:''For cities that do not contract any of their services, see [[contract city]].'' An '''independent city''' is a [[city]] that does not form part of another [[local government]] entity. As a formal term it is mainly used in the [[U.S.]] [[Commonwealth of Virginia]]; however, there are equivalent entities in a number of other [[jurisdiction]]s throughout the world. 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. ==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}} Of the 42 independent cities in the United States{{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}}, 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 [[shire]]s of the colony formed in 1634, 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]]. =====Arlington County===== [[Arlington County, Virginia|Arlington County]], commonly referred to as just "Arlington," is not an independent city. However, it is often thought of as a city because it is fully urbanized, is close in size to other independent cities in the state, and includes no municipalities within its borders. It consists solely of areas ceded by Virginia to the Federal Government to form [[Washington, D.C.]] in the late 18th century, and 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. *The [[St. Louis, Missouri|City of St. Louis]], [[Missouri]], was separated from [[St. Louis County, Missouri|St. Louis County]] in 1876. *[[Carson City, Nevada|Carson City]], [[Nevada]] consolidated with [[Ormsby County, Nevada|Ormsby County]] in 1969; however, Ormsby County was simultaneously dissolved. ====Other entities similar to independent cities==== An independent city is not the same as: * A [[consolidated city-county]] (such as [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]], [[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 [[Louisville, Kentucky|Louisville]]), in which city and county (or in New Orleans' case, parish) government has been merged. * A completely urbanized county such as [[Arlington, Virginia|Arlington]], [[Virginia]]. * 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 contiguous with a county. * [[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, however, 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). However, 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. The U.S. Census Bureau still uses counties, and not cities or towns, as its base unit of statistical measurement in New England. ==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]]. ==Europe== ===Austria=== In [[Austria]], a similar concept is the ''[[Statutarstadt]]''. ===Germany=== :''See also: [[List of German urban districts]].'' In [[Germany]], different [[States of Germany|states]] have either the ''Stadtkreis'' ("Urban District") or ''Kreisfreie Stadt'' (literally, "District-Free City"). Examples of German independent cities are: *[[Cologne]] (Köln) *[[Frankfurt am Main|Frankfurt]] (Frankfurt am Main) *[[Leipzig]] *[[Munich]] (München) Additionally, the German cities of [[Berlin]] and [[Hamburg]] function as federal states, while the 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). ===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. ===United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland=== 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 1972 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. ==Japan== All [[municipalities of Japan|municipalities]] in [[Japan]] are similar to independent cities, with no intermediate level of government between the [[Prefectures of Japan|prefecture]] and the municipality. Towns and villages are grouped into [[Districts of Japan|districts]], which were historically a level of government similar to the county level in the United States. ==Taiwan (Republic of China)== Under the [[political 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. ==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]]. The capital of the United States is not within any of the 50 states. [[London]] is actually composed of the [[City of London]] and the 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 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]]; [[Bogotá]], [[Colombia]], is formally [[Bogotá, D.C.|Bogotá, Distrito Capital]] (Capital District). *[[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 88 "federation subjects" (federal subdivisions) of [[Russia]]. ==See also== *[[Consolidated city-county]] *[[County borough]] *[[Unitary authority]] *[[City-state]] ==References==
[[Category:Independent cities| ]] [[Category:Cities]] [[Category:Lists of cities]] [[de:Kreisfreie Stadt]] [[et:Kreisivaba linn]] [[ko:독립시]] [[la:Municipium pago carens]] [[nl:Stadsdistrict]] [[ja:独立市]] [[pt:Cidade independente]] [[ru:Городской округ]] [[sv:Kreisfri stad]]