Comarca

A comarca (Spanish: [koˈmaɾka], Portuguese: [kuˈmaɾkɐ] or [koˈmaʁkɐ], Galician: [koˈmaɾka] pl. comarcas; Catalan: [kuˈmaɾkə] or [koˈmaɾka], pl. comarques) is a traditional region or local administrative division found in parts of Spain, Portugal, Panama, Nicaragua, and Brazil. The term is derived from the term marca, meaning a "march, mark", plus the prefix co- meaning "together, jointly".

The comarca is known in Aragonese as redolada (IPA: [reðoˈlaða]) and in Basque as eskualde (IPA: [es̺kualde]). In addition, in Galician comarcas are also called bisbarras (IPA: [bizˈβaras]).

Brazil and Portugal

Historical

Until the 16th century, the comarca was a large administrative region of Portugal. There were six traditional comarcas: Entre-Douro-e-Minho, Trás-os-Montes, Beira, Estremadura, Alentejo and Algarve, of which the last had the honorary title of "kingdom". In the 16th century, the comarcas started to be known as "provinces".

The name "comarca" was then given to the administrative and judicial subdivisions of the provinces, introduced in the 17th century. Each comarca corresponded to the territorial area of jurisdiction of a corregidor, a high rank administrative and judicial officer that represented the Crown in the district.

Comarcas of Spain

In Spain traditionally and historically, some autonomous communities are also divided into comarcas (Spanish: [koˈmarkas], sing. comarca). Some comarcas (e.g. comarques of Catalonia) have a clearly defined status, are regulated by law and even their comarcal councils have some power.

In some other cases (e.g. La Carballeda) their legal status is not very formal for they correspond to natural areas, like valleys, river basins and mountainous areas, or even to historical regions overlapping different provinces and ancient kingdoms (e.g. Ilercavonia). In such comarcas or natural regions municipalities have resorted to organizing themselves in mancomunidad (commonwealth), like the Taula del Sénia, the only legal formula that has allowed those comarcas to manage their public municipal resources meaningfully.

There is even a comarca, the Cerdanya that is divided between two states, the southwestern half being counted as a comarca of Spain, while the northeastern half is part of France.

Comarques of Catalonia

This is a list of the 42 comarques (singular "comarca" Catalan pronunciation: [kuˈmarkə]) into which Catalonia is divided. A comarca is a group of municipalities, roughly equivalent to a US "county" or a UK "district". However, in the context of Catalonia, the term "county" can be a bit misleading, because in medieval Catalonia, the most important rulers were counts, notably the Counts of Barcelona and of Urgell. Comarques have no particular relation to the "counties" that were ruled by counts.

Overview

Although today the comarques are officially recognized, for centuries they had existed unofficially, with citizens identifying with a particular comarca in the same way that people in other parts of the world might identify with a particular region.

In some cases, comarques consist of rural areas and many small villages centering on an important town, where the people of the region traditionally go to shop or to sell their goods. This is the case of comarques such as the Pla d'Estany, centered on the town of Banyoles, or the Ripollès, centered on the town of Ripoll. In other cases, comarques are larger areas with many important population centers that have traditionally been considered part of the same region, as in the case of the Empordà or Vallès.

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