A ''seniūnija'' (in English: eldership, elderate, ward, parish, or subdistrict) is the smallest administrative division of

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

. An eldership may comprise a very small

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

consisting of few

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

s, one single

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

, or a part of a big

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

. Elderships vary in size and population depending on their location and nature. A few elderships make up a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Šilainiai Šilainiai is an elderate in the Lithuanian city of Kaunas, built as a microdistrict in the 1980s. It is one of the largest elderates in the city, covering and housing over 70,000 people as of 2006. Eighth and Ninth Forts of the Kaunas Fortres ...

(Kaunas) and

Dainava (Kaunas) Dainava is a mostly Soviet-built neighbourhood built in 1963, initially as a microdistrict) located in the north-northeast part of second largest Lithuanian city of Kaunas. It has an elderate status. Before 2005 it included the Gričiupis secti ...

are the most populous elderates, with population counts over , exceeding the population of some entire municipalities. Elderships manage small-scale local matters, such as repairing pavements and dirt roads, and keep records on all families living in the eldership. The premise of the concept is that - unlike in higher administrative divisions - an elder (the

leader Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets vi ...

of the eldership) could have time to talk to every person in the eldership who wants to. Modern Lithuania is divided into 10 counties, 60 municipalities, and 546 elderships. Elderships function as municipal districts. In cities, an elder is elected to each eldership district, along with a mayor for the city. Which Major City in Lithuania are any of the Lithuanian Elderships closest to

Which Major City in Lithuania are any of the Lithuanian Elderships closest to

In the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that existed from the 13th century to 1795, when the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire of Austria. The state was founded by Li ...

the term referred to significantly larger administrative units, ''Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštijos administracinio teritorinio suskirstymo raida'' ("Development of the administrative territorial division of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania"), ''

Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija The ''Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija'' or VLE (translation ''Universal Lithuanian Encyclopedia'') is a 25-volume universal Lithuanian-language encyclopedia published by the Science and Encyclopaedia Publishing Institute from 2001 to 2014. VL ...

'', vol. XII (Lietuva)such as the Eldership of Samogitia, the name of the

Duchy of Samogitia The Duchy of Samogitia ( lt, Žemaičių seniūnija, sgs, Žemaitėjės seniūnėjė, pl, Księstwo żmudzkie)Grzegorz Błaszczyk, ''Żmudź w XVII i XVIII wieku: zaludnienie i struktura społeczna'', Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Pozn ...

during 1422-1441.

References

Subdivisions of Lithuania Lithuania 3 Elderships, Lithuania {{Lithuania-stub

See also

References