Independent city

Type of city or town An autonomous or independent city or town is a city or town that does not form part of another local government entity, such as a province, county, or similar administrative division. Their legal statuses vary between jurisdictions. Independent cities are found in many countries under a variety of legal and administrative arrangements. They can have the status of states, provinces, or districts. Some are national capitals established as separate jurisdictions. Historical examples include the free imperial cities of the Holy Roman Empire. Present-day independent cities include Berlin, Vienna, Seoul, Buenos Aires, and the independent cities of the United States. Historical precursors In the Holy Roman Empire, and to a degree in its successor states the German Confederation and the German Empire, so-called "free imperial cities" (nominative singular freie Reichsstadt, nominative plural freie Reichsstädte) held the legal status of imperial immediacy, according to which they were not subinfeudated to any vassal ruler and were instead subject to the authority of the Emperor alone. Examples included Hamburg, Bremen, and Lübeck, along with others that gained and/or l