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Province
*** Shopping-Tip: Province
:''This article is about political regions. See
geologic province for geological meanings.''
'''''Province''''' is a name for a
subnational entity.
Linguistics
The word is attested in English since c.1330, deriving from from Old Frenc ''province'' (13c.), itself from Latin ''provincia'' "territory under Roman domination", which was often explained as ''pro-'' "before" + ''vincere'' "to gain a victory over" ; but this does not suit the even earlier Latin usage as a geneic term for a jurisdiction under Roman law, which was not even always territorial, still refelected in such expressions as 'that is not his province'.
The word ''provincia'' was given its territorial administrative meaning by the
ancient Rome Romans, when they divided their empire into ''
Roman province provinciae'', but in many senses these were long more like moderncolonies, being exploited without equal rights, which were ironically granted from the start to the ''coloniae'', which were smaller local settlements, often founded for veterans.
In modern languages, a province is a secondary level of government in many countries, while other use alternative terms for similar entities, such as ''
State (sub-national) state'' (in
Australia,
Brazil,
India,
Mexico and the
United States), ''land'' (in
Austria,
Germany), ''department'' (in
Bolivia), or ''
prefecture'' (in
Japan).
Usage varies, however. In
France, in
Spain and in
Italy ''provincia'' is a tertiary form of government, akin to a
county, within a ''
region''. In
Sweden ''
län'' is the equivalent of a county, while in
Finland its cognate ''
Lääni'' is the equivalent of ''province''. Various overseas parts of the
British Empire had the colonial title of ''Province'' in a more Roman sense, such as the
Province of Canada and the
South Australia Province of South Australia (to distinguish it from the penal 'colonies' elsewhere in Australia). In Germany and Austria, the same sense of historical and cultural unity on a less-than-national scale is expressed as ''Land'', the common name for
states of Germany and
states of Austria.
Historical and cultural aspects
In
France, the expression ''en province'' still tends to mean "outside of the region of
Paris". (The same expression is used in
Peru, where ''en provincias'' means "outside of the city of
Lima".) Prior to the
French Revolution, France consisted of various governments (such as Ile-de-France, built around the early
Capetian royal demesne) some of which were considered as provinces, although the term would be used colloquially to describes lands as small as a manor (''châtellenie''). Mostly, the ''Grands Gouvernements'', generally former medieval feudal principalities (or agglomerates of such), were the most commonly referred to as provinces. Today, the expression is sometimes replaced with ''en région'', as that term is now officially used for the secondary level of government.
In historical terms,
Fernand Braudel has depicted the European provinces—built up of numerous small regions called by the French ''pays'' or by the
Swiss cantons, each with a local cultural identity and focused upon a market town—as the political unit of optimum size in pre-industrial Early Modern Europe and asks, "was the province not its inhabitants' true '
fatherland'?" (''The Perspective of the World'' 1984, p. 284) Even centrally organized France, an early
nation-state, could collapse into autonomous provincial worlds under pressure, such as the sustained crisis of the
Wars of Religion, 1562—1598.
For 19th and 20th-century historians, "centralized government" had been taken as a symptom of modernity and political maturity in the rise of Europe. Then, in the late 20th century, as a
European Union drew the
nation-states closer together, centripetal forces seemed to be moving towards a more flexible system composed of more localized, provincial governing entities under the European umbrella.
Spain after Franco is a ''State of Autonomies'', formally unitary, but in fact functioning as a federation of
Autonomous Communities of Spain Autonomous Communities, each one with different powers. (see
Politics of Spain). While
Serbia, the rump of the former Yugoslavia, fought the separatists in the province of
Kosovo, at the same time the
United Kingdom UK, under the political principle of "
devolution" established local parliaments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (1998). Strong local nationalisms surfaced or developed in
Cornwall,
Languedoc,
Catalonia,
Lombardy,
Corsica and
Flanders, and east of Europe in
Abkhasia,
Chechnya and
Kurdistan.
Legal aspects
In many
federations (particularly those that are in fact
confederations), the province or state is not clearly subordinate to the national or "central" government. Rather, it is considered to be sovereign in regard to its particular set of constitutional functions. The central and provincial governmental functions, or areas of jurisdiction, are identified in a constitution. Those that are not specifically identified in the constitution are called "residual powers". These residual powers lie at the provincial (or state) level in a decentralised federal system (such as the United States and Australia) whereas in a centralised federal system they are retained at the federal level (as in Canada). Nevertheless, some of the enumerated powers can also be very significant. For example,
Provinces and territories of Canada Canadian provinces are sovereign in regard to such important matters as law and order, property, civil rights, education, social welfare, medical services and even taxation.
