A village is a clustered

human settlement In geography, statistics and archaeology, a settlement, locality or populated place is a community in which people live. The complexity of a settlement can range from a minuscule number of dwellings grouped together to the largest of ci ...

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

, larger than a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

but smaller than a

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 ...

(although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Though villages are often located in

rural area In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are descr ...

s, the term

urban village In urban planning and design, an urban village is an urban development typically characterized by medium-density housing, mixed use zoning, good public transit and an emphasis on pedestrianization and public space. Contemporary urban village id ...

is also applied to certain urban neighborhoods. Villages are normally permanent, with fixed dwellings; however, transient villages can occur. Further, the dwellings of a village are fairly close to one another, not scattered broadly over the landscape, as a

dispersed settlement A dispersed settlement, also known as a scattered settlement, is one of the main types of settlement patterns used by landscape historians to classify rural settlements found in England and other parts of the world. Typically, there are a numb ...

In the past, villages were a usual form of community for societies that practice subsistence agriculture, and also for some non-agricultural societies. In

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

, a hamlet earned the right to be called a village when it built a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

.Dr Greg Stevenson, "What is a Village?"
, ''Exploring British Villages'', BBC, 2006, accessed 20 October 2009 In many cultures, towns and cities were few, with only a small proportion of the population living in them. The

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

attracted people in larger numbers to work in mills and factories; the concentration of people caused many villages to grow into towns and cities. This also enabled specialization of labor and crafts, and development of many trades. The trend of

urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly t ...

continues, though not always in connection with industrialization. Historically homes were situated together for sociability and defiance, and land surrounding the living quarters was farmed.

Traditional fishing village A fishing village is a village, usually located near a fishing ground, with an economy based on catching fish and harvesting seafood. The continents and islands around the world have coastlines totalling around 356,000 kilometres (221,000 ...

s were based on

artisan fishing Artisanal fishing (or traditional/subsistence fishing) consists of various small-scale, low-technology, low-capital, fishing practices undertaken by individual fishing households (as opposed to commercial fishing). Many of these households are ...

and located adjacent to fishing grounds. In

toponomastic Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

terminology, names of individual villages are called ''Comonyms'' (from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

κώμη / village and ὄνυμα / name, f. ὄνομα.

South Asia

Afghanistan

In Afghanistan, the village, or ''deh'' (

Dari Dari (, , ), also known as Dari Persian (, ), is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the term officially recognised and promoted since 1964 by the Afghan government for the Persian language,Lazard, G.Darī ...

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...

: ده) is the mid-size settlement type in Afghan society, trumping the hamlet or ''qala'' (

: قلعه,

: کلي), though smaller than the town, or ''shār'' (

: شهر,

: ښار). In contrast to the ''qala'', the ''deh'' is generally a bigger settlement which includes a commercial area, while the yet larger ''shār'' includes governmental buildings and services such as schools of higher education, basic health care, police stations etc. Mollösund 1

India

''"The soul of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

lives in its villages,"'' declared

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

at the beginning of 20th century. According to the

2011 census of India The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The House listing phase began on 1 April 2010 and involved the collection of information about all buildings. Information ...

, 69% of Indians (around 833 million people) live in 640,867 different villages. The size of these villages varies considerably. 236,004 Indian villages have a population of fewer than 500, while 3,976 villages have a population of 10,000+. Most of the villages have their own temple, mosque, or church, depending on the local religious following.

Pakistan

The majority of Pakistanis live in rural areas. According to the 2017 census about 64% of Pakistanis live in rural areas. Most rural areas in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

tend to be near cities, and are

peri-urban Peri-urbanisation relates to the processes of scattered and dispersive urban growth that create hybrid landscapes of fragmented and mixed urban and rural characteristics. Origin The expression originates from the French word ' ("peri-urban" ...

areas, This is due to the definition of a rural area in Pakistan being an area that does not come within an

urban Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

boundary. Village is called dehair or gaaon in

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Pakistani village life is marked by kinship and exchange relations. Dosut, Neelum Valley cool beautiful evening

Central Asia

Auyl ( kk, Ауыл) is a Kazakh word meaning "village" in

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

. According to the 2009 census of Kazakhstan, 42.7% of Kazakhstani citizens (7.5 million people) live in 8172 different villages.. To refer to this concept along with the word "auyl" often used the Slavic word "selo" in Northern Kazakhstan.

East Asia

People's Republic of China In

mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...

villages 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 ...

are divisions under

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

. Republic of China (Taiwan) In the Republic of China (

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

), villages are divisions under

townships A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

or county-administered cities. The village is called a ''tsuen'' or ''cūn'' (村) under a rural township (鄉) and a ''li'' (里) under an urban township (鎮) or a county-controlled city. See also

Li (unit) ''Li'' (, ''lǐ'', or , ''shìlǐ''), also known as the Chinese mile, is a traditional Chinese unit of distance. The li has varied considerably over time but was usually about one third of an English mile and now has a standardized length of a ...

. Japan

South Korea

Southeast Asia

Brunei

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by t ...

, villages are officially the third- and lowest-level

subdivisions of Brunei The administrative divisions of Brunei mainly consist of ''daerah'' (districts), ''mukim'' (subdistricts) and ''kampung'' or ''kampong'' (villages). They are organised hierarchically, with ''daerah'' being the first level and ''kampong'' the thir ...

below districts and mukims. A village is locally known by the Malay word (also spelt as ). They may be villages in the traditional or anthropological sense but may also comprise delineated residential settlements, both rural and urban. The community of a village is headed by a

village head A village head, village headman or village chief is the community leader of a village or a small town. Usage Brunei In Brunei, village head is called or in the Malay language. It is an administrative post which leads the community of a v ...

(). Communal infrastructure for the villagers may include a primary school, a religious school providing or Islamic religious primary education which is compulsory for the Muslim pupils in the country, a mosque, and a

community centre Community centres, community centers, or community halls are public locations where members of a community tend to gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may sometimes be open for the whole co ...

