Village

For other uses, see Village (disambiguation). The main street of the village of Castle Combe, Wiltshire, England. Masouleh village, Gilan Province, Iran. The main square of Saifi Village in Centre Ville, Beirut, Lebanon An alpine village in the Lötschental Valley, Switzerland.

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousands(sometimes tens of thousands), Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New York City and the Saifi Village in Beirut, Lebanon, as well as Hampstead Village in the London conurbation. Villages are normally permanent, with fixed dwellings; however, transient villages1 can occur. Further, the dwellings of a village are fairly close to one another, not scattered broadly over the landscape ('dispersed settlement')

Historically, villages were the usual form of community for societies that practise subsistence agriculture, and also for some non-agricultural societies. In Great Britain, a hamlet earned the right to be called a village when it built a church.2 In many cultures, towns and cities were few, with only a small proportion of the population living in them. The Industrial Revolution attracted people in larger numbers to work in mills and factories; the concentration of people caused many villages to grow into towns and cities. This also enabled specialization of labor and crafts, and development of many trades. The trend of urbanisation continues, though not always in connection with industrialisation. Villages have been eclipsed in importance as units of human society and settlement.

Contents 1 Traditional villages 2 South Asia 3 East Asia 4 Southeast Asia 5 Central and Eastern Europe 5.1 Slavic countries 5.1.1 Bulgaria 5.1.2 Russia 5.1.3 Ukraine 6 Western & Southern Europe 6.1 United Kingdom 6.2 France 6.3 Spain 6.4 Portugal 6.5 Netherlands 7 The Middle East 7.1 Syria 7.2 Lebanon 8 Sub-Saharan Africa 9 Australasia & Oceania 10 South America 11 North America 11.1 Canada 11.2 United States 12 See also 13 Footnotes 14 External links // Traditional villages

Although many patterns of village life have existed, the typical village was small, consisting of perhaps 5 to 30 families. Homes were situated together for sociability and defence, and land surrounding the living quarters was farmed. Traditional fishing villages were based around artisan fishing and located adjacent to fishing grounds.

Birgi, a traditional Turkish village near Ödemiş, İzmir, Turkey South Asia A village in Bihar, India.

India

A village in central India.

"The soul of India lives in its villages", declared M. K. Gandhi 3 at the beginning of 20th century. According to the 2001 Indian census, 74% of Indians live in 638,365 different villages.4 The size of these villages varies considerably. 236,004 Indian villages have a population less than 500, while 3,976 villages have a population of 10,000+. Most villages have their own temple, mosque or church depending on the local religious following.

East Asia

Mainland China

Main article: Village (China)

In mainland China, villages 村 are divisions under township Zh:乡 or town Zh:镇.

Taiwan In Taiwan, villages are divisions under townships or county-controlled cities. The village is called a tsuen or cūn (村) under a rural township (鄉) and a li (里) under an urban township (鎮) or a county-controlled city.

Japan See Villages of Japan

Southeast Asia

Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia

The kampong of Pariangan, West Sumatra. A kampung in the Malaysian state of Johor.

The term kampung (sometimes spelling kampong) in the English language has been defined specifically as "a Malay hamlet or village in a Malay-speaking country"5 In other words, a kampung is defined today as a village in Brunei, Indonesia or Malaysia. In Malaysia, a kampung is determined as a locality with 10,000 or fewer people. Since historical times, every Malay village came under the leadership of a penghulu (village chief), who has the power to hear civil matters in his village (see Courts of Malaysia for more details). A Malay village typically contains a "masjid" (mosque) or "surau" (Muslim chapel), paddy fields and Malay houses on stilts. Malay and Indonesian villagers practice the culture of helping one another as a community, which is better known as "joint bearing of burdens" (gotong royong),6 as well as being family-oriented (especially the concept of respecting one's family [particularly the parents and elders]), courtesy and believing in God ("Tuhan") as paramount to everything else. It is common to see a cemetery near the mosque, as all Muslims in the Malay or Indonesian village want to be prayed for, and to receive Allah's blessings in the afterlife.

