America were often named provinces. Most (but not all) of theThirteen Coloniesthat eventually formed the United States were called provinces.[3]All declared themselves "states" when they became independent. TheConnecticut Colony,theDelaware Colony,Rhode Islandand theColony of Virginianever used the title "province". The British colonies further north, which remained loyal to Britain and laterconfederatedto form the originalCanada,retained the title of "province" and are still known as such to the present day.

To 19th- and 20th-century historians, in Europe,centralized governmentwas a sign of modernity and political maturity. In the late 20th century, as theEuropean Uniondrewnation-statescloser together, centripetal forces seemed simultaneously to move countries toward more flexible systems of more localized, provincial governing entities under the overall European Union umbrella.SpainafterFrancisco Francohas been a "State of Autonomies", formally unitary but in fact functioning as a federation ofAutonomous Communities,each exercising different powers. (SeePolitics of Spain.)

WhileSerbia,the rump of formerYugoslavia,fought the separatists in the province ofKosovo,theUnited Kingdom,under the political principle of "devolution",produced (1998) localparliamentsinScotland,WalesandNorthern Ireland.Inancient India,unlike theMauryas,theGupta Empiregave local areas a great deal of independence and divided the empire into 26 large provinces, styled as Bhukti, Pradesha and Bhoga.

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In manyfederationsandconfederations,the province or state is not clearly subordinate to the national or central government. Rather, it is considered to besovereignin regard to its particular set of constitutional functions. The central- and provincial-government functions, or areas of jurisdiction, are identified in aconstitution.Those that are not specifically identified are called "residual powers". In a decentralized federal system (such as theUnited StatesandAustralia) these residual powers lie at the provincial or state level, whereas in a centralized federal system (such asCanada) they are retained at the federal level.

Some of theenumerated powerscan be quite important. For example,Canadian provincesare sovereign in regard to such important matters asproperty,civil rights,education,social welfareandmedical services.The growth of the modernwelfare statehas resulted in these functions,assigned to the provinces,becoming more important compared to thoseassigned to the federal governmentand thus provincial governments have become more important than theFathers of Confederationoriginally intended.[citation needed]

Canada's status as a federation of provinces under theDominionof the British Empire rather than an independent country also had certain legal implications.Provinces could appeal court rulingsover the heads of theSupreme Court of Canadato theJudicial Committee of the Privy CouncilinLondon.As well, provinces could bypass the Supreme Court and go directly to London from anyProvincial Court.The Canadian Supreme Court tended to support the view that theCanadian Constitutionwas intended to create a powerful central government, but the Privy Council in London held the distinctly opposite view that the Constitution provided for stronger provincial powers. This provided an opportunity forforum shoppingfor provinces who opposed federal laws. Until appeals from Canada to the Privy Council were abolished in 1949, in legal disputes the provincial governments tended to win powers at the expense of the federal government.

In addition, while the Canadian federal government has unlimited ta xing power while province governments are restricted to imposingdirect taxes,the Canadian government introduced anincome taxduringWorld War I,and since it is a direct tax it also became a major revenue generator for provinces. In most provinces, the federal government now collects income tax for both levels of government and transfers to the provincial governments whatever surcharge they ask for. Thesales taxalso become a major revenue generator for provinces, so in 1991 the Canadian government introduced aGoods and Services Tax(GST) to share the revenues, which proved unpopular both with provincial governments and taxpayers. The Canadian government has tried to harmonize the two levels of sales taxes, but three provinces continue to impose a separate sales tax (British Columbia after harmonizing it, and shortly thereafter de-harmonizing it after it was struck down by a referendum), while the province of Alberta still does not impose a provincial sales tax.

The evolution of federations has created an inevitable tug-of-war between concepts of federal supremacy versus states' and provinces' rights. The historic division of responsibility in federal constitutions is inevitably subject to multiple overlaps. For example, when central governments, responsible forforeign policy,enter into international agreements in areas where the state or province is sovereign, such as the environment or health standards, agreements made at the national level can create jurisdictional overlap and conflicting laws. This overlap creates the potential forinternal disputesthat lead toconstitutional amendmentsand judicial decisions that alter the balance of powers.

Though foreign affairs do not usually fall under a province's or a federal state's competency, some states allow them to legally conduct international relations on their own in matters of their constitutional prerogative and essential interest. Sub-national authorities have a growing interest inparadiplomacy,be it performed under a legal framework or as a trend informally admitted as legitimate by the central authorities.

