County seat: Difference between revisions

A '''county seat''' is an administrative center, [[seat of government]], or capital city of a [[county]] or [[parish (administrative division)|civil parish]]. The term is in use in five countries, [[Canada]], [[China]], [[Hungary]], [[Romania]], and the [[United States]]. An equivalent term, '''shire town''', is used in the [[U.S. state|US state]] of [[Vermont]] and in several other English-speaking jurisdictions.<ref>[https://vtliving.com/vermontshires/ VT Shire Towns: Visiting The Shires of Vermont]</ref> [[County town]]s serve a similar function in [[Ireland]], [[Jamaica]], and the [[United Kingdom]].{{citation neededcn|date=August 2023}}

''Xian'' have existed since the [[Warring States period]] and were set up nationwide by the [[Qin dynasty]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Hsu |first=Cho-yun |translator-last1=Baker |translator-first1=Timothy D. Jr. |translator-last2=Duke |translator-first2=Michael S. |year=2012 |orig-year=2006 |title=China: A New Cultural History |publisher=Columbia University Press |page=102 |isbn=9780231159203}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Goodman |editor-first=David S.G. |year=2015 |title=Handbook of the Politics of China |publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing Limited |page=159 |isbn=9781782544364}}</ref> The number of counties in [[China proper]] gradually increased from dynasty to dynasty. As [[Qin Shi Huang]] reorganized the counties after his unification, there were about 1,000. Under the Eastern [[Han dynasty]], the number of counties increased to above 1,000. About 1400 existed when the [[Sui dynasty]] abolished the [[Commandery (China)|commandery]] level (郡 jùn), which was the level just above counties, and demoted some commanderies to counties.

In [[Taiwan]], the first counties were first established in 1661 by the [[Kingdom of Tungning]]. The later ruler [[Taiwan under Qing rule|Qing empire]] inherited this type of administrative divisions. With the increase of [[Han Chinese]] population in Taiwan, the number of counties also grew by time. By the end of Qing era, there were 11 counties in Taiwan. [[Protestant missions in China|Protestant missionaries]] in China first romanized the term as '''hien'''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Davidson |first1=James W. |author-link=James W. Davidson |title=The Island of Formosa, Past and Present: History, People, Resources, and Commercial Prospects: Tea, Camphor, Sugar, Gold, Coal, Sulphur, Economical Plants, and Other Productions |year=1903 |publisher=Macmillan & Co. |url=https://archive.org/details/islandofformosap00davi |location=London and New York |ol=6931635M |page=[https://archive.org/details/islandofformosap00davi/page/93 93]}}</ref> When [[Taiwan under Japanese rule|Taiwan]] became a [[Empire of Japan|Japanese colony]] in 1895, the hierarchy of divisions also incorporated into the [[Administrative divisions of Japan|Japanese system]] in the period when [[Taiwan was under Japanese rule]]. By September 1945, Taiwan was divided into 8 [[prefectures of Japan|prefectures]] ({{lang|ja|州}} and {{lang|ja|廳}}), which remained after the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]] took over.

In [[New England]], counties have served mainly as dividing lines for the states' judicial systems. [[Rhode Island]] has no county level of government and thus no county seats, and [[Massachusetts]] has dissolved many but not all of its county governments. In [[Vermont]], [[Massachusetts]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleII/Chapter231/Section82|title=MGL c. 231, s. 82|access-date= 15 July 2013}}</ref> and [[Maine]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/33/title33sec701.html|title=Title 33, §701: Office in shire town|work=mainelegislature.org}}</ref> county government consists only of a [[Superior Court]] and [[Sheriffs in the United States|Sheriff]] (as an [[officer of the court]]), both located in a designated "shire town." Bennington County, Vermont has two shire towns; the court for "North Shire" is in the shire town [[Manchester, Vermont|Manchester]], and the Sheriff for the county and court for "South Shire" are in the shire town Bennington.{{citation neededcn|date=August 2023}}

[[Bedford, Virginia_Virginia|Bedford]] was an independent city from 1968 to 2013, while also being the county seat of [[Bedford County, Virginia|Bedford County]]. Bedford reverted to an incorporated town, and remains the county seat, though is now part of the county.