Philippines

In urban areas of the Philippines, the term "village" most commonly refers to private subdivisions, especially gated communities. These villages emerged in the mid-20th century and were initially the domain of elite urban dwellers. Now they are now common in Metro Manila and other major cities in the country and their residents have a wide range of income levels. Such villages may or may not correspond to administrative units (usually barangays) and/or be privately administered. Well-known villages in Metro Manila include Forbes Park and Dasmariñas Village.

Vietnam

Village, or "làng", is a basis of Vietnam society. Vietnam's village is the typical symbolcitation needed of Asian agricultural production. Vietnam's village typically contains: a village gate, "lũy tre" (bamboo hedges), "đình làng" (communal house) where "thành hoàng" (tutelary god) is worshiped, a common well, "đồng lúa" (rice field), "chùa" (temple) and houses of all families in the village. All the people in Vietnam's villages usually have a blood relationship. They are farmers who grow rice and have the same traditional handicraft. Vietnam's villages have an important role in society (Vietnamese saying: "Custom rules the law" -"Phép vua thua lệ làng" [literally: the king's law yields to village customs]). Everyone in Vietnam wants to be buried in their village when they die.citation needed

Central and Eastern Europe Slavic countries

Selo (Cyrillic: село; Polish: wieś, sioło) is a Slavic word meaning "village" in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Russia, Serbia, and Ukraine. For example there are numerous sela (plural of selo) called Novo Selo in Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro and others in Serbia, and Macedonia. In Slovenia, the word selo is used for very small villages (less than a thousand people) and in dialects; the Slovene word vas is used all over Slovenia.

Bulgaria Main article: List of villages in Bulgaria Petrevene, a village in northern Bulgaria.

In Bulgaria the different types of Sela vary from a small selo of 5 to 30 families to one of several thousand people. According to a 2002 census, in that year there were 2,385,000 Bulgarian citizens living in settlements classified as villages 7 . A 2004 Human Settlement Profile on Bulgaria8 conducted by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs stated that:

The most intensive is the migration “city – city”. Approximately 46% of all migrated people have changed their residence from one city to another. The share of the migration processes “village – city” is significantly less – 23% and “city – village” – 20%. The migration “village – village” in 2002 is 11%.7

It also stated that

the state of the environment in the small towns and villages is good apart from the low level of infrastructure.7

In Bulgaria it is becoming popular to visit villages for the atmosphere, culture, crafts, hospitality of the people and the surrounding nature. This is called selski tourism (Bulgarian:селски туризъм), meaning "village tourism".citation needed

Russia Typical house in a Russian village

In Russia, the bulk of the rural population are concentrated in rural localities. Two most common types of rural localities are derevnya (деревня) and selo (село). Historically, the formal indication of status was religious: a city (gorod) had a cathedral, a selo had a church, while a derevnya had neither.

The lowest administrative unit of the Russian Empire, volost, or its Soviet or modern Russian successor, selsoviet, was usually headquartered in a selo and embraced a few neighboring villages.

Between 1926 and 1989, Russia's rural population shrank from 76 million people to 39 million, due to urbanization, collectivization, dekulakization, and the World War II losses, but has nearly stabilized since.citation needed During 1930–1937, mass starvation in Russia and other parts of the Soviet Union lead to the death of at least 14.5 million peasants (including 5-7 million in the Holodomor).9

Most Russian rural localities have populations of less than 200 people, and the smaller places take the brunt of depopulation: e.g., in 1959, about one half of Russia's rural population lived in villages of fewer than 500 people, while now less than one third does. In the 1960s–1970s, the depopulation of the smaller villages was driven by the central planners' drive to get the farm workers out of smaller, "prospect-less" hamlets and into the collective or state farm's main village, with more amenities.10

Most Russian rural residents are involved in agricultural work, and it is very common for villagers to produce their own food. As prosperous urbanites purchase village houses for their second homes, Russian villages sometimes are transformed into dacha settlements, used mostly for seasonal residence.

