meaning - What are: province, territory, protectorate, state...?


Often a country will have regions called "provinces" or "states". Other times they are called "territories" and "protectorates".



  1. Is there a generic term for these words?

  2. Is there a full list of words that belong to this group?

  3. What makes them different from each other?



Answer



A good general name for the entire group of such regions would be administrative division. The linked Wikipedia article has a comprehensive list, which also includes towns and cities, neighborhoods, an the like. The differences between these divisions all come down to:



  1. Size of the region

  2. Type of government

  3. Local language/naming conventions


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