Independent city 46341 224084498 2008-07-07T06:23:56Z 74.181.210.31 /* Federal capitals */ {{otheruses}} {{refimprove|date=January 2008}} An '''independent city''' is a [[city]] that does not form part of another general-purpose [[local government]] entity. Independent cities should not be confused with [[city-state]]s (such as [[Singapore]]), which are fully sovereign cities that are not part of any other nation-state. ==North America== ===United States=== In the [[United States]], an independent city is a [[city]] that does not belong to any particular [[county]]. Because counties have historically been a strong institution in local government in most of the United States, independent cities are relatively rare outside of [[Virginia]] (see below), whose [[State constitution (United States)|state constitution]] makes them a special case. The [[U.S. Census Bureau]] uses counties as its base unit for presentation of statistical information, and treats independent cities as county equivalents for those purposes. Independent cities should not be confused with [[consolidated city-county|consolidated city-counties]], such as [[Denver, Colorado]], the [[San Francisco, California|City and County of San Francisco, California]] or [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]]. ====Virginia==== {{main|List of cities in Virginia|Political subdivisions of Virginia}} Of the 42 independent cities in the United States,<ref name="USDoC2001">{{Cite web|url=http://www.itl.nist.gov/fipspubs/fip6-4.htm|title=Counties and Equivalent Entities of the United States, Its Possessions, and Associated Areas; Change Notice No. 7|accessdate=2006-05-27|year=2001}}</ref> 39 are in Virginia. The three that are not in Virginia are [[Baltimore, Maryland]]; [[St. Louis, Missouri]]; and [[Carson City, Nevada]]. In the [[Commonwealth of Virginia]], all municipalities incorporated as "cities" have also been "independent cities," also called "free cities," since 1871. Other municipalities, even though they may be more populous than some existing independent cities, are incorporated as "[[town]]s", and as such form part of a county. An independent city in Virginia may serve as the [[county seat]] of an adjacent county, even though the city by definition is not part of that county. Several Virginia counties, whose origins go back to the original eight [[shires of Virginia]] formed in 1634 during the colonial period, have the word ''city'' in their names; however, politically they are counties. Examples are [[Charles City County, Virginia|Charles City County]] and [[James City County, Virginia|James City County]]. These names originated with earlier "incorporations" created in 1619 by the [[Virginia Company]] as [[Charles City (Virginia Company)|Charles Citiie]] (sic) and [[James City (Virginia Company)|James Citiie]] (sic). The Virginia Company lost its charter in 1624, and Virginia became a royal colony. =====Arlington County===== [[Arlington County, Virginia|Arlington County]], commonly referred to as just "Arlington," is not an independent city. However, it is often referenced, popularly, as a city because it is geographically small and dense; is fully urbanized; is close in size to other independent cities in the state; has no other city or town within its borders; and through a [[Byrd Road Act|quirk of Virginia history]], maintains its own highway infrastructure like independent cities (but not like nearly every other Virginia county). It consists solely of much of the land ceded by Virginia to the Federal Government to form [[Washington, D.C.]] in the late 18th century, and [[Retrocession (District of Columbia)|retroceded]] to Virginia in 1846. =====Former cities===== ''See also: [[Lost counties, cities, and towns of Virginia]].'' Former independent cities now extinct that were long extant in Virginia include: *[[Clifton Forge, Virginia|Clifton Forge]], which gave up its [[city charter]] in 2001, and is now an [[incorporated town]] in [[Alleghany County, Virginia|Alleghany County]]. *[[Manchester, Virginia|Manchester]], which was consolidated by mutual agreement with the [[Richmond, Virginia|City of Richmond]] in 1910. *[[South Boston, Virginia|South Boston]], which gave up its city charter in 1994, and is now an [[incorporated town]] in [[Halifax County, Virginia|Halifax County]]. *[[South Norfolk, Virginia|South Norfolk]], which merged with [[Norfolk County, Virginia|Norfolk County]] in 1963 to form the [[Chesapeake, Virginia|City of Chesapeake]]. Two other independent cities existed only for a short time: *[[Nansemond, Virginia|Nansemond]], created from the former [[Nansemond County, Virginia|Nansemond County]] in 1972, was merged in 1974 with the then-City of Suffolk and three [[unincorporated community|unincorporated town]]s within the county's former boundaries to form today's [[Suffolk, Virginia|City of Suffolk]]. *[[Warwick, Virginia|Warwick]], which was formed from the former [[Warwick County, Virginia|Warwick County]] in 1952, was in 1958 consolidated by mutual agreement with the newly-expanded [[Newport News, Virginia|City of Newport News]]. ====Other states==== Some states have created independent cities in order to cater for the special requirements of governing their largest cities and/or capitals: *The [[Baltimore, Maryland|City of Baltimore]], [[Maryland]], has been separate from [[Baltimore County, Maryland|Baltimore County]] since 1851. *[[Carson City, Nevada|Carson City]], [[Nevada]], consolidated with [[Ormsby County, Nevada|Ormsby County]] in 1969; however, Ormsby County was simultaneously dissolved. *The [[St. Louis, Missouri|City of St. Louis]], [[Missouri]], was separated from [[St. Louis County, Missouri|St. Louis County]] in 1876. ====Other entities similar to independent cities==== An independent city is not the same as: * A [[consolidated city-county]] (such as [[Baton Rouge]], [[San Francisco, California|San Francisco]], [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]], [[Denver, Colorado|Denver]], [[Jacksonville, Florida|Jacksonville]], [[Indianapolis, Indiana|Indianapolis]], [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]], [[New Orleans, Louisiana|New Orleans]], or [[Lexington, Kentucky|Lexington]]), in which city and county (or, in Louisiana, parish) government has been merged. * A completely urbanized county such as [[Arlington County, Virginia|Arlington County]], [[Virginia]]. * A "Federated" City-County multi-tiered type of government such as applies between [[Miami, Florida|Miami]] and [[Miami-Dade County]] * The [[New York City|City of New York]], which is a ''[[sui generis]]'' jurisdiction: the city is made up of five [[borough]]s, each of which is territorially conterminous with a county, each of which has even less power than a county all of which was incorporated into cities would otherwise have. * [[Washington, D.C.]], which, like the capitals of many other countries (see below), has a special status. It is not part of any [[U.S. state|state]]; instead, it comprises the entirety of the [[District of Columbia]], which, in accordance with Article 1, Section 8 of the [[U.S. Constitution]], is under the jurisdiction of the [[Congress of the United States|U.S. Congress]]. When founded, the District was in fact divided into two counties and two independent cities. [[Alexandria County, D.C.|Alexandria County]] (which now forms [[Arlington County, Virginia|Arlington County]] and a portion of the independent city of [[Alexandria, Virginia|Alexandria]]) was given back to Virginia in 1846, while the three remaining entities (the City of Washington, [[Georgetown, Washington, D.C.|Georgetown City]] and [[Washington County, D.C.|Washington County]]) were merged into a consolidated government by an act of Congress in [[1871]] and Georgetown was formally abolished as a city entity by another act in [[1895]]. Congress has established a [[District of Columbia home rule|home rule]] government for the city, although city laws can be overridden by Congress. This is fairly rare, and so in practice the city operates much like other independent cities in the United States, although technically, it does not meet the legal definition of one. * Cities and towns in [[New England]] traditionally have very strong governments while counties have correspondingly less importance. Today, most counties in southern New England ([[Connecticut]], [[Rhode Island]], and [[Massachusetts]]) have almost no governmental institutions or roles associated with them (aside from serving as a basis for court districts). Somewhat like the [[ceremonial counties of England]], counties in southern New England still have a nominal existence, and so no city or town in those three states is truly separate from a county. ===Canada=== In the [[Canada|Canadian]] province of [[Ontario]], the same type of city is referred to as a [[List of Ontario census divisions#Single-tier municipalities|single-tier municipality]] (there are also [[List of Ontario separated municipalities|separated municipalities]]). In [[Quebec]] they are often called separated cities, as they are not [[Regional County Municipality|Regional County Municipalities]]. Cities and towns in [[Alberta]] are not part of rural municipalities such as counties. In [[New Brunswick]], all county government was abolished in [[1967]]{{fact|date=June 2008}}, therefore, in theory, all cities, townships, and settlements in New Brunswick could be considered independent cities. ==Europe== ===Austria=== In [[Austria]], a similar concept is the ''[[Statutarstadt]]''. ===Germany===<!