Canton (administrative division)

Template:Short description A canton is a type of administrative division of a country.<ref>Template:Cite EB1911</ref> In general, cantons are relatively small in terms of area and population when compared with other administrative divisions, such as counties, departments, or provinces. Internationally, the most politically important cantons are the Swiss cantons. As the constituents of the Swiss Confederation, theoretically and historically, they are semi-sovereign states.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>

The term is derived from the French word canton, meaning "corner" or "district" (from which "cantonment" is also derived).<ref>Oxford English Dictionary cantonment and canton, v.</ref>

In specific countries

Cantons exist or previously existed in the following countries:

• Cantons of Belgium<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Cantonal Government of Bohol<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Cantons of Bolivia<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• Cantons of Bosnia and Herzegovina: federal units of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 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 Quebec<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Cantons of Costa Rica: national second order subdivision of the first order Provinces. Cantons are further subdivided into the third order Districts. Each canton has its own municipality, or local government.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Cantons of Ecuador: subdivisions below the provinces of Ecuador.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Cantons of France: a subdivision of arrondissements and départements, grouping several communes.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• Cantons of Lebanon: unofficial militias and factions during the Lebanese Civil War and afterwards. Most areas have been returned to Lebanese government control.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Cantons of Luxembourg: first order administrative subdivisions
• Cantonal Government of Negros: short-lived provisional government in the Visayas during the Filipino-American Wars in the 19th–20th centuries Republic of Negros.<ref name=":1" />
• Cantons of Rojava (Western Kurdistan, Syria)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Cantons of Switzerland: each a semi-sovereign state within Switzerland.<ref name=":0" />
• Cantons of Togo: Subdivisions of Togo's prefectures, and further divided into villages.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• subdivisions of vingtaines in Jersey<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• subdivisions of the parishes of Guernsey<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In former countries

• Cantons of Prussia: military enrollment districts between 1733 and 1813<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Cantons of Eastern Rumelia, the subdivisions below the departments.Template:Clarify
• Cantons of the Soviet Union, subdivisions of several autonomous regions of the country before 1941.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• In the Republic of New Granada, cantons were subdivisions below the provinces.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• In the First Spanish Republic in 1873, "Cantonalists" took over the city of Cartagena, Spain, a major Spanish Navy base, and declared the city independent (see Cantonal Rebellion).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>