The evolution of federations has created an inevitable tug-of-war between concepts of federal supremacy versus "states' rights". The historic division of responsibility in federal constitutions is inevitably subject to multiple overlaps. For example, when central governments, responsible for "foreign affairs", 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 for internal disputes that lead to constitutional amendments and judicial decisions that significantly change the balance of powers.
Current provinces
Not all "second-level" polities are termed provinces. In
Arab countries the secondary level of government, called a ''muhfazah'', is usually translated as a
governorate. This term is also used for the historic
Russian ''guberniyas'', (compare to modern-day ''
oblast''). In
Poland, the equivalent of province is ''województwo'', often translated as
voivodeship.
In
Peru, provinces are a tertiary unit of government, as the country is divided into
regions of Peru twenty-five regions, which are then subdivided into 194 provinces.
There are also
Provinces of New Zealand provinces in New Zealand, but the country is not seen as a "federal" country. However, the provinces do have a few duties like collecting rates and each province has its own Health Board and District Prisons Board.
Some provinces are as large and populous as nations. The most populous province is
Henan,
China, pop. 93,000,000. Also very populous are several other Chinese provinces, as well as
Punjab, Pakistan, pop. 85,000,000.
The largest provinces by area are
Xinjiang, China (1,600,000 sq. km) and
Quebec,
Canada (1,500,000 sq. km).
The term
governorate is widely used in Arab countries to describe an administrative unit; it translates the Arabic word ''muhafazah''. Some governorates combine more than one
wilaya; others closely follow traditional boundaries inherited from the
Ottoman Empire's
vilayet system.
Current provinces and polities translated "province"
{| border=0
|- bgcolor=#ececec
! Country || local name(s) || Number of entities
|-
|
Provinces of Afghanistan
| from Arab.
wilaya
|34
|-
|
Provinces of Argentina
| span. ''provincia''
|24
|-
|
Armenia#Administrative Provinces Provinces of Armenia
| ''marz''
|11
|-
|
Subdivisions of Belarus Provinces of Belarus
| {{lang-be|
oblast vobłaść}}
|7
|-
|
Communities, regions and provinces of Belgium Provinces of Belgium
|Dutch ''provincie''; French ''province''
|10
|-
|
Provinces of Bolivia
| span. ''provincia''
|TBD
|-
|
Oblasts of Bulgaria Provinces of Bulgaria
| bulg. ''
oblast''
|28
|-
|
Provinces and territories of Canada Provinces of Canada (federation members)
| engl.+ French ''province''
|10
|-
|
Provinces of Chile
| span. ''provincia''
|51
|-
|
Province of China Provinces of China
| chin. (mand.) ''�'' (''sheng'')
|22 + 1
|-
|
Provinces of Cuba
| span. ''provincia''
|15
|-
|
Provinces of Ecuador
| span. ''provincia''
|22
|-
|
Provinces of Equatorial Guinea
| span. ''provincia''
|7
|-
|
Provinces of Finland
| finn. ''läänit'' / swed. ''län''
|6
|-
|
Provinces of Gabon
| fran. ''province''
|9
|-
|
Provinces of Greece
|
|73
|-
|
Provinces of Indonesia
| indo. ''provinsi'' or ''propinsi''
|29
|-
|
Provinces of Iran
| Pers. ''ostan''
|30
|-
|
Provinces of Ireland
| ire. ''cúige''
|4
|-
|
Provinces of Italy
| ital. ''provincia''
|103
|-
|
Provinces of Kazakhstan
| ''oblasy''
|14
|-
|
Subdivisions of Kenya Provinces of Kenya
|
|8
|-
|
Subdivisions of Kyrgyzstan Provinces of Kyrgyzstan
| ''oblasty''
|7
|-
|
Provinces of Korea
| kore. ''do'', ''to''
|14
|-
|
Provinces of Laos
| lao ''khoueng''
|16
|-
|
Provinces of Madagascar
|
|6
|-
|
Provinces of the Netherlands
| dutc. ''provincie''
|12
|-
|
Counties of Norway Provinces of Norway
| norw. ''fylke''
|19
|-
|
Provinces of Oman
| ara. ''wilaya''
|appr. 60
|-
|
Subdivisions of Pakistan Provinces of Pakistan
| Singular: "Suba"
|4
|-
|
Provinces of Panama
| span. ''provincia''
|9
|-
|
Provinces of Papua New Guinea
|
|19
|-
|
Provinces of Peru
| span. ''provincia''
|180
|-
|
Provinces of the Philippines
|
Filipino language fili.: ''lalawigan'' / ''probinsya''
|79
|-
|
Voivodships of Poland Provinces of Poland
| pl. ''województwo''
|16
|-
|
Provinces of Rwanda
| ''intara''
|12
|-
|
Provinces of São Tomé and PrÃncipe
| port.