( or ).

Indonesia

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, depending on the principles they are administered, villages are called ''Kampung'' or ''Desa'' (officially ''kelurahan''). A ''"Desa"'' (a term that derives from a

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

word meaning "country" that is found in the name "

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

"=''bangla'' and ''desh/desha'') is administered according to traditions and customary law ('' adat''), while a ''kelurahan'' is administered along more "modern" principles. ''Desa'' are generally located in rural areas while ''kelurahan'' are generally urban subdivisions. A village head is respectively called ''kepala desa'' or ''lurah''. Both are elected by the local community. A ''desa'' or ''kelurahan'' is the subdivision of a ''

kecamatan The term ''district'', in the context of Indonesia, refers to the third-level administrative subdivision, below regency or city. The local term ' is used in the majority of Indonesian areas, except in Papua, West Papua, and the Special Region o ...

'' (subdistrict), in turn the subdivision of a ''

kabupaten A regency ( id, kabupaten), sometimes incorrectly referred to as a district, is an administrative division of Indonesia, directly under a province and on the same level with city (''kota''). Regencies is divided into districts (''Kecamatan'', ''D ...

'' (district) or '' kota'' (city). The same general concept applies all over Indonesia. However, there is some variation among the vast numbers of Austronesian ethnic groups. For instance, in

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...

villages have been created by grouping traditional hamlets or ''banjar'', which constitute the basis of Balinese social life. In the

Minangkabau Minangkabau may refer to: * Minangkabau culture, culture of the Minangkabau people * Minangkabau Culture Documentation and Information Center * Minangkabau Express, an airport rail link service serving Minangkabau International Airport (''see belo ...

area in

West Sumatra West Sumatra ( id, Sumatra Barat) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It is located on the west coast of the island of Sumatra and includes the Mentawai Islands off that coast. The province has an area of , with a population of 5, ...

province, traditional villages are called ''nagari'' (a term deriving from another Sanskrit word meaning "city", which can be found in the name like "

Srinagar Srinagar (English: , ) is the largest city and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its natu ...

"=''sri'' and ''nagar/nagari''). In some areas such as Tanah Toraja, elders take turns watching over the village at a command post. As a general rule, ''desa'' and ''kelurahan'' are groupings of hamlets (''kampung'' in Indonesian, ''dusun'' in the

Javanese language Javanese (, , ; , Aksara Jawa: , Pegon: , IPA: ) is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by the Javanese people from the central and eastern parts of the island of Java, Indonesia. There are also pockets of Javanese speakers on the northe ...

, ''banjar'' in Bali). a ''kampung'' is defined today as a

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 ...

and

Malaysia and Singapore

''Kampung'' is a term used in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, (sometimes spelling ''kampong'' or ''kompong'' in the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

) for "a Malay hamlet or village in a Malay-speaking country". In Malaysia, a ''kampung'' is determined as a locality with 10,000 or fewer people. Since historical times, every Malay village came under the leadership of a ''

penghulu Penghulu ( Jawi: ; also Pěnghulu) is the headman or chief of a region in traditional societies on the Malay archipelago in Maritime Southeast Asia. The term is currently used in Brunei and Malaysia as the community leader of the smaller country ...

'' (village chief), who has the power to hear civil matters in his village (see

Courts of Malaysia Judiciary of Malaysia is largely centralised despite Malaysia's federal constitution, heavily influenced by the English common law, as well as Islamic jurisprudence. Current system There are generally two types of trials, criminal and civ ...

for more details). A Malay village typically contains a ''"masjid"'' (

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

) or ''"

surau A surau is an Islamic assembly building in some regions of Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula used for worship and religious instruction. Generally smaller physical structures, its ritual functions are similar to a mosque, allow men and women, an ...

"'',

paddy field A paddy field is a flooded field (agriculture), field of arable land used for growing Aquatic plant, semiaquatic crops, most notably rice and taro. It originates from the Neolithic rice-farming cultures of the Yangtze River basin in sout ...

s and

Malay houses Malay houses ( Malay: ''Rumah Melayu;'' Jawi: رومه ملايو) refer to the vernacular dwellings of the Malays, an ethno-linguistic group inhabiting Sumatra, coastal Borneo and the Malay Peninsula. Traditional architectural forms, such ...

stilts Stilts are poles, posts or pillars that allow a person or structure to stand at a height above the ground. In flood plains, and on beaches or unstable ground, buildings are often constructed on stilts to protect them from damage by water, wav ...

. Malay and Indonesian villagers practice the culture of helping one another as a community, which is better known as "joint bearing of burdens" (''

gotong royong Communal work is a gathering for mutually accomplishing a task or for communal fundraising. Communal work provided manual labour to others, especially for major projects such as barn raising, "bees" of various kinds (see below), log rolling, and ...

''). They are family-oriented (especially the concept of respecting one's family articularly the parents and elders,

courtesy Courtesy (from the word ''courteis'', from the 12th century) is gentle politeness and courtly manners. In the Middle Ages in Europe, the behaviour expected of the nobility was compiled in courtesy books. History The apex of European courtly cul ...

and practice belief in

God In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...

(''"Tuhan"'') as paramount to everything else. It is common to see a cemetery near the mosque. All Muslims in the Malay or Indonesian village want to be prayed for, and to receive

Allah Allah (; ar, الله, translit=Allāh, ) is the common Arabic word for God. In the English language, the word generally refers to God in Islam. The word is thought to be derived by contraction from '' al- ilāh'', which means "the god", an ...

's blessings in the

afterlife The afterlife (also referred to as life after death) is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's identity or their stream of consciousness continues to live after the death of their physical body. The surviving ess ...

