Subject: Re: more about the newly reported quintipoints
Date: Dec 01, 2001 @ 04:20
Author: orc@orcoast.com (orc@...)
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--- In BoundaryPoint@y..., "Peter Smaardijk" <smaardijk@y...> wrote:
> --- In BoundaryPoint@y..., michael donner <orc@o...> wrote:
> (...) heleta irissari lekorne makea & orzaize turns out like all
> french multimunicipal points to be nested in a daunting succession of
> subdivisional entities starting with the administrative region of
> aquitaine on the subnational or secondary level & continuing thru the
> department of pyrenees atlantiques on the tertiary level & the
> province of pays basque on the quaternary level if i got it right &
> also possibly even the subprovincial or quintenary entity of basse
> navarre so that the municipalities constituting this quintipoint are
> technically all the way down to sextenary entities & thus the basque
> quintipoint tho remarkable is evidently no match for glhemaokpa the
> tertiary quintipoint of florida that is still global maxipoint
> apparent (...)
>
> Not quite. The Basque subdivisions are not official at all in the
> North Basque Country (although very much alive among the population).
> In France, subdivisions *generally* work as follows:
> 1. Country
> 2. Region
> 3. Departement
> 4. Arrondissement
> 5. Canton
> 6. Municipality
> There are exceptions. The most notable exception is that cantons are
> dependent on the number of inhabitants. So a canton can contain
> several municipalities, consist of only one municipality, or one
> municipality contains several cantons!
> For the arrondissements, this exception exists in Paris, Marseilles,
> and Lyon. These cities are divided into arrondissements. It is just
> strange that Paris is a departement on it's own, but the other two
> are not. Equally strange is it that at least in Paris (I don't know
> about the other two), an arrondissement is not divided into cantons,
> but quarters. Obviously, no municipalities here (the municipality and
> the departement are one and the same here).
>
> The Basque division is into seven provinces. Four of them are in
> Spain and are official Spanish provinces too. The other three (in the
> French republic) don't have any official status whatsoever. Even the
> North Basque Country has no status (yet?) in France. Most of it is
> the arrondissement Baiona/Bayonne, but part of it belongs to the
> arrondissement Oloron-Sainte-Marie.
>
> And to make it more complicated still: Some Basques consider Navarre
> (also a Spanish province and region) and Lower Navarre (in France) as
> one single province. Something it was in 1512 for the last time (if I
> remember correctly). It then used to be called the "Merindad"
> (subdivision of a province) of "Over the Passes", a designation for
> the part of Navarre that was on the other side of the Pyrenees. It is
> interesting that in the early 16th century, Upper Navarre was annexed
> by the Spanish kingdom, but not Lower Navarre. It was because of this
> the crown of Navarre was attached to this northern part of the former
> kingdom. When this part became part of France, the kings of France
> got the title "King of Navarre", too. This is why the kings of France
> had the title "King of France and Navarre". Funny if you consider the
> small area of Lower Navarre, compared to the rest of France. The
> old "parliament of Navarre" was based in Pau, nowadays capital of the
> departement of the Atlantic Pyrenees, but not in the Basque country,
> let alone in Navarre (this area is called is Bearn).
>
> Peter S.