Inunitary statessuch asFranceandChina,provinces are subordinate to the national, central government. In theory, the central government can create or abolish provinces within its jurisdiction. On the other hand, although Canada is now considered afederal state[4]and not aconfederation,in practice it is among the world's moredecentralizedfederations.[5]Canadian Confederationand theConstitution Act, 1867conferred considerable power on the provincial governments which they often use to pursue their own goals independently of the federal government.

In Canada, local governments have been called "creatures of the province" because the authority of a local government derives solely from the provincial government. Provinces can create, merge, and dissolve local governments without the consent of the federal government or the people in the affected locality.[6]Alberta in particular dissolved and mergedhundreds of local governmentsduring the 1940s and 1950s as a consequence of theGreat Depression.Other provinces have arbitrarily merged and annexed independent suburbs to major Canadian cities such asTorontoorMontrealwithout the approval of local voters.

Current provinces

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See also:Administrative divisions

Not all first-level political entities are termed "provinces." InArabcountries, the first administrative level of government—called amuhafazah—is usually translated as a "governorate."InPoland,the equivalent of "province" is "województwo,"sometimes rendered in English as"voivodeship."[7]

Historically,New Zealandwas divided intoprovinces,each with its own Superintendent and Provincial Council, and with considerable responsibilities conferred on them. However, the colony (as it then was) never developed into a federation; instead, the provinces were abolished in 1876. The old provincial boundaries continue to be used to determine the application of certainpublic holidays.Over the years, when the central Government has created special-purpose agencies at a sub-national level, these have often tended to follow or approximate the old provincial boundaries. Current examples include the 16Regionsinto which New Zealand is divided, and also the 21 District Health Boards. Sometimes the termthe provincesis used to refer collectively to rural and regional parts of New Zealand, that is, those parts of the country lying outside some or all of the "main centres" —Auckland,Wellington,Christchurch,HamiltonandDunedin.

Modern provinces

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A map of thePirkanmaa,the regional province (maakunta) inFinland,with the different coloredsub-regions

In many countries, a province is a relatively small non-constituent level of sub-national government, such as acounty in the United Kingdom.In China, a province is a sub-national region within a unitary state; this means that a province can be created or abolished by the national people's congress.

In some nations, a province (or its equivalent) is a first-level administrative unit of sub-national government—as in theNetherlands—and a large constituent autonomous area, as inArgentina,Canada,South Africa,and theDemocratic Republic of the Congo.It can also be a constituent element of afederation,confederation,orrepublic.For example, in theUnited States,nostatemaysecedefrom thefederal Unionwithout the permission of thefederal government.

In other nations—such asBelgium,Chile,Italy,Peru,thePhilippines,andSpain—a province is a second-level administrative sub-division of aregion(which is the first-order administrative sub-division of the nation).Italianprovinces are mainly named after their principal town and comprise several administrative sub-divisions calledcomuni(communes). In Chile, they are referred to ascomunas.Chile has15 regions,subdivided into 53 provinces, of which each is run by a governor appointed by the president. Italy has20 regions,subdivided into14 metropolitan citiesand96 provinces.Peru has25 regions,subdivided into 194 provinces. Spain has17 autonomous communitiesand 2 autonomous cities, subdivided into50 provinces.

The island ofIrelandis divided into four historic provinces (seeProvinces of Ireland), each of which is sub-divided intocounties.These provinces areConnacht(in the west),Leinster(in the east),Munster(in the south) and,Ulster(in the north). Nowadays these provinces have little or no administrative function, though they do havesportingsignificance.

From the 19th century, thePortuguese colonieswere considered overseas provinces ofPortugal.

Similarly, some overseas parts of theBritish Empirebore the colonial title of "province" (in a more Roman sense), such as theProvince of Canadaand theProvince of South Australia(the latter, to distinguish it from the penal "colonies" elsewhere inAustralia). Likewise, prior to theAmerican Revolution,most of the originalThirteen ColoniesinBritish Americawere provinces as well, such as theProvince of Georgiaand theProvince of New Hampshire.[citation needed]

Canada

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The constituent entities ofCanadaare known asprovinces.Prior to confederation, the term province was used in reference to several British colonies situated in Canada; such as the colonialProvince of Quebec.In 1791, Quebec split into two separate colonies, the provinces ofLower Canada,andUpper Canada.The two colonies were later merged in 1841 to form theProvince of Canada.From its separation from Nova Scotia in the 18th century,New Brunswickwas known as His/Her Majesty's Province of New Brunswick. AfterCanadian confederationin 1867, the termprovincescontinued to be used, in reference to thesub-national governments of Canada.

