A province is a territorial unit, almost always a country subdivision.
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 does not 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 is 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 mean the province can be abolished or created by the central government.
For instance, a province is a local unit of government in 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 are 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. 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, i.e., recognized within a major division of time within a period.
Legal aspects
In many federations and confederations, the
province or state is not clearly subordinate to the national or "central" government. Rather, it is 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
identified in the constitution are 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 are 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.
There are also provinces in New Zealand, but the country is not seen as a
"federal" country. However, the provinces do have a few duties like collecting rates and each province has its own Health Board
and District Prisons Board.
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
See also
External links
Sources and references
nds-nl:Pervincienrm:Provinche
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