|2
|-
|
Provinces of Saudi Arabia
| Arab. ''
mintaqah''
|13
|-
|
Provinces of the Solomon Islands
|
|9
|-
|
Provinces of South Africa
|
|9
|-
|
Provinces of Spain
| span. ''provincia''
|50
|-
|
Provinces of Tajikistan
| ''veloyati'', from Arab. ''wilaya''
|3
|-
|
Provinces of Thailand
| ''changwat''
|76
|-
|
Provinces of Turkey
| turk. ''il''
|81
|-
|
Provinces of Turkmenistan
| from Arab. ''wilaya''
|5
|-
|
Subdivisions of Ukraine Provinces of Ukraine
| ukra. ''oblast''
|24
|-
|
Provinces of Uzbekistan
| from Arab. ''wilaya''
|12
|-
|
Provinces of Vanuatu
|
|6
|-
|
Provinces of Vietnam
| from Vietnamese ''tỉnh''
|59
|-
|
Provinces of Zambia
|
|9
|-
|
Provinces of Zimbabwe
|
|8
|}
Historical provinces
Ancient and medieval/feudal provinces
* Pharaonic Egypt : see
nome (Egypt)
* Achaemenid Persia (and probably before in Media, again after conquest and further extension by Alexander the Great, and in the larger Hellenistic
successor states : see
satrapy
*
Roman province provinces of the Roman Empire
* Byzantine Empire : see
exarchate,
thema
* Frankish (Carolingian) 're-founded' Holy Roman Empire : see
gau and
county
*
Caliphate and subsequent
sultanates : see
Emirate
*
Khanate can also mean a province as well as an independent state, as either can be headed by a Khan
* in the Tartar
Khanate of Khazan : the five daruÄŸa ('direction')
*
Mughal Empire :
subah
* In the
Habsburg territories, the traditional provinces are partly expressed in the ''Länder'' of 19th-century
Austria-Hungary.
*The
subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire provinces of the Ottoman Empire had various types of governors (generally a
pasha), but mostly styled
wali vali, hence the predominant term ''
vilayet'', generally subdivided (often in
beyliks or
sanjaks), sometimes grouped under a governor-general (styled
beylerbey).
Modern post-feudal & colonial provinces
*in the Spanish empire, at several echelons:
**
viceroyalty above
**
intendencia
*former British colonies
**
Province of Canada (1840-1867)
**
South Australia Province of South Australia (now an
States and territories of Australia Australian state)
**
Provinces of India
*The former
provinces of France
*The former
provinces of Ireland
*The former
provinces of Japan
*The former
provinces of Sweden
*The former
Republic of the Seven United Provinces (The Netherlands)
*The former
United Provinces of Central America
See also
*
Governor
*
Lists of unofficial regions by country
*
Provincialism
Sources and references
(incomplete)
-
Etymology OnLine
-
WorldStatesmen
{{Subnational entity}}
Category:Provinces *
Category:Subnational entities
ast:Provincia
ca:ProvÃncia
cs:Provincie
da:Provins
de:Provinz
es:Provincia
eo:Provinco
fa:استان
fr:Province
fy:Provinsje
gl:Provincia
ko:ë?„ (í–‰ì • 구ì—)
hr:Pokrajina
id:Provinsi
it:Provincia
he:×¤×¨×•×‘×™× ×¦×™×”
la:Provincia
li:Provincie
nl:Provincie
ja:�
no:Provins
nn:Provins
pt:ProvÃncia
scn:Pruvincia
simple:Province
su:Propinsi
sv:Provins
th:จังหวัด
vi:Tỉnh
tr:Ä°l
uk:ПровінціÑ?
zh:�
provinces of {{{2}}} province of
{{{1}}} Province {{{1}}},
{{{2}}}
*** Shopping-Tip: Province