. In

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...

and

East Kalimantan East Kalimantan (Indonesian: ) is a province of Indonesia. Its territory comprises the eastern portion of Borneo. It had a population of about 3.03 million at the 2010 census (within the current boundary), 3.42 million at the 2015 census, and 3. ...

, some villages are called 'long', primarily inhabited by the

Orang Ulu Orang Ulu ("people of the interior" in Malay) is an ethnic designation politically coined to group together roughly 27 very small but ethnically diverse tribal groups in northeastern Sarawak, Malaysia with populations ranging from less than 300 p ...

. Malaysian ''kampung'' were once aplenty in Singapore but there are almost no remaining ''kampung'' villages; the very few to have survived until today are mostly on outlying

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

s surrounding mainland Singapore, such as

Pulau Ubin Pulau Ubin, also simply known as Ubin, is an island situated in the north east of Singapore, to the west of Pulau Tekong. The granite quarry used to be supported by a few thousand settlers on Pulau Ubin in the 1960s, but only about 38 villagers ...

. Mainland Singapore used to have many ''kampung'' villages but modern developments and rapid urbanisation works have seen them bulldozed away;

Kampong Lorong Buangkok Kampong Lorong Buangkok (alternatively ''Kampung Lorong Buangkok''; Jawi: كامڤوڠ لوروڠ بواڠكوق; ) is a village located in Buangkok in Hougang, Singapore. Built in 1956, it is the last surviving kampong located on Singapore Is ...

is the last surviving village on the country's mainland. The term "kampung", sometimes spelled "kampong", is one of many Malay words to have entered common usage in Malaysia and Singapore. Locally, the term is frequently used to refer to either one's hometown or a rural village, depending on the intended context.

Myanmar

Philippines

In urban areas of the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, the term "village" most commonly refers to private subdivisions, especially

gated communities A gated community (or walled community) is a form of residential community or housing estate containing strictly controlled entrances for pedestrians, bicycles, and automobiles, and often characterized by a closed perimeter of walls and fences. ...

. These villages emerged in the mid-20th century and were initially the domain of

elite In political and sociological theory, the elite (french: élite, from la, eligere, to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. D ...

urban dwellers. Those are common in major cities in the country and their residents have a wide range of income levels. Such villages may or may not correspond to a

barangay A barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as barrio (abbreviated as Bo.), is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district, or ward. In metropolitan ...

(the country's basic unit of government, also glossed as village), or be privately administered. Barangays correspond more to precolonial villages; the chairman (formerly the village

datu ''Datu'' is a title which denotes the rulers (variously described in historical accounts as chiefs, sovereign princes, and monarchs) of numerous indigenous peoples throughout the Philippine archipelago. The title is still used today, especial ...

) now settles administrative, intrapersonal, and political matters or polices the area though with much less authority and respect than in Indonesia or Malaysia.

Thailand

Vietnam

Village, or "làng", is a basis of

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

society. Vietnam's village is the typical symbol of Asian agricultural production. Vietnam's village typically contains: a village gate, "lũy tre" (bamboo hedges), "đình làng" (communal house) where "thành hoàng" (

tutelary god A tutelary () (also tutelar) is a deity or a spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of "tutelary" expresses the concept of safety an ...

) is worshiped, a common well, "đồng lúa" (

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

field), "chùa" (temple) and houses of all families in the village. All the people in Vietnam's villages usually have a blood relationship. They are

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mig ...

s who grow rice and have the same traditional

handicraft A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

. Vietnam's villages have an important role in society (Vietnamese saying: "Custom rules the law" -"Phép vua thua lệ làng" iterally: the king's law yields to village customs. It is common for Vietnamese villagers to prefer to be buried in their village upon death.

Central and Eastern Europe

Slavic countries

''Selo'' (

Cyrillic , bg, кирилица , mk, кирилица , russian: кириллица , sr, ћирилица, uk, кирилиця , fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs , fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic , fam3 = Phoenician , fam4 = G ...

: село; pl, sioło) is a Slavic word meaning "village" in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

, and

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. For example, there are numerous ''sela'' (plural of ''selo'') called ''Novo Selo'' (''New Village'') in

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

, and

. Another Slavic word for a village is ''ves'' ( pl, wieś, wioska; cs, ves, vesnice; sk, ves; sl, vas; russian: весь, ves). In

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

, the word ''selo'' is used for very small villages (fewer than 100 people) and in dialects; the Slovene word ''vas'' is used all over

. In

, the word ''ves'' is archaic, but remains in idioms and locality names, such as

Vesyegonsk Vesyegonsk (russian: Весьего́нск) is a town and the administrative center of Vesyegonsky District in Tver Oblast, Russia. Population: The historical part of Vesyegonsk lies under the waters of the Rybinsk Reservoir. It was previousl ...

. The most commonly used word for village in Slovak is ''dedina'' (dialectical also ''dzedzina''). The word's etymology may be (or may not be) rooted in the verb ''dediť'' ("to inherit"), referencing the inheriting of whole villages or properties within villages by noblemen or wealthy landowners. Another etymology could be related to the Sanskrit word ''deśá'' (देश) similar to the Afghan ''deh'', Bengal ''desh'' and Indonesian ''desa''. The term ''ves'' appears in settlement names (mostly villages, but also some towns that evolved over time from villages). The dialect term for village in east Slovakia is also ''valal'' (or ''valala''). ''Dedina'' is unrelated to the rarer east Slavic term ''derevna'', which refers to a village with wooden (''derevo'') housing.

Bulgaria

, the different types of ''sela'' vary from a small selo of 5 to 30 families to one of several thousand people. According to a 2002 census, in that year there were 2,385,000 Bulgarian citizens living in settlements classified as ''villages''. A 2004 Human Settlement Profile on Bulgaria conducted by the

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) is part of the United Nations Secretariat and is responsible for the follow-up to major United Nations Summits and Conferences, as well as services to the United Nations Econ ...

stated that:

The most intensive is the migration "city – city". Approximately 46% of all migrated people have changed their residence from one city to another. The share of the migration processes "village – city" is significantly less – 23% and "city – village" – 20%. The migration "village – village" in 2002 is 11%.

