HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the
ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...
'' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''province'' has since been adopted by many countries. In some countries with no actual provinces, "the provinces" is a metaphorical term meaning "outside the capital city". While some provinces were produced artificially by colonial powers, others were formed around local groups with their own ethnic identities. Many have their own powers independent of central or federal authority, especially
in Canada IN, In or in may refer to: Places * India (country code IN) * Indiana, United States (postal code IN) * Ingolstadt, Germany (license plate code IN) * In, Russia, a town in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast Businesses and organizations * In ...
and Pakistan. In other countries, like
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
or France, provinces are the creation of central government, with very little autonomy.


Etymology

The English word ''province'' is attested since about 1330 and derives from the 13th-century Old French , which itself comes from the Latin word , which referred to the sphere of authority of a magistrate, in particular, to a foreign territory. A
popular etymology A false etymology (fake etymology, popular etymology, etymythology, pseudo-etymology, or par(a)etymology) is a popular but false belief about the origin or derivation of a specific word. It is sometimes called a folk etymology, but this is also a ...
is from Latin ("on behalf of") and ("to triumph" or "to take control of"). Thus a "province" would be a territory or function that a Roman magistrate held control of on behalf of his government. In fact, the word ''province'' is 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 under Roman law.


History and culture

In France, the expression still means "outside the Paris region". Equivalent expressions are used in Peru (, "outside the city of Lima"), Mexico (, "lands outside Mexico City"), Romania (, "outside the Bucharest region"), Poland (, "provincial"), Bulgaria (, , "in the provinces" and , , "provincial") and the Philippines (, "from outside Metro Manila", , "in the provinces", or "in the countryside"). Similarly, in Australia "provincial" refers to parts of a state outside of the state capital. Before the French Revolution, France comprised a variety of jurisdictions (built around the early Capetian royal
demesne A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. The concept or ...
), some being considered "provinces", though the term was also used colloquially for territories as small as a
manor Manor may refer to: Land ownership *Manorialism or "manor system", the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of medieval Europe, notably England *Lord of the manor, the owner of an agreed area of land (or "manor") under manorialism *Man ...
(). Most commonly referred to as "provinces", however, were the , generally former medieval feudal principalities, or agglomerations of such. Today the expression is regularly replaced in the media by the more politically correct , now being the term officially used for the secondary level of government. In Italy, generally means "outside the biggest regional capitals" (like Rome, Milan, Naples, etc.). For the United Kingdom use of the word is often pejorative, assuming a
stereotype In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...
of the denizens of the provinces to be less culturally aware than those in the capital. The historic European provinces—built up of many small regions, called by the French and " cantons" by the Swiss, each with a local cultural identity and focused upon a market town—have been depicted by Fernand Braudel as the optimum-size political unit in pre-industrial
Early Modern Europe Early modern Europe, also referred to as the post-medieval period, is the period of European history between the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, roughly the late 15th century to the late 18th century. Histori ...
. He asks, "Was the province not its inhabitants' true ' fatherland'?" Even centrally-organized France, an early
nation-state A nation state is a political unit where the state and nation are congruent. It is a more precise concept than "country", since a country does not need to have a predominant ethnic group. A nation, in the sense of a common ethnicity, may inc ...
, could collapse into autonomous provincial worlds under pressure, as during the sustained crisis of the French Wars of Religion (1562–98). The British colonies in North America were often named provinces. Most (but not all) of the thirteen colonies that eventually formed the United States were called provinces. All declared themselves "states" when they became independent. The
Connecticut Colony The ''Connecticut Colony'' or ''Colony of Connecticut'', originally known as the Connecticut River Colony or simply the River Colony, was an English colony in New England which later became Connecticut. It was organized on March 3, 1636 as a settl ...
, the Delaware Colony, Rhode Island and the
Colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia, chartered in 1606 and settled in 1607, was the first enduring English colonial empire, English colony in North America, following failed attempts at settlement on Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey GilbertG ...
never used the title "province". The British colonies further north, which remained loyal to Britain and later confederated to form the original Canada, retained the title of "province" and are still known as such to the present day. To 19th- and 20th-century historians, in Europe, centralized government was a sign of modernity and political maturity. In the late 20th century, as the European Union drew
nation-state A nation state is a political unit where the state and nation are congruent. It is a more precise concept than "country", since a country does not need to have a predominant ethnic group. A nation, in the sense of a common ethnicity, may inc ...
s closer together, centripetal forces seemed simultaneously to move countries toward more flexible systems of more localized, provincial governing entities under the overall European Union umbrella. Spain after
Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War ...
has been a "State of Autonomies", formally unitary but in fact functioning as a federation of Autonomous Communities, each exercising different powers. (See Politics of Spain.) While Serbia, the rump of former Yugoslavia, fought the separatists in the province of Kosovo, the United Kingdom, under the political principle of "
devolution Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territories h ...
", produced (1998) local parliaments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In ancient India, unlike the Mauryas, the Gupta Empire gave local areas a great deal of independence and divided the empire into 26 large provinces, styled as Bhukti, Pradesha and Bhoga.


