emirate

Etymologically an emirate or amirate (Arabic: إمارة, Imaarah ; plural: إمارات, Imaraat) is the quality, dignity, office or territorial competence of any Emir (prince, governor etc.).

As monarchies

Generally speaking, an emirate designates a political territory that is ruled by a dynastic Arab Monarch styled emir. As most emirates have either disappeared, been integrated in a larger modern state or changed their rulers' styles, e.g. to Malik (Arabic for King) or Sultan, such true emirate-states have become rare.

An example of this use persists in the United Arab Emirates, a federal nation that comprises seven federal emirates, each administered by a hereditary emir, these seven forming the electoral college for the federation's President and PM.

As provinces

Furthermore, in Arabic the term can be generalized to mean any province of a country that is administered by a member of the ruling class, especially of a member (usually styled emir) of the royal family, as in Saudi Arabian governorates.

List of independent Emirates

• Kuwait
• Qatar
• United Arab Emirates

List of former and integrated emirates

• Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
• The Emirate of Armenia
• Islamic Emirate of Waziristan
• Az Zubayr
• Bahrain, became a kingdom in 2002
• Emirate of Trarza, modern southwest Mauritania 1640s-1910s

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