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city-state is a
region controlled exclusively by a
city, usually having
sovereignty. Historically, city-states have often been contingent of larger cultural areas, as in the city-states of
ancient Greece ([[ImageInsert non-formatted text here]][[Media ---- Example.ogg ---- 'Italic text']]such as
Athens,
Sparta and
Corinth), the
Phoenician cities of
Canaan (such as
Tyre and
Sidon), the
Mayans of pre-Columbian
Mesoamerica (including
sites such as
Chichen Itza and
El Mirador), the
central Asian cities along the
Silk Road (which includes
Samarkand and
Bukhara), or the
city-states of Northern Italy (especially
Florence and
Venice). More recently the neologism
citistate has been developed, referring to the city as the center of a 'city region' including relocated
urban business like factory and company towns, and supply economies like agricultural, timber and mineral extraction whose commodities find a market in the city. The term "city-state" should not be confused with "
independent city", which refers to a city which is not administered as part of another
local government area (eg, a
county).
Among the most well known periods of city-state culture in human history include ancient Greek city-states, and the merchant city-states of Renaissance Italy, who organized themselves in small independent centers. The success of small regional units coexisting as autonomous actors in loose geographical and cultural unity, as in Italy or Greece, often prevented their amalgamation into larger national units. However, such small political entities often survived only for short periods because they lacked the resources to defend themselves against incursions by larger states. Thus they inevitably gave way to larger organizations of society, including the empire and the nation-state.[1]
Whereas the nation-states rely on a common cultural heritage, be it linguistic, historical, religious, economic, etc., the city-state relies on the common interest in the function of the urban center. The urban center and its activity supplies the livelihoods of all urbanites inhabiting the city-state.
Today, Singapore, Monaco and the Vatican City are the only sovereign states which bear a resemblance to the classical definition of a city-state. Several sovereign countries do have self-governing areas delineated around cities, but these are not true city-states because they are not independent of the larger state. Typically a federal country will have a federal administration from which the capital is granted a separate status. Examples include Washington, D.C. in the United States, Brasília (coterminous with the Brazilian Federal District) in Brazil, Mexico City (being the Mexican Federal District), Canberra (part of the Australian Capital Territory) and Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires (coterminous with the Argentine Federal Capital).