Legal aspects

In many federations and confederations, the province or state is not clearly subordinate to the national or central government. Rather, it is considered to be
sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin , meaning 'above'. The roles of a sovereign vary from monarch, ruler or ...
in regard to its particular set of constitutional functions. The central- and provincial-government functions, or areas of jurisdiction, are identified in a constitution. Those that are not specifically identified are called "residual powers". In a decentralized federal system (such as the United States and
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
) these residual powers lie at the provincial or state level, whereas in a centralized federal system (such as Canada) they are retained at the federal level. Some of the
enumerated power The enumerated powers (also called expressed powers, explicit powers or delegated powers) of the United States Congress are the powers granted to the federal government of the United States by the United States Constitution. Most of these powers ar ...
s can be quite important. For example,
Canadian provinces Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...
are sovereign in regard to such important matters as property, civil rights, education, social welfare and medical services. The growth of the modern welfare state has resulted in these functions, assigned to the provinces, becoming more important compared to those assigned to the federal government and thus provincial governments have become more important than the Fathers of Confederation originally intended. Canada's status as a federation of provinces under the Dominion of the British Empire rather than an independent country also had certain legal implications. Provinces could appeal court rulings over the heads of the
Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...
to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London. As well, provinces could bypass the Supreme Court and go directly to London from any Provincial Court. The Canadian Supreme Court tended to support the view that the Canadian Constitution was 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 for forum shopping for 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 taxing power while province governments are restricted to imposing
direct taxes Although the actual definitions vary between jurisdictions, in general, a direct tax or income tax is a tax imposed upon a person or property as distinct from a tax imposed upon a transaction, which is described as an indirect tax. There is a dis ...
, the Canadian government introduced an income tax during World 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. The
sales tax A sales tax is a tax paid to a governing body for the sales of certain goods and services. Usually laws allow the seller to collect funds for the tax from the consumer at the point of purchase. When a tax on goods or services is paid to a govern ...
also become a major revenue generator for provinces, so in 1991 the Canadian government introduced a Goods 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 for
foreign policy A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...
, 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 dispute Internal may refer to: * Internality as a concept in behavioural economics * Neijia, internal styles of Chinese martial arts * Neigong or "internal skills", a type of exercise in meditation associated with Daoism *'' Internal (album)'' by Safia, 20 ...
s that lead to
constitutional amendment A constitutional amendment is a modification of the constitution of a polity, organization or other type of entity. Amendments are often interwoven into the relevant sections of an existing constitution, directly altering the text. Conversely, t ...
s and 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 in paradiplomacy, be it performed under a legal framework or as a trend informally admitted as legitimate by the central authorities. In unitary states such as France and
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, 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 a federal state and not a confederation, in practice it is among the world's more decentralized federations. Canadian Confederation and the Constitution Act, 1867 conferred 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. Alberta in particular dissolved and merged hundreds of local governments during the 1940s and 1950s as a consequence of the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
. Other provinces have arbitrarily merged and annexed independent suburbs to major Canadian cities such as Toronto or Montreal without the approval of local voters.


Current provinces

Not all first-level political entities are termed "provinces." In Arab countries, the first administrative level of government—called a ''muhafazah''—is usually translated as a "
governorate A governorate is an administrative division of a state. It is headed by a governor. As English-speaking nations tend to call regions administered by governors either State (administrative division), states or province, provinces, the term ''govern ...
." In Poland, the equivalent of "province" is "''
województwo A voivodeship is the area administered by a voivode (Governor) in several countries of central and eastern Europe. Voivodeships have existed since medieval times and the area of extent of voivodeship resembles that of a duchy in western medieval ...
''," sometimes rendered in English as " voivodeship."Also spelled "voivodship," "voi''e''vodship," "voi''e''vod''e''ship". Historically, New Zealand was divided into provinces, 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 certain public 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 16 Regions into which New Zealand is divided, and also the 21 District Health Boards. Sometimes the term ''the provinces'' is 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, Hamilton and Dunedin.