The historically Cossack regions of Southern Russia and parts of Ukraine, with their fertile soil and absence of serfdom, had a rather different pattern of settlement from central and northern Russia. While peasants of central Russia lived in a village around the lord's manor, a Cossack family often lived on its own farm, called khutor. A number of such khutors plus a central village made up the administrative unit stanitsa (Russian: стани́ца; Ukrainian: станиця, stanytsia). Such a stanitsa village, often with a few thousand residents, was usually larger than a selo in central Russia.

The term aul/aal is used to refer mostly Muslim-populated villages in Caucasus and Idel-Ural, without regard to the number of residents.

Ukraine

In Ukraine Selo (село) is the lowest administrative unit. Khutir (хутір) and Stanytsia (станиця) are not part of the administrative division anylonger due to the collectivization. There is a higher level of the rural administrative division, Selysche (селище).citation needed

Western & Southern Europe United Kingdom

A village in the UK is a compact settlement of houses, smaller in size than a town, and generally based on agriculture or, in some areas, mining, quarrying or sea fishing.

The major factors in the type of settlement are location of water sources, organization of agriculture and landholding, and likelihood of flooding. For example, in areas such as the Lincolnshire Wolds, the villages are often found along the spring line halfway down the hillsides, and originate as spring line settlements, with the original open field systems around the village. In northern Scotland, most villages are planned to a grid pattern located on or close to major roads, whereas in areas such as the Forest of Arden, woodland clearances produced small hamlets around village greens.citation needed

Some villages have disappeared (for example, deserted medieval villages), sometimes leaving behind a church or manor house and sometimes nothing but bumps in the fields.Some show archaeological evidence of settlement at three or four different layers, each distinct from the previous one. Clearances may have been to accommodate sheep or game estates, or enclosure, or may have resulted from depopulation, such as after the Black Death or following a move of the inhabitants to more prosperous districts. Other villages have grown and merged and often form hubs within the general mass of suburbia - such as Hampstead, London and Didsbury in Manchester. Many villages are now predominantly dormitory locations and have suffered the loss of shops, churches and other facilities.

Bisley, Gloucestershire, a village in the Cotswolds

For many British people, the village represents an ideal of Great Britain, as with Adlestrop. Seen as being far from the bustle of modern life, it is represented as quiet and harmonious, if a little inward-looking. This concept of an unspoilt Arcadia is present in many popular representations of the village such as the radio serial The Archers or the best kept village competitions.

Many villages in South Yorkshire, North Nottinghamshire, North East Derbyshire, County Durham, South Wales and Northumberland are known as pit villages. These (such as Murton, County Durham) grew from hamlets when the sinking of a colliery in the early 20th century resulted in a rapid growth in their population and the colliery owners built new housing, shops, pubs and churches. Some pit villages outgrew nearby towns by area and population; for example, Rossington in South Yorkshire came to have over four times more people than the nearby town of Bawtry. Some pit villages grew to become towns; for example, Maltby in South Yorkshire grew from 500 people in the 19th century to over 17,000 in 2007.citation needed

In the UK, the main historical distinction between a hamlet and a village was that the latter had a church,citation needed and so usually was the centre of worship for an ecclesiastical parish. However, some civil parishes may contain more than one village. The typical village had a pub or inn, shops, and a blacksmith. But many of these facilities are now gone, and many villages are dormitories for commuters. The population of such settlements ranges from a few hundred people to around five thousand. A village is distinguished from a town in that:

A village should not have a regular agricultural market, although today such markets are uncommon even in settlements which clearly are towns. A village does not have a town hall nor a mayor. If a village is the principal settlement of a civil parish, then any administrative body that administers it at parish level should be called a parish council or parish meeting, and not a town council or city council. However, some civil parishes have no functioning parish, town, or city council nor a functioning parish meeting. In Wales, where the equivalent of an English civil parish is called a Community, the body that administers it is called a Community Council. However, larger councils may elect to call themselves town councils.11 Unlike Wales, Scottish community councils have no statutory powers.12 There should be a clear green belt or open fields surrounding its parish borders. However this may not be applicable to urbanised villages: although these may not considered to be villages, they are often widely referred to as being so; an example of this is Horsforth in Leeds. France

Same general definition as in England

Anguita, a village from Spain Spain

Spain have a plenty of little villages around his territory. Country´s life is more usual in Castile and Aragón. Every village has a church or hermitage.citation needed

Portugal

Same general definition as in Spain.