It also stated that

the state of the environment in the small towns and villages is good apart from the low level of infrastructure.

In Bulgaria, it is popular to visit villages for the atmosphere, culture, crafts, hospitality of the people and the surrounding nature. This is called ''selski turizam'' ( bg, селски туризъм), meaning "village tourism".

Russia

In Russia, as of the 2010 Census, 26.3% of the country's population lives in rural localities; down from 26.7% recorded in the 2002 Census. Multiple types of rural localities exist, but the two most common are ''derevnya'' () and ''selo'' (). Historically, the formal indication of status was religious: a city (''gorod'', ) had a

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

, a ''selo'' had a church, while a ''derevnya'' had neither. The lowest administrative unit of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

, a ''

volost Volost ( rus, во́лость, p=ˈvoləsʲtʲ; ) was a traditional administrative subdivision in Eastern Europe. In earlier East Slavic history, ''volost'' was a name for the territory ruled by the knyaz, a principality; either as an absolute ...

'', or its Soviet or modern Russian successor, a ''

selsoviet Selsoviet ( be, сельсавет, r=sieĺsaviet, tr. ''sieĺsaviet''; rus, сельсовет, p=ˈsʲelʲsɐˈvʲɛt, r=selsovet; uk, сільрада, silrada) is a shortened name for a rural council and for the area governed by such a cou ...

'', was typically headquartered in a ''selo'' and embraced a few neighboring villages. In the 1960s–1970s, the depopulation of the smaller villages was driven by the central planners' drive in order to get the farm workers out of smaller, " prospectless" hamlets and into the

collective A collective is a group of entities that share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest, or work together to achieve a common objective. Collectives can differ from cooperatives in that they are not necessarily focused upon an ...

state farms State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

' main villages or even larger

s and

cities 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 ...

, with more amenities. Most Russian rural residents are involved in agricultural work, and it is very common for villagers to produce their own food. As prosperous urbanites purchase village houses for their second homes, Russian villages sometimes are transformed into

dacha A dacha ( rus, дача, p=ˈdatɕə, a=ru-dacha.ogg) is a seasonal or year-round second home, often located in the exurbs of post-Soviet countries, including Russia. A cottage (, ') or shack serving as a family's main or only home, or an outbu ...

settlements, used mostly for seasonal residence. The historically

Cossack The Cossacks , es, cosaco , et, Kasakad, cazacii , fi, Kasakat, cazacii , french: cosaques , hu, kozákok, cazacii , it, cosacchi , orv, коза́ки, pl, Kozacy , pt, cossacos , ro, cazaci , russian: казаки́ or ...

regions of Southern Russia and parts of

, with their

fertile soil Soil fertility refers to the ability of soil to sustain agricultural plant growth, i.e. to provide plant habitat and result in sustained and consistent yields of high quality.

and absence of

serfdom Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which develop ...

, had a rather different pattern of settlement from central and northern Russia. While peasants of central Russia lived in a village around the lord's manor, a Cossack family often lived on its own farm, called ''

khutor A khutor ( rus, хутор, p=ˈxutər) or khutir ( uk, хутiр, pl. , ''khutory'') is a type of rural locality in some countries of Eastern Europe; in the past the term mostly referred to a single-homestead settlement.

''. A number of such ''khutors'' plus a central village made up the administrative unit with a center in a ''

stanitsa A stanitsa ( rus, станица, p=stɐˈnʲitsə; uk, станиця, stanytsya) is a village inside a Cossack host ( uk, військо, viys’ko; russian: казачье войско, kazach’ye voysko, sometimes translated as "Cossack Arm ...

'' (russian: станица, stanitsa; uk, станиця, stanytsya, stanytsia). Such ''

s'', often with a few thousand residents, were usually larger than a typical ''selo'' in central Russia.

Ukraine

, a village, (), pronounced locally as ''selo'' (), is considered the lowest administrative unit. Villages are under the jurisdiction of a

hromada A hromada ( uk, територіальна громада, lit=territorial community, translit=terytorialna hromada) is a basic unit of administrative division in Ukraine, similar to a municipality. It was established by the Government of Ukra ...

administration. There is, however, another smaller type of settlement which is designated in Ukrainian as a ''selyshche'' (). This type of community is generally referred to in English as a "settlement". In comparison with an

urban-type settlement Urban-type settlementrussian: посёлок городско́го ти́па, translit=posyolok gorodskogo tipa, abbreviated: russian: п.г.т., translit=p.g.t.; ua, селище міського типу, translit=selyshche mis'koho typu, ab ...

, Ukrainian legislation does not have a concrete definition or a criterion to differentiate such settlements from villages. They represent a type of a small rural locality that might have once been a ''

khutir A khutor ( rus, хутор, p=ˈxutər) or khutir ( uk, хутiр, pl. , ''khutory'') is a type of rural locality in some countries of Eastern Europe; in the past the term mostly referred to a single-homestead settlement.

'', a fisherman's settlement, or a

. Sometimes, the term "''selyshche''" is also used in a more general way to refer to adjacent settlements near a bigger city including urban-type settlements (''selyshche miskoho typu'') or villages. However, ambiguity is often avoided in connection with urbanized settlements by referring to them using the three-letter abbreviation ''smt'' instead. The ''

'' () and ''

stanytsia A stanitsa ( rus, станица, p=stɐˈnʲitsə; uk, станиця, stanytsya) is a village inside a Cossack host ( uk, військо, viys’ko; russian: казачье войско, kazach’ye voysko, sometimes translated as "Cossack Arm ...

