The counties of England - the traditions and features of the administrative division of the country.

England, Great Britain - these concepts for the whole world are the embodiment of traditions. Strict adherence to established customs in private life and in the public order, even if it looks archaic and brings inconvenience, is a typically British trait. The counties of England are just as specific in the administrative division of the country as the pound sterling in the monetary system or pints and gallons in volume measures. Like the British monarchy itself, such a system of division has developed as a result of a long history and seems to the adherents of traditions the guarantee of the inviolability and power of the English state.

History of the state structure of England

The division into separate regions, which have a single administrative, judicial, military and financial system, was formed on the basis of the areas of habitation of individual tribal groups and goes back centuries. Many of today's counties of England are of ancient origin. Gradually, these areas were formed in the form of possessions belonging to one person - the Count.

By the time of the formation of the English early feudal state - IX-X centuries - these areas were separate independent kingdoms (for example Sussex and Essex), duchies (such as Yorkshire, Cornwall or Lancashire) or simply hereditary plots (Berkshire). Later, having joined the united Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the counties of England retained their borders, having received as ruler not an hereditary ruler, but a lord-governor appointed by the supreme monarch. The administrative, military and economic principle of division was added representative: elective quotas in the first legislative bodies were distributed on the basis of dividing the country into historical counties.

Shire, county

The origin of the English designation of administrative districts, left as a suffix-shire in traditional names-Lancashire, Yorkshire, Derbyshire, etc., is very ancient. It goes back to the Old German scira, which had a meaning close to the concepts of "care," "management," etc. The English counties, which in their name have the suffix -shire, today occupy just over half of the territory of modern England, while similar word-formations have survived and Actively used in the former British colonies - Australia and the United States.

Even at the time of the formation of a single kingdom, a system of government has developed, retaining the external features until now: at the head of the county of England - the Lord Governor, at the head of the bodies exercising judicial power, as well as police and power functions - the sheriff. In the course of numerous reforms, territorial and functional divisions, several types of administrative units with legal peculiarities emerged, which it is rather difficult to understand at first.

Counties as an integral part of the regions

The upper level of the administrative-territorial units of England - the regions introduced in 1994 at the suggestion of the government, which was headed by John Major. There are 9 of them:

• West Midlands.
• Southeast England.
• Southwestern England.
• North-West England.
• North-East England.
• Yorkshire and the Humber.
• East Midlands.
• East of England.
• Greater London.

In accordance with the legislative act of 1997, called the "Act of Lieutenantism", the territory of England is divided into 48 counties, called ceremonial, that is, having headed the appointed queen of lords - governors, sheriffs, etc. This type refers, For example, the largest county in England is North Yorkshire.

Among these structures are two other types: metropolitan, created on the basis of large urban areas (the largest cities), and non-metropolitan - having in their composition several districts or districts with their own bodies of self-government. The latter kind of county includes several entities that do not have a smaller organizational division and are deprived of their governing bodies by the decree of Margaret Thatcher 's cabinet in 1986.

Ceremonial counties

These basic elements of the administrative structure of England are also called vicegerencies, or lieutenancy areas (Lieutenancy areas), or - unofficially - geographical counties. An important and ancient element of their identification are the arms and flags of the counties of England, created on the basis of the heraldic symbols of the Middle Ages.

These territories - and the largest county in England, North Yorkshire, and the smallest - in London City - have become the basis for dividing the country into 48 postal regions with their indexes, which facilitates the work of the Royal Postal Service.

County Cities

Today in England there are 6 metropolitan counties - the metropolitan district, created on the basis of the largest urban settlements:

1. Great Manchester, created around the eponymous megalopolis.
2. Merseyside is around Liverpool.
3. South Yorkshire - South Yorkshire - with the center in Sheffield.
4. Tyne and Weir - around Newcastle.
5. West Midlands - West Midlands, including Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Coventry.
6. West Yorkshire (West Yorkshire) with the center in Leeds.

The counties of this type are the "invention" of M. Thatcher's office . They have several smaller administrative units - districts and districts with their own independent self-government bodies. Greater London - an education that has a special status, characterized by a specific management system.

Nethropolitan counties

There are 28 ceremonial counties, among which - all having the suffix -shire, as well as East Sussex, Devon, Dorset, Cumbria, West Sussex, Kent, Norfolk, Suffolk, Somerset, Surrey, and Essex, have the status of non-metropolitan, ie, From several districts, but having a single body of self-government - a common district council (except for Berkshire).

These ancient names, sounding for the anglophile as music, are the personification of this ancient and great country. They recall in memory photo counties of England, its various regions, where there is a place for modern megacities, personifying the most modern achievements of civilization, and untouched patriarchal landscapes, symbolizing the careful attitude of the British to the unique nature of their country.