city-state

listen to the pronunciation of city-state
English - Turkish
site
şehir devleti
site kent

Related Terms

city/state
(Bilgisayar) şehir
city state
site kent
city state
şehir devleti
city state
(Politika, Siyaset) kent devleti
English - English
An autonomous political unit comprising a city and the surrounding countryside
sovereign state consisting of an autonomous city and the surrounding area
an independent state that consists of a city and the surrounding country area, especially in the past. 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 settlements that differed from tribal or national systems in size, exclusivity, patriotism, and ability to resist incorporation by other communities. They may have developed when earlier tribal systems broke down and splintered groups established themselves as independent nuclei 1000-800 BC; by the 5th century BC they numbered in the hundreds, with Athens, Sparta, and Thebes among the most important. Incapable of forming any lasting union or federation, they eventually fell victim to the Macedonians, the Carthaginians, and the Roman empire. In the 11th century the city-state revived in Italy; the success of medieval Italy's city-states, including Pisa, Florence, Venice, and Genoa, was due to growing prosperity from trade with the East, and several survived into the 19th century. Germany's medieval city-states included Hamburg, Bremen, and Lübeck. The only city-state extant today is Vatican City
An independent political entity consisting of a single city with (and sometimes without) an immediate hinterland (e g , Singapore) (de Blij & Muller, 1996)
independent state consisting of a city and the territories that surround it
A territorially small, independent urban conurbation that constituted an autonomous political entity, such as ancient Athens and Sparta, the Hanseatic League cities, and the republican cities of northern Italy during the Renaissance
polis
A sovereign city, as in Ancient Greece, often part of a federation of such cities
a state consisting of a sovereign city