'' () are not part of the

administrative division Administrative division, administrative unit,Article 3(1). country subdivision, administrative region, subnational entity, constituent state, as well as many similar terms, are generic names for geographical areas into which a particular, ind ...

any longer, primarily due to

collectivization Collective farming and communal farming are various types of, "agricultural production in which multiple farmers run their holdings as a joint enterprise". There are two broad types of communal farms: agricultural cooperatives, in which member ...

. ''

Khutir A khutor ( rus, хутор, p=ˈxutər) or khutir ( uk, хутiр, pl. , ''khutory'') is a type of rural locality in some countries of Eastern Europe; in the past the term mostly referred to a single-homestead settlement.

s'' were very small rural localities consisting of just few housing units and were sort of individual farms. They became really popular during the

Stolypin reform The Stolypin agrarian reforms were a series of changes to Imperial Russia's agricultural sector instituted during the tenure of Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin. Most, if not all, of these reforms were based on recommendations from a committee known ...

in the early 20th century. During the collectivization, however, residents of such settlements were usually declared to be

kulaks Kulak (; russian: кула́к, r=kulák, p=kʊˈlak, a=Ru-кулак.ogg; plural: кулаки́, ''kulakí'', 'fist' or 'tight-fisted'), also kurkul () or golchomag (, plural: ), was the term which was used to describe peasants who owned ove ...

and had all their property confiscated and distributed to others (

nationalized Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

) without any compensation. The ''stanitsa'' likewise has not survived as an administrative term. The ''stanitsa'' was a type of a collective community that could include one or more settlements such as villages, ''khutirs'', and others. Today, ''stanitsa''-type formations have only survived in

Kuban Kuban (Russian language, Russian and Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Кубань; ady, Пшызэ) is a historical and geographical region of Southern Russia surrounding the Kuban River, on the Black Sea between the Pontic–Caspian steppe, ...

(

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

) where Ukrainians were resettled during the time of the

Western and Southern Europe

France

The Insee classifies

French communes The () is a level of administrative division in the French Republic. French are analogous to civil townships and incorporated municipalities in the United States and Canada, ' in Germany, ' in Italy, or ' in Spain. The United Kingdom's equi ...

into four groups according to population density: # Communes with high population density # Communes with intermediate population density # Communes with low population density # Communes with very low population density A commune in Group 3 or 4 is considered as a village (''commune rurale''). An independent association named ''

Les Plus Beaux Villages de France ''Les Plus Beaux Villages de France'' (meaning “the most beautiful villages of France”) is an independent association created in 1982 for the promotion of the tourist appeal of small rural villages with a rich cultural heritage. As of Septem ...

'', was created in 1982 to promote assets of small and picturesque French villages of quality heritage. As of March 2021, 159 villages in France have been listed in "The Most Beautiful Villages of France".

Germany

In Germany a ''Dorf'' (village) usually consists of at least a few houses but can have up to a few thousand inhabitants. Larger villages can also be referred to as a ''Flecken'' or ''Markt'' depending on the region. Smaller villages usually do not have their own government. Instead, they are part () of the municipality of a nearby town.

Italy

In Italy, villages are spread throughout the country. No legal definition of village exists in Italian law; nonetheless, a settlement inhabited by less than 2000 people is usually described as "village". More often, Italian villages that are a part of 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 ...

are called ''

frazione A ''frazione'' (plural: ) is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' (municipality) in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidate territ ...

'', whereas the village that hosts the municipal seat is called ''paese'' (town) or ''

capoluogo The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

''.

Spain

In Spain, a village (''pueblo'') refers to a small population unit, smaller than a town (''villa'' n archaic term that survives only in official uses, such as the official name of Spain's capital, "la Villa de Madrid" and a city (''ciudad''), typically located in a rural environment. While commonly it is the smallest administrative unit (''municipio''), it is possible for a village to be legally composed of smaller population units in its territory. There is not a clear-cut distinction between villages, towns and cities in Spain, since they had been traditionally categorized according to their religious importance and their relationship with surrounding population units.

Portugal

Villages are more usual in the

northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

and central regions,

Azores Islands ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

and in the

Alentejo Alentejo ( , ) is a geographical, historical, and cultural region of south–central and southern Portugal. In Portuguese, its name means "beyond () the Tagus river" (''Tejo''). Alentejo includes the regions of Alto Alentejo and Baixo Alent ...

. Most of them have a church and a "Casa do Povo" (people's house), where the village's summer ''romarias'' or religious festivities are usually held. Summer is also when many villages are host to a range of folk festivals and fairs, taking advantage of the fact that many of the locals who reside abroad tend to come back to their native village for the holidays.

Netherlands

In the flood-prone districts of the Netherlands, particularly in the northern provinces of Friesland and Groningen, villages were traditionally built on low man-made hills called terpen before the introduction of regional dyke-systems. In modern days, the term ''dorp'' (lit. "village") is usually applied to settlements no larger than 20,000, though there's no official law regarding status of settlements in the Netherlands.

United Kingdom

A village in the UK is a compact settlement of houses, smaller in size than a town, and generally based on agriculture or, in some areas, mining (such as

Ouston, County Durham Ouston is a village in County Durham, about south-west of Newcastle upon Tyne in the north-east of England. The main village of Ouston (formerly called Ulkerton in earlier medieval times) is adjoined by the 1970s built housing estate known as ...

), quarrying or sea fishing. They are very similar to those in Ireland. Main street of the village of Castle Combe, Wiltshire, England

The major factors in the type of settlement are: location of water sources, organisation of agriculture and landholding, and likelihood of flooding. For example, in areas such as the

Lincolnshire Wolds The Lincolnshire Wolds are a range of low hills in the county of Lincolnshire, England which run roughly parallel with the North Sea coast, from the Humber Estuary in the north-west to the edge of the Lincolnshire Fens in the south-east. They a ...

