Everything about Province totally explained
A
province is a territorial unit, almost always an
administrative division.
Roman provinces
The word is attested in English since c.1330, deriving from Old French
province (13th c.), which comes from the Roman word
provincia, which referred to the sphere of activity which a magistrate was assigned to exercise his authority; hence, in particular, a foreign territory.
A possible origin in
Latin is from
pro- ("on behalf of") and
vincere ("to triumph/take control over"). Thus a province is a territory or function that a Roman magistrate took control of on behalf of his government. However this doesn't tally with the even earlier Latin usage as a generic term for a jurisdiction under Roman law.
The Roman Empire was divided into provinces (
provinciae).
Provinces in modern countries
In many countries, a province is a relatively small non-constituent level of sub-national government (similar to a county in many English-speaking countries). In others it's an autonomous level of government and constituent part of a federation or confederation, often with a large area (similar to a US state). In France and China, province is a sub-national region within a unitary state. This means the province can be abolished or created by the central government.
For instance, a province is a local unit of government in
Philippines ,
Belgium,
Spain and
Italy, and a large constituent autonomous area in
Canada,
Congo and
Argentina.
In Italy and
Chile a
province is an administrative sub-division of a
region, which is the first order administrative sub-division of the state. Italian provinces consist of several administrative sub-divisions called
comune (communes). In Chile they're referred to as
comunas
The "Province of
Northern Ireland" is the only British territory called "province" today. In this case, the title province suggests separateness along the lines of Canadian usage. The title "province" above all reflects Northern Ireland's unique autonomy within the UK immediately after its foundation in 1921, but today Northern Ireland varies between a devolved government and direct rule. The term province may also suggest at
Ulster, the northern most province of
Ireland, six counties of which are Northern Ireland and are in the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland is effectively a constituent nation of the United Kingdom.
Various overseas parts of the
British Empire had 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). Equally, for instance, Mozambique was a "province" as a Portuguese colony.
Historical and cultural aspects
In
France, the expression
en province still tends to mean "outside of the region of
Paris". (The same expression is used in
Peru, where
en provincias means "outside of the city of
Lima" and in
Romania, where
în provincie means "outside the region of
Bucharest".) Prior to the
French Revolution, France consisted of various governments (such as Ile-de-France, built around the early
Capetian royal demesne) some of which were considered as provinces, although the term would be used colloquially to describes lands as small as a manor (
châtellenie). Mostly, the
Grands Gouvernements, generally former medieval feudal principalities (or agglomerates of such), were the most commonly referred to as provinces. Today, the expression is sometimes replaced with
en région, as that term is now officially used for the secondary level of government.
In historical terms,
Fernand Braudel has depicted the European provinces—built up of numerous small regions called by the French
pays or by the
Swiss cantons, each with a local cultural identity and focused upon a market town—as the political unit of optimum size in pre-industrial Early Modern Europe and asks, "was the province not its inhabitants' true '
fatherland'?" (
The Perspective of the World 1984, p. 284) Even centrally organized France, an early
nation-state, could collapse into autonomous provincial worlds under pressure, such as the sustained crisis of the
Wars of Religion, 1562—1598.
For 19th and 20th-century historians, "centralized government" had been taken as a symptom of modernity and political maturity in the rise of Europe. Then, in the late 20th century, as a
European Union drew the
nation-states closer together, centripetal forces seemed to be moving towards a more flexible system composed of more localized, provincial governing entities under the European umbrella.
Spain after Franco is a
State of Autonomies, formally unitary, but in fact functioning as a federation of
Autonomous Communities, each one with different powers. (see
Politics of Spain). While
Serbia, the rump of the former Yugoslavia, fought the separatists in the province of
Kosovo, at the same time the
UK, under the political principle of "
devolution" established local parliaments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (1998). Strong local nationalisms surfaced or developed in
Cornwall,
Languedoc,
Catalonia,
Lombardy,
Corsica and
Flanders, and east of Europe in
Abkhasia,
Chechnya and
Kurdistan.
Geology
In geology the term province refers to a specific physiogeographic area composed of a grouping of like
bathymetric or former
bathymetric elements (now
sedimentary strata above water) whose features are in obvious contrast to the surrounding regions, or other provinces. The term usually refers to sections or regions of a craton recognized within a given time-
stratigraphy, for example, recognized within a major division of time within a period.
Legal aspects
In many
federations and
confederations, the province or state isn't clearly subordinate to the national or "central" government. Rather, it's considered to be
sovereign in regard to its particular set of constitutional functions. The central and provincial governmental functions, or areas of jurisdiction, are identified in a constitution. Those that are not specifically identifi
called "residual powers". These residual powers lie at the provincial (or state) level in a decentralised federal system (such as the United States and Australia) whereas in a centralised federal system they're retained at the federal level (as in Canada). Nevertheless, some of the enumerated powers can also be very significant. For example,
Canadian provinces are sovereign in regard to such important matters as
property,
civil rights,
education,
social welfare and medical services.
The evolution of federations has created an inevitable tug-of-war between concepts of federal supremacy versus "states' rights". The historic division of responsibility in federal constitutions is inevitably subject to multiple overlaps. For example, when central governments, responsible for "foreign affairs", 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 disputes that lead to constitutional amendments and judicial decisions that significantly change the balance of powers.
In
unitary states such as
France and
China, provinces are subordinate to the national or central government. In theory, the central government can abolish or create provinces within its jurisdiction.
Current provinces
Not all "second-level" political entities are termed provinces. In
Arab countries the secondary level of government, called a
muhfazah, is usually translated as a
governorate. This term is also used for the historic
Russian
guberniyas, (compare to modern-day
oblast). In
Poland, the equivalent of province is
województwo, often translated as
voivodeship.
In
Peru, provinces are a tertiary unit of government, as the country is divided into
twenty-five regions, which are then subdivided into 194 provinces. Chile follows a similar division being divded into
15 regions, which a then divided into a total of 53 provinces each being run by a governor appointed by the president.
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" of
Auckland,
Wellington,
Christchurch,
Hamilton and
Dunedin.
Some provinces are as large and populous as nations. The most populous province is
Henan,
China, pop. 93,000,000. Also very populous are several other Chinese provinces, as well as
Punjab, Pakistan, pop. 85,000,000.
The largest provinces by area are
Xinjiang, China (1,600,000 km²) and
Quebec,
Canada (1,500,000 km²).
Current provinces and polities translated "province"
Historical provinces
Ancient, medieval and feudal provinces
in the Spanish empire, at several echelons:
former British colonies
The former provinces of France
The former provinces of Ireland
The former provinces of Japan
The former provinces of Sweden
The former provinces of Brazil
The former Republic of the Seven United Provinces (The Netherlands)
The former United Provinces of Central America
The provinces of Prussia, a former German kingdom/republicFurther Information
Get more info on 'Province'.
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