Because Canada is thesecond-largest country in the world by area,but has only 10 provinces, most Canadian provinces are very large—six of its ten provincesarelarger than any country in EuropeexceptRussia,and its largest provinceQuebec—1,542,056 km2(595,391 sq mi)—is almost two and a half times as large asFrance—640,679 km2(247,368 sq mi). Six provinces, including five of the oldest Canadian provinces—Alberta,Ontario,Quebec,New Brunswick,Nova ScotiaandPrince Edward Island—have "counties" as administrative sub-divisions. The actual local government form can vary widely. In New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and in 9 of the 18 counties of Nova Scotia, county government has been abolished and has been superseded by another form of local government. New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island also have parishes within counties. Since theCanadian Constitutionassigns local government to provincial jurisdiction, the various provinces can create, dissolve, and reorganize local governments freely and they have been described as "creatures of the province".

TheWestern provinceshave more varied types of administrative sub-divisions than theEastern provinces.The province ofBritish Columbiahas "regional districts" which function as county-equivalents.ManitobaandSaskatchewanare divided into rural municipalities.

Albertais also divided into counties, albeit they are officially classified as "municipal districts" by the province, though in regular everyday parlance these entities are referred to as a "county". The province of Alberta has some unique local governance schemes formed in response to local conditions. For instance,Sherwood Parkis an unincorporated "urban service area" of 72,017 withinStrathcona County,which has most of the oil refining capacity in Western Canada;Fort McMurraywas once a city but dissolved itself and became an "urban service area" of 70,964 people within theRegional Municipality (R.M.) of Wood Buffalo,which has several multibillion-dollaroil sandsplants; andLloydminster,a city of 31,483 which sits directly astride the provincial border between Alberta and Saskatchewan. Unlike most such cases, Lloydminster is not a pair of twin cities on opposite sides of a border, but is actually incorporated by both provinces as a single city with a single municipal administration. The residents objected to the federal government splitting the city in two when it created the two provinces, so the two provinces reunified it by declaring it to be a single city in two provinces, thereby bypassing the limitations of federal boundaries.

Pakistan

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Main article:Provinces of Pakistan

Pakistanis administratively divided into four provinces, which are:

It also has two autonomous territories:

Russia

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The term "province" is sometimes used to refer to the historic governorates (guberniyas) ofRussia.This terms also refers to theprovinces(провинции), which were introduced as the subdivisions of the governorates in 1719 and existed until 1775. In modern parlance, the term is commonly used to refer to theoblastsandkraisof Russia.