, the villages are often found along the spring line halfway down the hillsides, and originate as

spring line settlement Spring line settlements occur where a ridge of permeable rock lies over impermeable rock, resulting in a line of springs along the contact between the two layers. Spring line (or springline) settlements will sometimes form around these springs, bec ...

s, with the original

open field system The open-field system was the prevalent agricultural system in much of Europe during the Middle Ages and lasted into the 20th century in Russia, Iran, and Turkey. Each manor or village had two or three large fields, usually several hundred acre ...

s around the village. In northern

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, most villages are planned to a

grid pattern In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid. Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, frequent intersections and orthogo ...

located on or close to major roads, whereas in areas such as the

Forest of Arden Arden is an area located mainly in Warwickshire, England, with parts in Staffordshire and Worcestershire, and is traditionally regarded as extending from the River Avon to the River Tame. It was once heavily wooded, giving rise to the name 'F ...

, woodland clearances produced small hamlets around village greens. Because of the topography of the

Clent Hills The Clent Hills lie south-west of Birmingham city centre in Clent, Worcestershire, England. The closest towns are Stourbridge and Halesowen, both in the West Midlands conurbation (and also historically in Worcestershire). The Clent Hills rang ...

the north

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

village of

Clent Clent is a village and civil parish in the Bromsgrove District of Worcestershire, England, southwest of Birmingham and close to the edge of the West Midlands conurbation. At the 2001 census it had a population of 2,600. Parish history The pari ...

is an example of a village with no centre but instead consists of series of hamlets scattered on and around the Hills. Mini-roundabout, Kilmaurs - geograph

Some villages have disappeared (for example,

deserted medieval village In the United Kingdom, a deserted medieval village (DMV) is a former settlement which was abandoned during the Middle Ages, typically leaving no trace apart from earthworks or cropmarks. If there are fewer than three inhabited houses the convent ...

s), sometimes leaving behind a church or

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

and sometimes nothing but bumps in the fields. Some show archaeological evidence of settlement at three or four different layers, each distinct from the previous one. Clearances may have been to accommodate

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...

or game estates, or

enclosure Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or " common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...

, or may have resulted from depopulation, such as after the

Black Death The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...

or following a move of the inhabitants to more prosperous districts. Other villages have grown and merged and often form hubs within the general mass of suburbia—such as

Hampstead, London Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the London Borough of ...

and

Didsbury Didsbury is a suburban area of Manchester, England, on the north bank of the River Mersey, south of Manchester city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 26,788. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, there are ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. Many villages are now predominantly

dormitory A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university s ...

locations and have suffered the loss of shops, churches and other facilities. For many British people, the village represents an

ideal Ideal may refer to: Philosophy * Ideal (ethics), values that one actively pursues as goals * Platonic ideal, a philosophical idea of trueness of form, associated with Plato Mathematics * Ideal (ring theory), special subsets of a ring considere ...

of Great Britain. Seen as being far from the bustle of modern life, it is represented as quiet and harmonious, if a little inward-looking. This concept of an unspoilt

Arcadia Arcadia may refer to: Places Australia * Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Arcadia, Queensland * Arcadia, Victoria Greece * Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese * Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...

is present in many popular representations of the village such as the radio serial ''

The Archers ''The Archers'' is a BBC radio drama on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now promoted as "a contemporary drama in a rural settin ...

'' or the

best kept village A best kept village is a village that has won one of the annual county competitions in the United Kingdom for its tidiness, appropriateness, and typicality. The competitions have been nationally organized by the Campaign to Protect Rural England ...

competitions. Bisley, Gloucestershire, a village in the Cotswolds

Many villages in

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. In N ...

North Nottinghamshire North Nottinghamshire, formally the "Northern Division of Nottinghamshire" was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) by the block vote syste ...

North East Derbyshire North East Derbyshire is a local government district in Derbyshire, England. It borders the districts of Chesterfield, Bolsover, Amber Valley and Derbyshire Dales in Derbyshire, and Sheffield and Rotherham in South Yorkshire. The population ...

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

and

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

are known as

pit village A pit village, colliery village or mining village is a settlement built by colliery owners to house their workers. The villages were built on the coalfields of Great Britain during the Industrial Revolution where new coal mines were developed in ...

s. These (such as

Murton, County Durham Murton is a village in County Durham, England. Lying east of the city of Durham and south of Sunderland, it has a population of 4,534, increasing to 7,676 at the 2011 Census. Originally a rural agricultural hamlet called Morton, the discov ...

) grew from

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...

when the sinking of a

colliery Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

in the early 20th century resulted in a rapid growth in their population and the colliery owners built new housing, shops, pubs and churches. Some pit villages outgrew nearby towns by area and population; for example,

Rossington Rossington is a civil parish and former mining village in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England and is surrounded by countryside and the market towns of Bawtry and Tickhill. Geography Historically part of the West R ...

came to have over four times more people than the nearby town of

Bawtry Bawtry is a market town and civil parish in the City of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England. It lies between Doncaster, Gainsborough and Retford, on the border with Nottinghamshire and close to Lincolnshire. The town is historically part of ...

. Some pit villages grew to become

s; for example, Maltby in South Yorkshire grew from 600 people in the 19th century to over 17,000 in 2007. Maltby was constructed under the auspices of the Sheepbridge Coal and Iron Company and included ample open spaces and provision for gardens. In the UK, the main historical distinction between a

and a village was that the latter had a

, and so usually was the centre of worship for an

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish priest ...

. However, some

civil parishes In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority. ...

may contain more than one village. The typical village had a pub or inn, shops, and a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

. But many of these facilities are now gone, and many villages are dormitories for commuters. The population of such settlements ranges from a few hundred people to around five thousand. A village is distinguished from a town in that: * A village should not have a regular agricultural

market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, an ...

, although today such markets are uncommon even in settlements which clearly are towns. * A village does not have a

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

nor a

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

. * If a village is the principal settlement of a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

, then any administrative body that administers it at parish level should be called a parish council or

parish meeting A parish meeting, in England, is a meeting to which all the electors in a civil parish are entitled to attend. In some cases, where a parish or group of parishes has fewer than 200 electors, the parish meeting can take on the role of a parish cou ...