Netherlands

In the flood prone districts of the Netherlands, villages were traditionally built on low man-made hills called terps before the introduction of regional dyke-systems.

The Middle East Syria General view from Al annaze Village in Tartous, west of Syria

Syria contains a huge number of villages that vary in size and importance. It includes a plenty of ancient, historical and religious villages such as Ma'loula, Sednaya and Brad (Mar Maroun’s time). The diversity of the Syrian environments creates significant differences between the Syrian villages in terms of the economic activity and the method of adoption. Villages in the south of Syria (Huran, Jabal Al-Arab), the north-east (the Syrian island) and Orontes River basin depend mostly on agriculture mainly grain, vegetables and fruits. Villages in the region of Damascus and Aleppo depend on trading. Some other villages such as Marmarita depend heavily on tourist activity .

Mediterranean cities in Syria such as Tartus and Lattakia have similar types of villages. Mainly, villages were built in very good sites which have the fundamentals of the rural life like water. An example of a general Mediterranean Syrian village in Tartus can be Al annaze which is a small village that belongs to the area of Al Sauda. The area of Al Sauda is called as ALNAHIA which contains lots of villages. ALNAHIA is a part of district and the city consists of many districts. For Example, the district of Tartus is part of Tartus Governorate. Al Sauda (which is called ALNAHIA) belongs to Tartus district. Al annaze village is a part of Al Sauda.

Lebanon

Like France, villages in Lebanon are usually located in remote mountainous areas. The majority of villages in Lebanon retain their Aramaic names or are derivative of the Aramaic names, and this is because Aramaic was still in use in Mount Lebanon up to the 18th century.13

Many of the Lebanese villages are a part of districts, these districts are known as "kadaa" which includes the districts of Baabda (Baabda), Aley (Aley), Matn (Jdeideh), Keserwan (Jounieh), Chouf (Beiteddine), Jbeil (Byblos), Tripoli (Tripoli), Zgharta (Zgharta / Ehden), Bsharri (Bsharri), Batroun (Batroun), Koura (Amioun), Miniyeh-Danniyeh (Minyeh / Sir Ed-Danniyeh), Zahle (Zahle), Rashaya (Rashaya), Western Beqaa (Jebjennine / Saghbine), Sidon (Sidon), Jezzine (Jezzine), Tyre (Tyre), Nabatiyeh (Nabatiyeh), Marjeyoun (Marjeyoun), Hasbaya (Hasbaya), Bint Jbeil (Bint Jbeil), Baalbek (Baalbek), and Hermel (Hermel).

The district of Danniyeh conists of thirty six small villages, which includes Almrah, Kfirchlan, Kfirhbab, Hakel al Azimah, Siir, Bakhoun, Miryata, Assoun, Sfiiri, Kharnoub, Katteen, Kfirhabou, Zghartegrein, Ein Qibil.

Danniyeh (known also as Addinniyeh, Al Dinniyeh, Al Danniyeh, Arabic: سير الضنية) is a region located in Miniyeh-Danniyeh District in the North Governorate of Lebanon. The region lies east of Tripoli, extends north as far as Akkar District, south to Bsharri District and Zgharta District and as far east as Baalbek and Hermel. Dinniyeh has an excellent ecological environment filled with woodlands, orchards and groves. Several villages are located in this mountainous area, the largest town being Sir Al Dinniyeh.

An example of a typical mountainous Lebanese village in Dannieh would be Hakel al Azimah which is a small village that belongs to the district of Danniyeh, situated between Bakhoun and Assoun's boundaries. It is in the centre of the valleys that lie between the Arbeen Mountains and the Khanzouh.

