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." In
Poland, the equivalent of "province" is "
województwo," sometimes rendered in English as "
voivodeship." 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 , the regional province (
maakunta) in
Finland, with the different colored
sub-regions 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. For example, in the
United States, no
state may
secede from the
federal union without the permission of the
federal government. 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), each of which is sub-divided into
counties. These provinces are
Connacht (in the west),
Leinster (in the east),
Munster (in the south) and,
Ulster (in the north). Nowadays these provinces have little or no administrative function, though they do have
sporting significance.
Northern Ireland is frequently called "the Province" or "Ulster" in British media, although it includes just six of the nine counties of the original province. 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). Likewise, prior to the
American Revolution, most of the original
Thirteen Colonies in
British America 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 what is now Canada; such as the colonial
Province of Quebec. In 1791, Quebec split into two separate provinces,
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—. Five provinces—
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". Alberta has some unique local governance schemes formed in response to local conditions. For instance,
Sherwood Park is an unincorporated "urban service area" of 72,017 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 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 a twin-city arrangement.
Pakistan Pakistan is administratively divided into four provinces: •
Punjab •
Sindh •
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==