County

Originally, in continental Europe, a county was the land under the jurisdiction of a count. Counts are called "earls" in post-Celtic Great Britain and Ireland - the term is from Old Norse jarl and was introduced by the Vikings - but there is no correlation between "county" and "earldom." Rather, the term "county," from French comté, was simply used by the Normans after 1066 to replace the native English term scir ("sheer") or "shire," in Modern English. A shire was an administrative division of an Anglo-Saxon kingdom (Wessex, Mercia, East Anglia, etc.), usually named after its administrative centre (e.g., Gloucester > Gloucestershire, Worcester > Worcestershire, etc.).

Canada

Main article: Census division

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Five of Canada's ten provinces are divided into counties. In Ontario, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, these are local government units, whereas in Quebec and Prince Edward Island they are now only geographical divisions. Most counties consist of several municipalities, however there are a few that consist of a single large city. In sparsely populated northern Ontario and Quebec, these units are called districts not counties, and in densely populated areas of south-central Ontario new regional municipalities are used for local government instead of counties.

Related Topics:
Ontario - Nova Scotia - New Brunswick - Quebec - Prince Edward Island

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See also:

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• List of New Brunswick counties
• List of Nova Scotia counties
• List of Prince Edward Island counties
• List of Ontario counties
• List of Quebec counties
• List of Quebec county regional municipalities

Divisions of the other provinces:

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• In Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Newfoundland and Labrador, instead of counties, divisions are used. (Though Alberta has "counties," they are not equivalent to Census Divisions). See list of Alberta Census Divisions.
• In British Columbia, regional districts are used. (see List of British Columbia Regional Districts)
• The Yukon Territory is one district in itself
• The Northwest Territories and Nunavut are divided into districts.

Statistics

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• Census division statistics of Canada