Polities translated

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Country Local name(s) Language Number of entities
Provinces of Afghanistan wilayat Pashto, Dari 34
Provinces of Algeria wilaya Arabic 48
Provinces of Angola província Portuguese 18
Provinces of Argentina provincia Spanish 23
Provinces of Armenia marz Armenian 11
Provinces of Belarus voblast Belarusian 7
Provinces of Belgium(Flemish Region) provincie Dutch 5
Provinces of Belgium(Walloon Region) province French 5
Provinces of Bolivia provincia Spanish 100
Provinces of Bulgaria oblast Bulgarian 28
Provinces of Burkina Faso province French 45
Provinces of Burundi province French 17
Provinces of Cambodia khaet(ខេត្ត) Khmer 24 + 1[8]
Provinces of Canada province English,French 10
Provinces of Chile provincia Spanish 54
Provinces of China shěng( tỉnh ) Standard Chinese 23 + 35[9]
Provinces of Costa Rica provincia Spanish 7
Provinces of Cuba provincia Spanish 15
Provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo province French 25
Provinces of the Dominican Republic provincia Spanish 33
Provinces of Ecuador provincia Spanish 24
Provinces of Equatorial Guinea provincia Spanish 7
Provinces of Fiji yasana Fi gian 14
Provinces of Finland läänitorlän Finnish,Swedish 6
Provinces of Gabon province French 9
Provinces of Georgia mkhare(მხარე) Georgian,Abkhazian 12
Provinces of Greece επαρχία(eparchia) Greek 73
Provinces of Indonesia provinsi Indonesian 38
Provinces of Iran ostan Persian 31
Provinces of Ireland cúige Irish 4
Provinces of Italy provincia Italian 110
Provinces of Kazakhstan oblys(облыс) Kazakh 14
Provinces of Kenya province English 8
Provinces of Kyrgyzstan oblus(облус) Kyrgyz 7
Provinces of Laos khoueng(ແຂວງ) Lao 16
Provinces of Madagascar faritany Malagasy 6
Provinces of Mongolia aimagoraymag(Аймаг) Mongolian 21
Provinces of Mozambique província Portuguese 10
Provinces of Nepal pradeshorpranta(प्रदेश/प्रान्त) Nepali 7
Provinces of the Netherlands provincie Dutch 12
Provinces of North Korea doorto(도) Korean 10
Administrative divisions of Norway provins Norwegian 18
Provinces of Oman wilaya Arabic 62
Provinces of Pakistan sûba(صوبہ); plural:sûbé(صوبے) Urdu 7
Provinces of Panama provincia Spanish 9
Provinces of Papua New Guinea province English 19
Provinces of Peru provincia Spanish 195
Provinces of the Philippines lalawiganorprobinsya,provincia,province Filipino,Spanish,English 82
Provinces of Poland województwa Polish 16
Provinces of Romania provincii Romanian 41
Provinces of Rwanda intara Kinyarwanda 5
Provinces of Saudi Arabia mintaqah Arabic 13
Provinces of Sierra Leone province English 4
Provinces of the Solomon Islands 9
Provinces of South Africa province English 9
Provinces of South Korea doorto(도/ nói ) Korean 10
Provinces of Spain provincia Spanish 50
Provinces of Sri Lanka පළාත/palaatha,மாகாணம்/maahaanam & province Sinhala,Tamil,English 9
Provinces of Suriname provincie Dutch 10
Provinces of Tajikistan viloyat(вилоят), fromArabicwilaya Tajik 3
Provinces of Thailand changwat(จังหวัด) Thai 76 + 1[10]
Provinces of Tonga 5
Provinces of Turkey il Turkish 81
Provinces of Turkmenistan welayat(plural:welayatlar) fromwilaya Turkmen 5
Provinces of Ukraine oblast Ukrainian 24 + 3[11]
Provinces of Uzbekistan viloyat(plural:viloyatlar) fromArabicwilaya 12
Provinces of Vanuatu 6
Provinces of Vietnam tỉnh Vietnamese 58
Provinces of Zambia province English 9
Provinces of Zimbabwe province English 8

Historic provinces

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Ancient, medieval and feudal

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Colonial and early modern

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See also

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References

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  1. ^"Definition of the word Province including the British English derivation".Lexico. Archived fromthe originalon August 7, 2019.RetrievedAugust 7,2019.
  2. ^The Perspective of the World,1984, p. 284.
  3. ^"A chorographical map of the Province of New-York in North America, divided into counties, manors, patents and townships; exhibiting likewise all the private grants of land made and located in that Province".Library of Congress.RetrievedDecember 4,2017.
  4. ^"How Canadians Govern Themselves,. 7th ed"..parl.gc.ca. Archived fromthe originalon April 5, 2011.RetrievedMay 8,2012.
  5. ^"Collaborative Federalism in an era of globalization".Pco-bcp.gc.ca. April 22, 1999. Archived fromthe originalon March 15, 2012.RetrievedMay 8,2012.
  6. ^"Municipalities as creatures of the provinces".Archived fromthe originalon September 15, 2018.
  7. ^Also spelled "voivodship," "voievodship, "" voievodeship ".
  8. ^76 provinces + 1 special governed district (Phnom Penh). However, Cambodian usually presume Phnom Penh as another province for convenience.
  9. ^ThePeople's Republic of China(PRC) claims it has 23 provinces, one of them beingTaiwan,which the PRC does not have control. TheRepublic of China(frequently referred to as "Taiwan" or ROC) claims all 35 provinces but it only controls all ofTaiwan Provinceand several small islands ofFu gianandHainanProvince.
  10. ^76 provinces + 1 special governed district (Bangkok). However, Thai people usually presume Bangkok as another province for convenience.
  11. ^24 oblasts, one autonomous republic, and two "cities with special status".
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