A canton is a type of administrative division of a country. In general, cantons are relatively small in terms of area and population when compared to other administrative divisions such as counties, departments or provinces. Internationally the best-known cantons, and the most politically important, are those of Switzerland. As the constituents of the Swiss Confederation, theoretically (and historically) the Swiss cantons are sovereign states.
[edit] Cantons in specific countries
Cantons exist (or existed) in the following countries:
- Cantons of Belgium
- Cantons of Bolivia
- Cantons of Bosnia and Herzegovina: a subdivision of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Canada: Canadian French equivalent for the English word "township", since the translation municipalité is already used for a different level of government (see township).
- Cantons of Costa Rica: subdivisions below the provinces of Costa Rica
- Cantons of Ecuador: subdivisions below the provinces of Ecuador
- Cantons of El Salvador: divisions of a municipality outside the more urban caserios, which border the town or city. Cantones can be thought as the more rural parts of a city or town, generally far from the actual urban population.
- Cantons of France: a subdivision of arrondissements and départements, grouping several communes
- Cantons of Luxembourg: a subdivision of the districts of Luxembourg
- Cantons of Switzerland: each a semi-sovereign state within Switzerland
- subdivisions of vingtaines in Jersey
- In the Ottoman Empire, a kaza was a district within a province, sometimes called a canton
- Several automonous regions of the Soviet Union were subdivided into cantons before 1941
- In 1873, "Cantonalists" took over the city of Cartagena, Spain, a haven for the Spanish Navy, and declared the city independent
