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borough
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A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. A borough is usually smaller than a city.
Described at
GitHub - whosonfirst/whosonfirst-placetypes: Where things are (and what they mean) in Who's On First. · GitHub
Where things are (and what they mean) in Who's On First. - whosonfirst/whosonfirst-placetypes
github.com →Link to a page describing this subject · 30,407 chars · not written by Vinony
Wikidata facts
Show 3 more facts
- Commons category
- Boroughs
- OpenStreetMap tag
- place=borough
- described at URL
- github.com/whosonfirst/whosonfirst-placetypes#borough
Sources (3)
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Article
26 sectionsContents
- History
- Etymology
- Definitions
- Australia
- Canada
- Colombia
- Ireland
- Israel
- Mexico
- New Zealand
- Trinidad and Tobago
- United Kingdom
- England and Wales
- Ancient and municipal boroughs
- Parliamentary boroughs
- County boroughs
- Metropolitan boroughs
- Other current uses
- Northern Ireland
- Scotland
- United States
- See also
- References
- Citations
- Sources
- External links
A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. A borough is usually smaller than a city.
==History== thumb|A burg (at the time spelled using the insular G) in the [[Beowulf]] In the Middle Ages, boroughs were settlements in England that were granted some self-government; burghs were the Scottish equivalent. In medieval England, boroughs were also entitled to elect members of parliament. The use of the word borough probably derives from the burghal system of Alfred the Great. Alfred set up a system of defensive strong points (burhs); in order to maintain these particular settlements, he granted them a degree of autonomy. After the Norman Conquest, when certain towns were granted self-governance, the concept of the burh/borough seems to have been reused to mean a self-governing settlement.