Modern provinces

In many countries, a province is a relatively small non-constituent level of sub-national government, such as a county 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 the Netherlands—and a large constituent autonomous area, as in Argentina, Canada, South Africa, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It can also be a constituent element of a federation, confederation, or
republic A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...
. For example, in the United States, no state may secede from the federal Union without the permission of the
federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...
. In other nations—such as Belgium, Chile, Italy, Peru, the Philippines, and Spain—a province is a second-level administrative sub-division of a region (which is the first-order administrative sub-division of the nation). Italian provinces are mainly named after their principal town and comprise several administrative sub-divisions called '' comuni'' (communes). In Chile, they are referred to as '' comunas''. Chile has 15 regions, subdivided into 53 provinces, of which each is run by a governor appointed by the president. Italy has 20 regions, subdivided into 14 metropolitan cities and 96 provinces. Peru has 25 regions, subdivided into 194 provinces. Spain has 17 autonomous communities and 2 autonomous cities, subdivided into 50 provinces. The island of Ireland is divided into four historic provinces (see
Provinces of Ireland There have been four Provinces of Ireland: Connacht (Connaught), Leinster, Munster, and Ulster. The Irish language, Irish word for this territorial division, , meaning "fifth part", suggests that there were once five, and at times Kingdom_of_ ...
), each of which is sub-divided into counties. These provinces are Connacht (in the west), Leinster (in the east),
Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...
(in the south) and, Ulster (in the north). Nowadays these provinces have little or no administrative function, though they do have sporting significance. From the 19th century, the Portuguese colonies were considered overseas provinces of Portugal. Similarly, some overseas parts of the British Empire bore the colonial title of "province" (in a more Roman sense), such as the Province of Canada and the Province of South Australia (the latter, to distinguish it from the penal "colonies" elsewhere in
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
). Likewise, prior to the American Revolution, most of the original Thirteen Colonies in
British America British America comprised the colonial territories of the English Empire, which became the British Empire after the 1707 union of the Kingdom of England with the Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, in the Americas from 16 ...
were provinces as well, such as the Province of Georgia and the Province of New Hampshire.


Canada

The constituent entities of Canada are known as provinces. Prior to confederation, the term province was used in reference to several British colonies situated in Canada; such as the colonial Province of Quebec. In 1791, Quebec split into two separate colonies, the provinces of Lower Canada, and Upper Canada. The two colonies were later merged in 1841 to form the Province of Canada. From its separation from Nova Scotia in the 18th century, New Brunswick was known as His/Her Majesty's Province of New Brunswick. After Canadian confederation in 1867, the term ''provinces'' continued to be used, in reference to the sub-national governments of Canada. Because Canada is the second-largest country in the world by area, but has only 10 provinces, most Canadian provinces are very large— six of its ten provinces are larger than any country in Europe except Russia, and its largest province Quebec——is almost two and a half times as large as France—. Six provinces, including five of the oldest Canadian provinces— Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince 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 the Canadian Constitution assigns 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". The Western provinces have more varied types of administrative sub-divisions than the Eastern provinces. The province of British Columbia has "regional districts" which function as county-equivalents. Manitoba and Saskatchewan are divided into rural municipalities. Alberta is 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 Park Sherwood Park is a large hamlet in Alberta, Canada within Strathcona County that is recognized as an urban service area. It is located adjacent to the City of Edmonton's eastern boundary, generally south of Highway 16 (Yellowhead Trail), ...
is an unincorporated "urban service area" of 65,465 within Strathcona County, which has most of the oil refining capacity in Western Canada; Fort McMurray was once a city but dissolved itself and became an "urban service area" of 70,964 people within the Regional Municipality (R.M.) of Wood Buffalo, which has several multibillion-dollar oil sands plants; and Lloydminster, 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

Pakistan is administratively divided into four provinces, which are: * Punjab *
Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...
* Khyber Pakhtunkhwa * Balochistan It also has two autonomous territories: * Azad Jammu and Kashmir * Gilgit Baltistan


Russia

The term "province" is sometimes used to refer to the historic governorates ('' guberniyas'') of Russia. This terms also refers to the ''provinces'' (), 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 the oblasts and krais of Russia.


Polities translated


Historic provinces


Ancient, medieval and feudal

* The Roman Empire was divided into provinces ('' provinciae''); this is from which the term originated. Later Eastern Half: see Exarchate, thema * Caliphate and subsequent sultanates: see Emirate *
Khanate A khaganate or khanate was a polity ruled by a khan, khagan, khatun, or khanum. That political territory was typically found on the Eurasian Steppe and could be equivalent in status to tribal chiefdom, principality, kingdom or empire. Mong ...
can also mean a province as well as an independent state, as either can be headed by a Khan * Pharaonic Egypt: see
nome (Egypt) A nome (, from grc, νομός, ''nomós'', "district") was a territorial division in ancient Egypt. Each nome was ruled by a nomarch ( egy, ḥrj tp ꜥꜣ Great Chief). The number of nomes changed through the various periods of the history ...
* Frankish (Carolingian) 're-founded' Holy Roman Empire: see gau and county * In the
Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
territories, the traditional provinces are partly expressed in the ''Länder'' of 19th-century Austria-Hungary. * Mughal Empire:
subah A Subah was the term for a province (State) in the Mughal Empire. The word is derived from Arabic and Persian. The governor/ruler of a ''Subah'' was known as a '' subahdar'' (sometimes also referred to as a "''Subeh''"), which later became ''subed ...
* The
provinces of the Ottoman Empire The administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire were administrative divisions of the state organisation of the Ottoman Empire. Outside this system were various types of vassal and tributary states. The Ottoman Empire was first subdivided ...
had various types of governors (generally a pasha), but mostly styled vali, hence the predominant term '' vilayet'', generally subdivided (often in beyliks or sanjaks), sometimes grouped under a governor-general (styled
beylerbey ''Beylerbey'' ( ota, بكلربكی, beylerbeyi, lit=bey of beys, meaning the 'commander of commanders' or 'lord of lords') was a high rank in the western Islamic world in the late Middle Ages and early modern period, from the Anatolian Seljuks ...
). * 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 * In the Tartar Khanate of Kazan: the five daruğa ('direction')


