08/02/2019 Independent city - Wikipedia

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 (such as a county).

Contents
Historical precursors
National capitals
In general
Federal capitals
Asia
Republic of China (Taiwan)
South Korea
Philippines
Vietnam
Europe
Austria
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
France
Germany
Hungary
Ireland
Norway
Poland
Russian Federation
Spain
Ukraine
United Kingdom
North America
Canada
United States
References

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" (nominative singular freie Reichsstadt, nominative plural freie Reichsstädte) 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

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08/02/2019 Independent city - Wikipedia

In general
A number of countries have made their national capitals into separate entities.

Examples include:

Bucharest, the capital of Romania, is outside the country's system of counties.

London, the capital of the United Kingdom and its constituent country England, is administratively Greater London,
which consists of the City of London and 32 London boroughs. Greater London is not one of the metropolitan or
non-metropolitan counties, which the remainder of England is subdivided into. London has its own assembly and
directly-elected mayor, which exercise local government/devolved powers greater than any other city or place in
the UK, apart from the nations/provinces of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. One of the boroughs, the City
of Westminster, is the seat of government as home to the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace and other
notable government, judicial and religious buildings. The City of London (which is not, and never has been, the
seat of government) has enjoyed a unique status in British local government since before the signing of Magna
Carta; it is part of Greater London for most administrative purposes, but remains a separate ceremonial county
and retains many independent local government powers and civic identity, most notably its own police force and
Lord Mayor.
Oslo, the capital of Norway, is an independent city defined both as a municipality and a county.
Tokyo, the capital of Japan, is not really a city but officially one of Japan's 47 prefectures. Its official name is Tokyo
Metropolis, highlighting its special designation. It consists of 49 municipalities, 23 of which are the wards that once
made up the no-longer existing Tokyo City.

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.

Examples include:

Berlin, the capital of Germany, was separated from its historic Province of Brandenburg in 1881, from whence it
has been an independent city. In 1920, its size was expanded to its current borders.
Brasília, the capital of Brazil, is located in the Federal District—the same was created especially for the purpose of
housing the federal capital city.
Brussels, the capital of Belgium, is a separate bilingual (Dutch-French) region (the Brussels-Capital Region),
independent of both Flanders and Wallonia, despite being entirely surrounded by Flanders (of which it is also the
regional capital) and sharing a common language with both Wallonia (French) and Flanders (Dutch). However, the
constitution of Belgium recognizes the municipality of the City of Brussels in the region as the capital, despite the
entire region being recognized as the capital.
Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, received the status of "Autonomous City" via a 1994 amendment to the
country's constitution. Previously, Buenos Aires had been designated as a "Capital District".
Canberra, the capital of Australia, is located in the Australian Capital Territory.
Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, is located in a Capital District.
Mexico City, the capital of the United Mexican States (Mexico), is coterminous with the Federal District (Distrito
Federal). The 31 states and the Federal District are collectively called "federal entities" (entidades federativas in
Spanish).
Moscow, the capital of Russia, itself forms a federal city, a capital territory, which is one of the 83 federal subjects
of Russia. The status is also equally shared by two other cities—Saint Petersburg and Sevastopol.
New Delhi – the capital city of India – and the old city of Delhi together form the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, is not within any of the 50 states. It is located in and is co-
terminous with (that is, has the same boundaries as) the District of Columbia. The two form one entity. Although
the District of Columbia was originally created as a capital territory out of parts of Maryland and Virginia, the
portion from Virginia was removed from the Federal District and returned to Virginia in 1846.

Asia

Republic of China (Taiwan)

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