Meissen (German: Meißen) is a district (Kreis) in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the state of Brandenburg, the district of Bautzen, the urban district Dresden, the districts Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge, Mittelsachsen and Nordsachsen.
The district dates back to the Amt Meißen, which was first mentioned in 1334. The district was ruled by the Wettin dynasty. The Margraves of what then became the Margravate of Meissen created the administrative division (Amt) in the 13th century. In 1835 the Amt was converted into an Amtshauptmannschaft, with the area of the current district covered by the Amtshauptmannschaften Meissen, Dresden and Großenhain. In 1939, these were renamed Landkreise (districts). In the administrative reform of 1952, several municipalities were transferred to the districts of Freiberg and Döbeln. In 1990, the old district borders were restored, and in 1996 parts of the district Dresden-Land were added. In August 2008 the district of Riesa-Großenhain was added to the district to give it its current size.
Meissen (in German orthography: Meißen) is a town of approximately 30,000 about 25 km (16 mi) northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albrechtsburg castle, the Gothic Meissen Cathedral and the Meissen Frauenkirche. The Grosse Kreisstadt is the capital of the Meissen district.
Samo's Empire 631-658 Margraviate of Meissen 968–1002
Poland 1002 Margraviate of Meissen 1002–1423
Electorate of Saxony 1423–1697
Poland-Saxony 1697–1706
Electorate of Saxony 1706–1709
Poland-Saxony 1709–1763
Electorate of Saxony 1763–1806
Kingdom of Saxony 1806–1871
German Empire 1871–1918
Weimar Republic 1918–1933
Nazi Germany 1933–1945
Allied-occupied Germany 1945–1949
East Germany 1949–1990
Germany 1990–present
Meissen is sometimes known as the "cradle of Saxony". The city grew out of the early Slavic settlement of Mis(s)ni, named for the small river Mis(s)na today Meis(s)abach (see Miesbach/Musbach/Mosbach), inhabited by the Slavic Glomacze tribe and was founded as a German town by King Henry the Fowler in 929. In 968, the Diocese of Meissen was founded, and Meissen became the episcopal see of a bishop. The Catholic bishopric was suppressed in 1581 after the diocese accepted the Protestant Reformation (1559), but re-created in 1921 with its seat first at Bautzen and now at the Katholische Hofkirche in Dresden.
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning entire regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions of municipalities, school district, or political district.
In Afghanistan, a district (Persian / Pashto: ولسوالۍ Wuleswali) is a subdivision of a province. There are almost 400 districts in the country.
Electoral districts are used in state elections. Districts were also used in several states as cadastral units for land titles. Some were used as squatting districts. New South Wales had several different types of districts used in the 21st century.
In Austria, a district (Bezirk) is an administrative division normally encompassing several municipalities, roughly equivalent to the Landkreis in Germany. The administrative office of a district, the Bezirkshauptmannschaft, is headed by a Bezirkshauptmann. It is in charge of the administration of all matters of federal and state administrative law and subject to orders from the higher instances, usually the Landeshauptmann (governor) in matters of federal law and the Landesregierung (state government) in state law. While there are matters of administrative law the municipalities themselves are in charge of, or where there are special bodies, the district is the basic unit of general administration in Austria. Officials on the district level are not elected, but appointed by the state government. There are also independent cities in Austria. They are called Statutarstadt in Austrian administrative law. These urban districts do have the same tasks as a normal district.
This article describes the historical development of Korea's provinces (Do ; hangul: 도; hanja: 道).
Provinces (Do) have been the primary administrative division of Korea since the mid Goryeo dynasty in the early 11th century, and were preceded by provincial-level divisions (Ju and Mok) dating back to Unified Silla, in the late 7th century.
During the Unified Silla Period (AD 668–935), Korea was divided into nine Ju (주; 州), an old word for "province" that was used to name both the kingdom's provinces and its provincial capitals.
After Goryeo defeated Silla and Later Baekje in 935 and 936 respectively, the new kingdom "was divided into one royal district (Ginae; 기내; 畿內) and twelve administrative districts (Mok; 목; 牧)" (Nahm 1988), which were soon redivided into ten provinces (Do). In 1009 the country was again redivided, this time into one royal district, five provinces (Do) and two frontier districts (Gye; 계; 界?).
After the Joseon Dynasty's rise to power and the formation of Joseon in 1392, the country was redivided into eight new provinces (Do) in 1413. The provincial boundaries closely reflected major regional and dialect boundaries, and are still often referred to in Korean today simply as the Eight Provinces (Paldo). In 1895, as part of the Gabo Reform, the country was redivided into 23 districts (Bu; 부; 府), which were replaced a year later by thirteen new provinces.
The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) is organized into 35 districts, 33 of which are defined along geographic lines. Each district has a president who oversees the congregations in his district, which are further subdivided into local circuits. The position of president is roughly analogous to the role of bishop in many church bodies, but LCMS doctrine supports a generally congregationalist polity as opposed to an exclusively hierarchical governance.
Districts choose their own district presidents at their triennial conventions from among the pastors in the district. In some districts the district president occupies a full-time position, while in others he continues to serve as pastor in a congregation.
The 35 district presidents plus the synod president form the Council of Presidents (COP), which places graduates from the two LCMS seminaries as pastors in congregations which have requested such a candidate. If a congregation desires an experienced pastor to fill a vacancy, the district president may suggest a list of possible candidates (gleaned from interactions with the COP as well as other sources), but the district president does not assign pastors in this case; the congregation extends a "call" directly to the pastor.