, and not a

town council A town council, city council or municipal council is a form of local government for small municipalities. Usage of the term varies under different jurisdictions. Republic of Ireland Town Councils in the Republic of Ireland were the second ti ...

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

. However, some civil parishes have no functioning parish, town, or city council nor a functioning parish meeting. In Wales, where the equivalent of an English civil parish is called a

Community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

, the body that administers it is called a

Community Council A community council is a public representative body in Great Britain. In England they may be statutory parish councils by another name, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, or they may be non-statutory bodies. In ...

. However, larger councils may elect to call themselves town councils. In Scotland, the equivalent is also a community council, however, despite being statutory bodies they have no executive powers. * There should be a clear

green belt A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which hav ...

or open fields, as, for example, seen on aerial maps for Ouston surrounding its parish borders. However this may not be applicable to urbanised villages: although these may not be considered to be villages, they are often widely referred to as being so; an example of this is

Horsforth Horsforth is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish within the City of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England, lying about five miles north-west of Leeds city centre. Historically a village within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it had a p ...

in Leeds.

Middle East

Lebanon

Like France, villages in Lebanon are usually located in remote mountainous areas. The majority of villages in Lebanon retain their Aramaic names or are derivative of the Aramaic names, and this is because Aramaic was still in use in Mount Lebanon up to the 18th century. Many of the Lebanese villages are a part of districts, these districts are known as "kadaa" which includes the districts of Baabda (Baabda), Aley (Aley), Matn (Jdeideh), Keserwan (Jounieh), Chouf (Beiteddine), Jbeil (Byblos), Tripoli (Tripoli), Zgharta (Zgharta / Ehden), Bsharri (Bsharri), Batroun (Batroun), Koura (Amioun), Miniyeh-Danniyeh (Minyeh / Sir Ed-Danniyeh), Zahle (Zahle), Rashaya (Rashaya), Western Beqaa (Jebjennine / Saghbine), Sidon (Sidon), Jezzine (Jezzine), Tyre (Tyre), Nabatiyeh (Nabatiyeh), Marjeyoun (Marjeyoun), Hasbaya (Hasbaya), Bint Jbeil (Bint Jbeil), Baalbek (Baalbek), and Hermel (Hermel). The district of Danniyeh consists of thirty-six small villages, which includes Almrah, Kfirchlan, Kfirhbab, Hakel al Azimah, Siir, Bakhoun, Miryata, Assoun, Sfiiri, Kharnoub, Katteen, Kfirhabou, Zghartegrein, Ein Qibil. Danniyeh (known also as Addinniyeh, Al Dinniyeh, Al Danniyeh, Arabic: سير الضنية) is a region located in Miniyeh-Danniyeh District in the North Governorate of Lebanon. The region lies east of Tripoli, extends north as far as Akkar District, south to Bsharri District and Zgharta District and as far east as Baalbek and Hermel. Dinniyeh has an excellent ecological environment filled with woodlands, orchards and groves. Several villages are located in this mountainous area, the largest town being Sir Al Dinniyeh. An example of a typical mountainous Lebanese village in Dannieh would be Hakel al Azimah which is a small village that belongs to the district of Danniyeh, situated between Bakhoun and Assoun's boundaries. It is in the centre of the valleys that lie between the Arbeen Mountains and the Khanzouh.

Syria

Syria contains a large number of villages that vary in size and importance, including the ancient, historical and religious villages, such as Ma'loula, Sednaya, and Barad, Syria, Brad (Mar Maroun's time). The diversity of the Syrian environments creates significant differences between the Syrian villages in terms of the economic activity and the method of adoption. Villages in the south of Syria (Hauran, Jabal al-Druze), the north-east (the Syrian island) and the Orontes River basin depend mostly on agriculture, mainly grain, vegetables, and fruits. Villages in the region of Damascus and Aleppo depend on trading. Some other villages, such as Marmarita depend heavily on tourist activity. Mediterranean cities in Syria, such as Tartus and Latakia have similar types of villages. Mainly, villages were built in very good sites which had the fundamentals of the rural life, like water. An example of a Mediterranean Syrian village in Tartus would be al-Annazah, which is a small village that belongs to the area of al-Sawda, al-Sauda. The area of al-Sauda is called a ''nahiya''.

Australasia and Oceania

CSIRO ScienceImage 3723 Aerial view of the rural community of Burrawang in the Wingecarribee Catchment south of Sydney NSW 1999

Pacific Islands Communities on Pacific islands were historically called villages by English speakers who traveled and settled in the area. Some communities such as several Villages of Guam continue to be called villages despite having large populations that can exceed 40,000 residents. New Zealand The traditional Māori people, Māori village was the Pā (Māori), pā, a fortified hill-top settlement. Tree-fern logs and flax were the main building materials. As in Australia (see below) the term is now used mainly in respect of shopping or other planned areas. Australia The term village often is used in reference to small planned communities such as retirement communities or shopping districts, and tourist areas such as ski resorts. Small rural communities are usually known as townships. Larger settlements are known as towns.

South America

Argentina Usually set in remote mountainous areas, some also cater to winter sports or tourism. See Uspallata, La Cumbrecita, Villa Traful and La Cumbre, Córdoba, La Cumbre. Guyana In various areas villages can still be found in Guyana. While many are now towns, there are several areas on river banks, and communities off central roads that are still locally considered villages. Uruguay Village or "villa" is one of the three levels at which the government classifies urbanizations or "localidades", a "villa" is highest rank than a "pueblo" which is the lowest unit and lower than a city or "ciudad", which is the highest rank. Note that this organization is more related with notability than size, since there is no official criteria to determine the level of urbanization. Every urbanization is a "pueblo" unless is elevated by decree to the next category. Historically this was a faculty of the executive power but more recently this faculty was transferred to the legislative. However colloquial speech still refers as "pueblo" to most "villas" and even cities and many names preceded by the word "villa" could represent other standard, such as "Villa del Cerro" or "Villa Serrana".

