Region
A region can be either:
- an administrative subdivision of a Country
- a sometimes vaguely-defined geographical area of a country or Continent
For the place-name Region in the works of JRR Tolkien, see Region (Middle-earth).
Administrative regions
The word "region" is taken from the Latin regio, and a number of countries have borrowed the term as the formal name for a type of Subnational entity (eg, the región, used in Chile). In English, the word is also used as the conventional translation for equivalent terms in other languages (eg, the область (oblast), used in Russia).Countries using administrative regions
The following countries use the term "region" (or its Cognate) as the name of a type of subnational entity: région; in German, Region; the term gewest is used in Dutch)The Canadian province of Québec also uses the "administrative region" (région administrative).
Prior to 1996, Scotland was also divided into regions.
The government of the Philippines uses the region (in Filipino, rehiyon) when it's necessary to group provinces, the primary administrative subdivision of the country.
The government of Singapore makes use of regions for its own administrative purposes. Similarly, the British government also makes limited use of regions for England.
The following countries use an administrative subdivision conventionally referred to as a region in English:
China has five 自治区 (zìzhìqū) and two 特別行政區 (or 特别行政区; tèbiéxíngzhèngqū) which are conventionally translated as "autonomous region" and "Special Administrative Region", respectively.Geographical regions
A region can also be used for a geographical area; with this usage, there is an implied distinctiveness about the area that defines it. Such a distinction is often made on the basis of a historical, political, or cultural cohesiveness that separates the region from its neighbours.
Geographical regions can be found within a country (eg, the Midlands, in England), or transnationally (eg, the Middle-East).
Examples of geographical regions
- Geographical regions in Serbia and Montenegro
- Historical regions of Central Europe
- Historical regions of the Balkan Peninsula
- List of regions in Australia
- List of regions of Canada
- List of regions of the United States
- List of traditional regions of Slovakia
- Regions of Japan
See also
- Autonomous region
- Committee of the Regions
- Euroregion
- Latin names of regions
- Regional district
- Regional municipality