The term county , which derives from the Latin comitātus , has several uses. The first meaning mentioned by the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ) in its dictionary refers to the dignity of a count and the territory over which this nobleman, in ancient times, exercised lordship .
Currently, the most common use of county refers to an administrative entity existing in several countries, generally Anglo-Saxon. The concept, which is called shire or county in the English language, is equivalent to department , province or municipality , depending on the nation .
In the United States there are more than 3,000 counties, distributed in 48 of the 50 states . There are only no counties in Alaska (which is called boroughs ) and in Louisiana (where the territory is divided into parishes ).
Another series of interesting facts about counties in the United States are the following:
-An average of 62 counties per state is established.
-The first colony to establish counties was the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1643.
-The state that has the most counties is Texas, which has 254, and the one that has the least is Delaware, with only 3.
-In many states, these are in turn divided into civil municipalities.
-The government of each county must be established that it has different types of powers. Specifically, they are classified as minimum, medium and extensive.
An example of an American county is San Bernardino County , which belongs to the state of California . It was created in 1853 and, with an area of more than 52,000 square kilometers, is the largest county in the United States .
Croatia also has counties. Since the enactment of the Constitution in 1990, this European country divides its territory into 21 counties. The most populated is the county of Split-Damacia , with more than 460,000 inhabitants, while the largest is the county of Lika-Senj (more than 5,350 square kilometers).
In Spain , for its part, the counties are linked to noble titles , but have no administrative function. Altamira County , Bilbao County , and Santa Teresa County are some of them.
In addition to all of the above, we must not overlook the fact that El Condado exists in the Andalusian province of Huelva. It is a region of the aforementioned province that has a total of fourteen municipalities and has a total area of 2,457 square kilometers. Specifically, among the most important are Almonte, Trigueros, Bonares, La Palma del Condado and Bollulos Par de El Condado. Its main economic activity is the production of wine.
Its origin is found in the old County of Niebla, which belongs to the family of the House of Medina Sidonia and which is a noble title that was created in the 14th century. Specifically, it was the then King Henry II who in 1368 awarded it to Juan Alonso Pérez de Guzmán y Osorio for his loyalty during what was the development of the so-called First Castilian Civil War.