-- This section is linked from [[Salzgitter]] --> :''See also: [[List of German urban districts]].'' In [[Germany]], different [[States of Germany|states]] have either the ''Stadtkreis'' ("Urban County") or ''Kreisfreie Stadt'' (literally, "County-Free City"). Examples of German independent cities are: *[[Cologne]] (Köln) *[[Frankfurt am Main|Frankfurt]] (Frankfurt am Main) *[[Leipzig]] *[[Munich]] (München) *[[Duisburg]] *[[Nuremberg]] *[[Freiburg]] *[[Oldenburg]] Additionally, the German [[City-states]] of [[Berlin]], [[Bremen]] and [[Hamburg]] function as federal states. The [[City-state]] of [[Bremen (state)|Bremen]] is comprised solely of the cities of [[Bremen (city)|Bremen]] and [[Bremerhaven]] (which was originally founded as an ocean port for the city of Bremen). ===Norway=== In [[Norway]], Oslo is both a municipality (kommune) and a county (fylke) within itself. ===Poland=== :''See also: [[Powiat]].'' In [[Poland]], many of the biggest cities comprise their own ''city counties'' (formally "cities with county rights"). They are suitably marked on the [[list of counties in Poland]]. ===Hungary=== :''See also: [[List of towns in Hungary]]'' In [[Hungary]] 23 of the cities are "cities with county rights", these cities have equal rights with the 19 counties of Hungary. ===The British Isles=== Some cities in the [[United Kingdom]] are a [[unitary authority]], and could be considered to be independent cities. In the UK, however, "city" has no inherent status; [[City status in the United Kingdom|city status]] depends on a grant from the [[British monarchy|monarch]] and merely confers on the place so-designated the right to call itself a city. The standard for such a right was once thought to depend on whether the entity has a cathedral. As is now made clear by the Department for Constitutional Affairs [http://www.dca.gov.uk/constitution/city/citygj.htm#part2], there are no formal criteria such as this for the city to apply for, and be granted city status in the UK. It is perhaps remarkable that there are in fact only 66 cities in the UK - 50 in England, 5 in Wales, 6 in Scotland and 5 in Northern Ireland. [[County borough]] referred to a [[borough]] or a city independent of [[county council]] control in [[England]] and [[Wales]] from 1889 to 1974 with the term continuing in use in [[Northern Ireland]] and the [[Republic of Ireland]]. Wales re-introduced the term in 1994 for use with certain unitary authorities. ==Asia== ===Taiwan (Republic of China)=== Under the [[Administrative divisions of the Republic of China|administrative division system]] of the [[Republic of China]], some cities are [[municipality of China|directly administered]] by the [[Executive Yuan]], some are [[provincial city|administered by provinces]] (the province of Taiwan is nominal), and some are [[county-administered city|subordinate to counties]]. The centrally-administered and province-administered ones are like independent cities under this definition. ===People's Republic of China=== In mainland China under the administration of People's Republic of China, the Cities of Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing are centrally-administered province-level regions, and they do not belong to any particular province. Additionally, there are several vice provincial cities that are nominally under provinces but are in reality independent of any provinces. Within some provinces, there are some cities that are directly under provinces, bypassing an administrative level (prefectures and prefecture-level cities). [[Hong Kong]] and [[Macau]] are two [[Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China|Special Administrative Region]] (SAR) of China which have high degree autonomy except acts of state like diplomatic relations and national defence. ===Korea (Republic of Korea)=== In addition to its nine provinces, [[South Korea]] has a total of seven province-level "metropolitan cities." By far the largest among these in terms of population is the capital, [[Seoul]], called a ''teuk-byul-shi'' (특별시; literally, "specially distinguished market", to mean special city), which is home to more than 20% of the entire population of the country. The remaining six independent cities are called ''gwang-yuhk-shi'' (광역시; literally, "large