Municipal annexation is the legal process by which a city or other municipality acquires land as its jurisdictional territory (as opposed to simply owning the land the way individuals do). In the United States and Canada, it refers to the incorporation of one polity by another, usually adjacent and larger, and usually by vote of the residents involved. For example, in 1872, the city

Zanesville Zanesville is a city in and the county seat of Muskingum County, Ohio, United States. It is located east of Columbus and had a population of 24,765 as of the 2020 census, down from 25,487 as of the 2010 census. Historically the state capit ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

annexed the adjacent community of Putnam, and in 1889, the city of Toronto annexed the adjacent town of Parkdale.

Overview

Within areas that are subdivided noncontiguously,

annexation Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...

can take place whereby a lower-tier municipality can annex territory under the jurisdiction of a higher-tier municipality, or tiers do not exist a local municipality can annex territory from another local municipality. The rules that govern municipal annexations in absorption of neighbouring territory vary by country. For example, in the United States, incorporated cities and towns often expand their boundaries by annexing

unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to: * Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality * Unincorporated entity, a type of organization * Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...

land adjacent to them. Municipalities can also entirely annex and be entirely annexed by other municipalities, though this is less common in the United States. Laws governing the ability and the extent municipalities can expand in this fashion are defined by the individual states'

constitutions A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these prin ...

. Annexation of neighbouring communities occurs in Canada. The City of

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

, for example, has in the past annexed the communities of Bridgeland, Riverside, Sunnyside, Hillhurst, Hunter, Hubalta, Ogden, Forest Lawn, Midnapore, Shepard, Montgomery, and Bowness. Another example of an annexation in Canada occurred when the city of

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

annexed

Wortley Village Wortley Village is a neighbourhood of London, Ontario, Canada. It was originally a suburb of London and was annexed to London in 1890. Wortley Village is home to many heritage properties as well as Wortley Road Public School. The homes in the neig ...

in 1890.

References

{{reflist *Municipal Political geography Local government Mergers of administrative divisions

Overview

See also

References