North America

In contrast to the Old World, the concept of village in Canada and the United States today is largely disconnected from its rural and communal origins. The situation is different in Mexico because of its large bulk of indigenous population living in traditional villages.

Canada

United States

Incorporated villages

In twenty U.S. states, the term "village" refers to a specific form of incorporated municipal government, similar to a city but with less authority and geographic scope. However, this is a generality; in many states, there are villages that are an order of magnitude larger than the smallest cities in the state. The distinction is not necessarily based on population, but on the relative powers granted to the different types of municipalities and correspondingly, different obligations to provide specific services to residents. In some states such as New York and Michigan, a village is an incorporated municipality, within a single town or civil township. In some cases, the village may be wikt:coterminous, coterminous with the town or township, in which case the two may have a coterminous municipality, consolidated government. There are also villages that span the boundaries of more than one town or township; some villages may straddle county borders. There is no population limit to villages in New York. Hempstead (village), New York, Hempstead, the largest village, has 55,000 residents; making it more populous than some of the state's cities. However; villages in the state may not exceed five square miles (13 km²) in area. Michigan and Illinois also have no set population limit for villages and there are many villages that are larger than cities in those states. The village of Schaumburg, Illinois had 78,723 residents as of the 2020 census. A village also has no written figure against how small a population can be, with the United States' smallest incorporated village being Dering Harbor, New York, Dering Harbor, NY, with a population of just over 10. In Michigan, a village is always legally part of a Administrative divisions of Michigan, township. Villages can incorporate land in multiple townships and even multiple counties. The largest village in the state is Beverly Hills, Michigan, Beverly Hills in Southfield Township, Michigan, Southfield Township which had a population of 10,267 people as of the 2010 census. In the state of Wisconsin, a village is always legally separate from the township, towns that it has been incorporated from. The largest village is Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, Menomonee Falls, which has over 32,000 residents. In Pennsylvania law, the term borough (Pennsylvania), borough is used to refer to the same type of entity. 80% of Pennsylvania's 956 boroughs have populations of less than 5,000 but about thirty have populations of over 10,000 with State College, Pennsylvania, State College having more than 40,000 residents. In Ohio villages are often legally part of the civil township, township from which they were incorporated, although exceptions such as Hiram, Ohio, Hiram exist, in which the village is separate from the township. They have no area limitations, but become cities if they grow a population of more than 5,000. In Maryland, a locality designated "Village of ..." may be either an incorporated town or a special-purpose district, special tax district. An example of the latter is the Friendship Heights, MD, Village of Friendship Heights. In North Carolina, the only difference between cities, towns, and villages is the term itself.

Unincorporated villages

In many states, the term "village" is used to refer to a relatively small unincorporated community, similar to a Hamlet (New York), hamlet in New York state. This informal usage may be found even in states that have villages as an incorporated municipality, although such usage might be considered incorrect and confusing. In most New England states, a "village" is a center of population or trade, including the town center, in an otherwise sparsely developed town or city — for instance, the village of Hyannis, Massachusetts, Hyannis in the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts. However, in Vermont and Connecticut, both incorporated and unincorporated villages exist.

Africa

Nigeria

Villages in Nigeria vary significantly because of cultural and geographical differences. Northern Nigeria In the Northern Nigeria, North, villages were under Nigerian traditional rulers, traditional rulers long before the Jihad of Usman dan Fodio, Shaikh Uthman Bin Fodio and after the Holy War. At that time Nigerian traditional rulers, Traditional rulers used to have absolute monarchy, absolute power in their administrative regions. After Dan Fodio's Jihad in 1804, political structure of the North became Islamic where emirs were the political, administrative and spiritual leaders of their people. These emirs appointed a number of people to assist them in running the administration and that included villages. Every Hausa village was reigned by Magaji (Village head) who was answerable to his Hakimi (

) at the town level. The Magaji also had his cabinet who assisted him in ruling his village efficiently, among whom was Mai-Unguwa (Ward Head). With the creation of Native Authority in Nigerian provinces, the autocratic power of village heads along with all other traditional rulers was subdued hence they ruled 'under the guidance of colonial officials'.A Johnson Ugoji Anyaele. ''Comprehensive Government'', A Johnson Publishers LTD. Surulere, Lagos. , p. 123 Even though the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has not recognised the functions of traditional rulers, they still command respect in their villages and political office holders liaise with them almost every time to reach people. In Hausa language, village is called ''ƙauye'' and every local government area is made up of several small and large ''ƙauyuka'' (villages). For instance, Girka is a village in Kaita, Nigeria, Kaita town in Katsina state in Nigeria. They have mud houses with thatched roofing though, like in most of the villages in the North, zinc roofing has become a common sight. Still in many villages in the North, people do not have access to portable water. So they fetch water from ponds and streams. Others are lucky to have wells within a walking distance. Women rush in the morning to fetch water in their clay pots from wells, boreholes and streams. However, the government is now providing them with water bore holes. Electricity and GSM network are reaching more and more villages in the North almost every day. So bad feeder roads may lead to remote villages with electricity and unstable GSM network. Southern Nigeria Village dwellers in the Southeastern region lived separately in "clusters of huts belonging to the patrilinage".Village
igboguide.org As the rainforest region is dominated by Igbo language, Igbo speaking people, the villages are called ''ime obodo'' (inside town) in Igbo language. A typical large village might have a few thousand persons who shared the same market, meeting place and beliefs.

South Africa

In South Africa the majority of people in rural areas reside in villages. They vary in size from having a population of less than 500 to around 1000.

References

Sources

External links

Types of villages (anthropogenic biomes)
* {{Authority control Villages, Rural geography Urban geography Types of populated places