Independent city
An independent city or independent town is a city or town that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity.
Historical precursors
In the Holy Roman Empire, and to a degree in its successor states the German Confederation and the German Empire, so-called "free imperial cities" held the legal status of imperial immediacy, according to which they were not subinfeudated to any vassal ruler and were instead subject to the authority of the Emperor alone. Examples included Hamburg, Bremen, and Lübeck, along with others that gained and/or lost the privileges of immediacy over the course of the Empire's history.National capitals
A number of countries have made their national capitals into separate entities.Federal capitals
In countries with a federal structure, the federal capital is often separate from other jurisdictions in the country, and frequently has a unique system of government.Africa
Ethiopia
, capital of Ethiopia, has held the designation of chartered city since 1991, when it was separated from the former province of Shewa. It shares this status with one other city, Dire Dawa.Mali
, the capital of Mali, is contained within the Bamako Capital District.Mozambique
, the capital of Mozambique, is its own district with provincial status surrounded by the Province of Maputo.Niger
Niger's capital, Niamey, comprises a capital district of Niger. It is surrounded by the Tillabéri Department.Nigeria
Nigeria's capital Abuja is located in the Federal Capital Territory. The Territory was established in 1976, and the capital was formally moved from Lagos in 1991.Asia
Taiwan
In Taiwan under the administrative division system of the Republic of China, some cities are directly administered by the Executive Yuan, some are administered by provinces, and some are subordinate to counties. The centrally-administered and province-administered ones are like independent cities under this definition.Korea
In both South Korea and North Korea, special cities are independent from their surrounding provinces and city-states under direct governance from the central government. Examples are Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Incheon, Gwangju, Daejeon and Ulsan in South Korea and Pyongyang and Rason in North Korea. In South Korea, the main criterion for granting secession from the province is a population reaching one million.South Korea
In addition to its nine provinces, South Korea has seven province-level "metropolitan cities". By far the largest among these in terms of population is the capital, Seoul, called a teukbyeol-si, which is home to more than 20% of the entire population of the country. The remaining six independent cities are called gwangyeok-si whose names are: Busan, Daegu, Daejeon, Incheon, Gwangju, and Ulsan.Historically, these independent cities have been carved from the province that surrounds them. Consequently, they typically share a strong regional and cultural identity with the adjoining province. For instance, Gwangju, located at the center of Jeolla region, is heavily associated with the region. Seoul and Incheon are said to make up the Seoul Metropolitan Area with the densely populated Gyeonggi that almost completely encompasses them.
One interesting relic of the newer independent cities is that, in some cases, the government administrative buildings of the provinces they were once a part of are still located within city boundaries, meaning that these provinces have capitals that are not within their borders.
On 1 July 2012, Yeongi-gun, Chungcheongnam-do absorbed parts of Cheonan, Gongju and Cheongju, and became independent from Chungcheongnam-do as Sejong Special Self-governing City under the Special Act on the Installation of Sejong City. Currently, the population of Sejong Special Self-governing City is lower than that of the aforementioned metropolitan cities, but the population is increasing with the construction of a mixed-use administrative city. In 2006, the ruling party floated a proposal to eliminate all current province and independent-city borders. This plan would divide the entire republic into fifty or sixty city- or county-level administrations, similar to the system in Japan. The plan was intended to help reduce regional discrimination and animosity by eliminating provincial identity.
Philippines
Many major cities in the Philippines are independent cities, classified as either "highly urbanized" or "independent component" cities. These cities are administratively and legally not subject to a province, and thus do not share their tax revenues with any province. In practise, most cities outside of Metropolitan Manila are often still grouped with provinces that they were partitioned from for the sake of convenience and simplicity. The national government and its agencies serve these cities through sub-offices for each region, to which the cities are indirectly subject. There are 38 such cities, with 16 being located in Metro Manila ; eight in the rest of Luzon and its surrounding islands; seven in the Visayas island group; and seven in Mindanao and its surrounding islands.Vietnam
Vietnam has six municipalities that are not part of any of the Vietnam's provinces. This includes Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam; and Ho Chi Minh City, the most populous city of Vietnam.China
In China, both Beijing and Tianjin are independent of the surrounding province of Hebei, of which they were formerly a part. Similarly, Shanghai is now independent from Jiangsu and Chongqing from Sichuan. Hong Kong and Macao have the status of special administrative regions, separated from their original province Guangdong.Thailand
In Thailand, the capital Bangkok operates independently of any province and is considered a special administrative area. It is a primate city in terms of its large population, having nearly 8% of Thailand's total population.Indonesia
In Indonesia, the national capital Jakarta is within the Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta. Jakarta is considered one of Indonesia's provinces, therefore Jakarta is headed by a governor and not a mayor. However, Jakarta is divided into 5 smaller "administration-cities" and one "administration-regency". The administration-cities are Central, North, East, West, and South Jakarta. The Kepulauan Seribu administration-regency is also included in the formal definition of Jakarta. All of these sub-units have their own degree of autonomy. Mayors of the five administration-cities and the regent of Kepulauan Seribu administration-regency are not elected, but directly appointed by the Governor and members of the Provincial Parliament of Jakarta. Furthermore, these sub-units do not have local parliament as opposed to other cities or regencies in Indonesia.India
New Delhi and the old city of Delhi together form the National Capital Territory of Delhi.Iraq
The capital of Iraq, Baghdad, is contained within a special capital district.Japan
In Japan, Tokyo, as well as being a city, forms a prefecture, falling into a special category of "metropolitan prefecture" having some of the attributes of a city and some of a prefecture. Within Tokyo, there are smaller units, "wards", "cities", "towns", etc., but some of the responsibilities normally assigned to cities and towns in other Japanese prefectures are handled by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government instead.Pakistan
The capital of Pakistan, Islamabad, is a planned city within the Islamabad Capital Territory, which was created in 1960 out of the Punjab Province. The Territory elects representatives to both houses of the legislature. Before Islamabad was made the capital, Karachi was located in the Federal Capital Territory, which later reverted to the Sindh Province.UAE
In United Arab Emirates, the seven emirates are themselves city-states, or were historically, in particular, Dubai Ajman and Sharjah.Mongolia
In Mongolia, its only independent city is its capital Ulaanbaatar which doesn't belong to any other provinces within the country.Europe
Austria
The city of Vienna is a federal state within the Republic of Austria. A similar concept is the statutory city.Belgium
The Brussels Capital Region, a densely built-up area consisting of 19 communes including the capital city Brussels, became one of Belgium's three regions after the country was turned into a federation in 1970.Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Brčko District is independent of both Entities that constitute Bosnia and Herzegovina. All other cities and municipalities are under the jurisdiction of the Entity or under the jurisdiction of cantons. The Dayton Peace Agreement afforded the special designation as a district, while also creating the Office of the High Representative that currently oversees the district of Brčko.Bulgaria
The capital city of Sofia has the status of oblast.Croatia
The capital city of Zagreb has the status equal to županija, whereas all other cities and municipalities are under a county jurisdiction.Historically, Croatian cities became independent by being named a "royal free city". Under the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the city of Rijeka was a separate city from the Counties of Hungary, and the Modros-Fiume County that surrounded it.