Colonial and early modern

* Spanish empire, at several echelons: ** viceroyalty above **
intendencia An intendant (; pt, intendente ; es, intendente ) was, and sometimes still is, a public official, especially in France, Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. The intendancy system was a centralizing administrative system developed in France. In ...
* The former Republic of the Seven United Provinces ( The Netherlands) * British colonies: ** American Southern Colonies ***
Province of Carolina Province of Carolina was a province of England (1663–1707) and Great Britain (1707–1712) that existed in North America and the Caribbean from 1663 until partitioned into North and South on January 24, 1712. It is part of present-day Alaba ...
(1629–1712) *** Province of North Carolina (1712–1776) *** Province of South Carolina (1712–1776) ***
Province of Maryland The Province of Maryland was an English and later British colony in North America that existed from 1632 until 1776, when it joined the other twelve of the Thirteen Colonies in rebellion against Great Britain and became the U.S. state of Maryland ...
(1632–1776) *** Province of Georgia (1732–1777) ** American Middle Colonies *** Province of New Jersey (1664–1776) *** Province of New York (1664–1783) ***
Province of Pennsylvania The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn after receiving a land grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania ("Penn's Woods") refers to W ...
(1681–1783) ** American
New England Colonies The New England Colonies of British America included Connecticut Colony, the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth Colony, and the Province of New Hampshire, as well as a few smaller short-lived colon ...
*** Province of New Hampshire (1680–1686, 1692–1783) *** Province of Massachusetts Bay (1692–1776) *** Province of Maine (various dates) ** Canada (New France) *** Province of Quebec (1763–1791) *** Province of Lower Canada (1791–1841) ***
Province of Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of th ...
(1791–1841) ***
United Province of Canada The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report on the ...
(1841–1867) **
Provinces of India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
** Provinces of the Philippines **
Provinces of New Zealand The provinces of the Colony of New Zealand existed as a form of sub-national government. Initially established in 1846 when New Zealand was a Crown colony without responsible government, two provinces (New Ulster and New Munster) were establi ...
(1841–1876) **
Provinces of Nigeria The Provinces of Nigeria were administrative divisions in Nigeria, in use from 1900 to 1967 in Colonial Nigeria and shortly after independence. They were altered many times through their history. They were divided into divisions; some of these were ...
** Province of South Australia (now an
Australian state The states and territories are federated administrative divisions in Australia, ruled by regional governments that constitute the second level of governance between the federal government and local governments. States are self-governing ...
) * The former provinces of Brazil * The former
provinces of France The Kingdom of France was organised into provinces until the National Constituent Assembly adopted a more uniform division into departments (''départements'') and districts in late 1789. The provinces continued to exist administratively until 2 ...
* The former
provinces of Ireland There have been four Provinces of Ireland: Connacht (Connaught), Leinster, Munster, and Ulster. The Irish language, Irish word for this territorial division, , meaning "fifth part", suggests that there were once five, and at times Kingdom_of_ ...
* The former provinces of Japan * The
provinces of Prussia The Provinces of Prussia (german: Provinzen Preußens) were the main administrative divisions of Prussia from 1815 to 1946. Prussia's province system was introduced in the Stein-Hardenberg Reforms in 1815, and were mostly organized from duchies a ...
, a former German kingdom/
republic A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...
* The provinces of the Republic of New Granada * The former provinces of Sweden * The former United Provinces of Central America * The former United Provinces of the Río de la Plata


See also

* Governor * Region * Provincialism * Regionalism (politics) * Rise: The Vieneo Province *
-stan The suffix -stan ( fa, ـستان, translit=''stân'' after a vowel; ''estân'' or ''istân'' after a consonant), has the meaning of "a place abounding in" or "a place where anything abounds" in the Persian language. It appears in the names of ...


References


External links


Etymology Online
* {{Authority control Types of administrative division