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As a formal term it is mainly used in the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia , however there are equivalent entities in a number of other Jurisdiction s throughout the world. Independent cities should not be confused with City-state s (such as Singapore ), which are fully sovereign cities that are not part of any other nation-state. UNITED STATES In the United States , an independent city is a City that does not belong to any particular County . Because counties have historically been a strong institution in local government in most of the United States, independent cities are relatively rare outside of Virginia (see below), whose State Constitution makes them a special case. The U.S. Census Bureau uses counties as its base unit for presentation of statistical information, and treats independent cities as county equivalents for those purposes. Independent cities should not be confused with Consolidated City-counties , such as Denver, Colorado , the City And County Of San Francisco, California or Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . Virginia Of the 43 or so independent cities in the United States, 39 are in Virginia. In the Commonwealth Of Virginia , all municipalities incorporated as "cities" have also been "independent cities," also called "free cities," since 1871. Other municipalities, even though they may be more populous than some existing independent cities, are incorporated as " Town s", and as such form part of a county. An independent city in Virginia may serve as the County Seat of an adjacent county, even though the city by definition is not part of that county. Several Virginia counties, whose origins go back to the original eight Shire s of the colony formed in 1634, have the word ''city'' in their names; however, politically they are counties. Examples are Charles City County and James City County . =List of Virginia's independent cities The independent cities in Virginia are (as of January 2006 ):
=Notes
=Arlington County Arlington County , commonly referred to as just "Arlington," is not an independent city. However, it is often thought of as a city because it is fully urbanized, is close in size to other independent cities in the state, and includes no municipalities within its borders. It consists solely of areas ceded to the Federal Government to form Washington D.C. in the late 18th century, and retroceded to Virginia in 1846. ''See also Alexandria County, D.C. '' =Former cities ''See also: Lost Counties, Cities And Towns Of Virginia .'' Former independent cities now extinct that were long extant in Virginia include:
Two other independent cities existed only for a short time:
Other states Some states have created independent cities in order to cater for the special requirements of governing their largest cities and/or capitals:
Other entities similar to independent cities An independent city is not the same as:
CANADA In the Canadian province of Ontario , the same type of city is referred to as a Single-tier Municipality . EUROPE Austria In Austria , a similar concept is the '' Statutarstadt ''. Germany See also: List Of German Urban Districts . In Germany , different States have either the ''Stadtkreis'' ("Urban District") or ''Kreisfreie Stadt'' (literally, "District-Free City"). Examples of German independent cities are: Hungary See also: List Of Towns In Hungary In Hungary 23 of the cities are "cities with county rights", these cities have equal rights with the 19 counties of Hungary. United Kingdom Some cities in the United Kingdom are a Unitary Authority , and could be considered to be independent cities. In the UK, however, "city" has no inherent status; City Status depends on a grant from the Monarch and merely confers on the place so-designated the right to call itself a city. The standard for such a right is typically based on whether the entity has a cathedral. REPUBLIC OF CHINA Under the Administrative Division System of the Republic Of China (effectively controlling Taiwan and Islands since 1949), some cities are Directly Administered by the Executive Yuan , some are Administered By Provinces , and some are Subordinate To Counties . The centrally-adminsitered and province-administered ones are like independent cities under this definition. NATIONAL CAPITALS A number of countries have made their national capitals into separate entities. For example Copenhagen , the capital of Denmark , is outside of the country's system of counties, as is the capital of Romania, Bucharest . The capital of the United States is not within any of the 50 states. Federal capitals In countries with a Federal structure, the federal capital is usually separate from other jurisdictions in the country, and frequently has a unique system of government. Examples include:
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