Search results
city-state, a political system consisting of an independent city having sovereignty over contiguous territory and serving as a centre and leader of political, economic, and cultural life. The term originated in England in the late 19th century and has been applied especially to the cities of ancient Greece, Phoenicia, and Italy and to the ...
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. [1] They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as Rome, Carthage, Athens and Sparta and the Italian city-states during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, such as Florence, Venice, Genoa and Milan.
- City State Definition
- Characteristics of City-States
- Modern City-States
- Monaco
- Singapore
- Vatican City
- Sources and Further Reference
The city-state is a usually small, independent country consisting of a single city, the government of which exercises full sovereignty or control over itself and all territories within its borders. Unlike in more traditional multi-jurisdictional countries, where political powers are shared between the national government and various regional govern...
The unique characteristic of a city-state that sets it aside from other types of government is its sovereignty or independence. This means that a city-state has the full right and power to govern itself and its citizens, without any interference from outside governments. For example, the government of the city-state of Monaco, though located totall...
While several non-sovereign cities, such as Hong Kong and Macau, along with Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, are sometimes considered city-states, they actually function as autonomous regions. Most geographers and political scientists agree that the three modern true city-states are Monaco, Singapore, and Vatican City.
Monaco is a city-state located on France’s Mediterranean coastline. With a land area of 0.78 square miles and an estimated 38,500 permanent residents, it is the world’s second-smallest, but the most densely populated nation. A voting member of the UN since 1993, Monaco employs a constitutional monarchyform of government. Though it maintains a small...
Singapore is an island city-state in Southeast Asia. With about 5.3 million people living within its 270 square miles, it is the second most densely populated country in the world after Monaco. Singapore became an independent republic, a city and a sovereign country in 1965, after being expelled from the Malaysian Federation. Under its constitution...
Occupying an area of only about 108 acres inside Rome, Italy, the city-state of Vatican City stands as the world’s smallest independent country. Created by the 1929 Lateran Treatywith Italy, Vatican City’s political system is controlled by the Roman Catholic Church, with the Pope serving as the legislative, judicial, and executive head of governmen...
Parker, Geoffrey. (2005). Sovereign City: The City-State Through History.University of Chicago Press. ISBN-10: 1861892195.Nichols, Deborah. .The City-State Concept: Development and ApplicationSmithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. (1997).Kotkin, Joel. 2010. ?A New Era for the City-StateForbes. (December 23, 2010).- Robert Longley
The Greek City-State. The term city-state is a modern one, coined probably by historian William Warde Fowler in his 1893 book, The City-State of the Greeks and Romans. For the Greeks the word was polis, which means both “city” and “state.”. It could as well mean “independent sovereignty.”. It is the word from which politics, the art ...
A city-state is a self-governing urban center that includes its surrounding territory, functioning as an independent political entity. City-states were significant in early civilizations as they often served as the primary hubs of political, economic, and cultural activity, reflecting the geographical and chronological development of complex societies.
Definition. A city-state is a sovereign political entity that consists of a city and its surrounding territory. It is a form of government where a single city acts as the center of political, economic, and cultural life, often dominating the surrounding areas and serving as an independent political unit. congrats on reading the definition of ...
People also ask
What does city state mean?
Where did the term 'city state' come from?
Where did the city-states come from?
Which country is considered a city state?
Why were city-states important in early civilizations?
What are the key features of a city-state?
Below is the article summary. For the full article, see city-state. city-state, Political system consisting of an independent city with sovereignty over a fixed surrounding area for which it served as leader of religious, political, economic, and cultural life. The term was coined in the 19th century to describe ancient Greek and Phoenician ...