territory market", to mean large city). These include [[Busan]], [[Daegu]], [[Daejeon]], [[Incheon]], [[Gwangju]], and [[Ulsan]]. Historically, these independent cities have been carved from the province that surrounds them. Consequently, they typically share a strong regional and cultural identity with the adjoining province(s). This is particularly true of Gwangju, which is at the center of the southwestern [[Jeolla]] region, and Daegu, which was carved from [[North Gyeongsang Province]] in the southeast. Similarly, Busan and Ulsan are both heavily associated with [[South Gyeongsang Province]], while Daejeon is heavily associated with the [[Chungcheong]] provinces. Seoul and Incheon are said to make up the "capital region," along with the densely populated [[Gyeonggi Province]] that almost completely encompasses them. One interesting relic of the newer independent cities is that, in some cases, the government administrative buildings (''docheong'') of the provinces they were once a part of are still located within city boundaries, meaning that these provinces have capitols that are not within their borders. In 2006, the ruling party floated a proposal to completely eliminate all current province and independent-city borders. This plan would divide the entire republic into fifty or sixty city- or county-level administrations, similar to the system in Japan. The plan was intended to help reduce regional discrimination and animosity by eliminating provincial identity. ==National capitals== A number of countries have made their national capitals into separate entities. For example [[Copenhagen]], the capital of [[Denmark]], is outside of the country's system of counties, as is the capital of Romania, [[Bucharest]]. [[Washington, D.C.]], the capital of the United States, is not within any of the 50 states. [[London]] is actually composed of the [[City of London]] and [[ceremonial counties|county]] of [[Greater London]], which is divided into a number of boroughs. The [[Germany|German]] capital, [[Berlin]], is a Federal State with the same level of autonomy as much larger states, such as [[Bavaria]]. [[Brussels]], the capital of [[Belgium]], is a separate region (the [[Brussels-Capital Region]]), independent of both [[Flanders]] and [[Wallonia]], despite being entirely surrounded by Flanders (of which it is also the regional capital) and sharing a common language with Wallonia ([[French language|French]]). ===Federal capitals=== In countries with a [[federation|federal]] structure, the federal capital is often separate from other jurisdictions in the country, and frequently has a unique system of government. Examples include: *The [[Australia]]n capital, [[Canberra]], is situated in the [[Australian Capital Territory]]. Canberra is not however an independent city; it is governed by the territory and there is no city council of any form. * [[Bogotá]], [[Colombia]], is formally [[Bogotá, D.C.|Bogotá, Distrito Capital]] (Capital District). * [[Abuja]], the capital city Nigeria is a separate entity but not counted as one of the states of the country but a federal capital territory *[[India]] has a [[National Capital Territory of Delhi]], which includes [[New Delhi]], the capital, and [[Delhi]]. *[[Buenos Aires]], [[Brasília]], [[Caracas]], and [[Mexico City]], the capitals of [[Argentina]], [[Brazil]], [[Venezuela]], and [[Mexico]] respectively, are each located in a [[Federal District]]. *[[Washington, D.C.|Washington]], the capital of the [[United States]], is located in the [[District of Columbia]], a capital territory created out of parts of [[Maryland]] and [[Virginia]], although later the portions of Virginia were removed from the District. *[[Moscow]], the capital of [[Russia]], itself forms a [[Federal City]], a capital territory, which is one of the 83 [[Federal subjects of Russia]]. ==See also== *[[Consolidated city-county]] *[[Consolidated city-state]] *[[County borough]] *[[Unitary authority]] *[[City-state]] ==References== {{reflist}} {{Types of administrative country subdivision}} [[Category:City]] [[Category:Independent cities| ]] [[Category:Lists of cities]] [[Category:Administrative divisions]] [[be:Гарадская акруга, Расія]] [[de:Kreisfreie Stadt]] [[et:Kreisivaba linn]] [[es:Ciudad independiente]] [[eo:Eksterdistrikta urbo]] [[fr:Ville indépendante]] [[ko:독립시]] [[it:Città extracircondariale (Germania)]] [[la:Municipium]] [[nl:Stadsdistrict]] [[ja:独立市]] [[pt:Cidade independente]] [[ksh:Kreijsfreije Stadt]] [[ro:Districte urbane ale Germaniei]] [[ru:Городской округ]] [[simple:Kreisfreie stadt]] [[sk:Mesto bez okresu]] [[sv:Kreisfri stad]]