Sub-Saharan Africa Australasia & Oceania

Pacific Islands Communities on pacific islands were historically called villages by English speakers who traveled and settled in the area. Some communities such as several Villages of Guam continue to be called villages despite having large populations that can exceed 40,000 residents.

New Zealand

The traditional Māori village was the pā, a fortified hill-top settlement. Tree-fern logs and flax were the main building materials.

Australia The term village often is used in reference to small planned communities such as retirement communities or shopping districts, and tourist areas such as ski resorts. Small rural communities are usually known as townships. Larger settlements are known as towns.

South America

Argentina Usually set in remote mountainous areas, some also cater to winter sports and/or tourism, see: Uspallata, La Cumbrecita, Villa Traful and La Cumbre

North America Canada Main article: Municipal government in Canada United States Main article: Village (United States)

Incorporated villages

See also: Administrative divisions of New York#Village and Village (Oregon)

In twenty14 U.S. states, the term "village" refers to a specific form of incorporated municipal government, similar to a city but with less authority and geographic scope. However, this is a generality; in many states, there are villages that are an order of magnitude larger than the smallest cities in the state. The distinction is not necessarily based on population, but on the relative powers granted to the different types of municipalities and correspondingly, different obligations to provide specific services to residents.

In some states such as New York, Wisconsin, or Michigan, a village is an incorporated municipality, usually, but not always, within a single town or civil township. Residents pay taxes to the village and town or township and may vote in elections for both as well. In some cases, the village may be coterminous with the town or township. There are also many villages which span the boundaries of more than one town or township, and some villages may even straddle county borders.

There is no limit to the population of a village in New York; Hempstead, the largest village in the state, has 55,000 residents, making it more populous than some of the state's cities. However, villages in the state may not exceed five square miles (13 km²) in area.

In the state of Wisconsin a village is always legally separate from the township(s) that it has been incorporated from. The largest village is Menomonee Falls, which has over 32,000 residents.

Michigan and Illinois also have no set population limit for villages and there are many villages that are larger than cities in those states.

Villages in Ohio are almost always legally separate from any townships that they may have been incorporated from (there are exceptions, such as Chagrin Falls, where the township includes the entirety of the village). They have no area limitations, but must reincorporate as cities if they grow to over 5,000 in population. Villages have the same home-rule rights as cities with fewer of the responsibilities. Unlike cities, they have the option of being either a "statutory village" and running their governments according to state law (with a six-member council serving four-year terms and a mayor who votes only to break ties) or being a "charter village" and writing a charter to run their government as they see fit. citation needed

In Maryland, a locality designated "Village of ..." may be either an incorporated town or a special tax district.15 An example of the latter is the Village of Friendship Heights.

In states that have New England towns, a "village" is a center of population or trade, including the town center, in an otherwise sparsely-developed town or city — for instance, the village of Hyannis in the city of the Barnstable, Massachusetts.

Unincorporated villages

In many states, the term "village" is used to refer to a relatively small unincorporated community, similar to a hamlet in New York state. This informal usage may be found even in states that have villages as an incorporated municipality, although such usage might be considered incorrect and confusing.

See also Global village Linear village Village green Village lock-up Settlement types Dugout Fishing village Hamlet Microtown Countries and localities Aul Dhani and villages Dogon villages Hakka architecture Ksar List of villages in Europe by country Pueblo Types of inhabited localities in Russia Villages in Bihar Villages in China Ville Sołectwo (rough equivalent in Poland) Developed environments Developed environments City Exurban Megalopolis Rural Suburban Town Urban Footnotes ^ http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=%22transient+villages%22&btnG=Search&meta= ^ Dr Greg Stevenson, "What is a Village?", Exploring British Villages, BBC, 2006, accessed 20 Oct 2009 ^ http://www.pibbng.kar.nic.in/feature1.pdf ^ Indian Census ^ Meriam-Webster Online ^ Geertz, Clifford. "Local Knowledge: Fact and Law in Comparative Perspective", pp. 167-234 in Geertz Local Knowledge: Further Essays in Interpretive Anthropology, NY: Basic Books. 1983. ^ a b c "Human Settlement Country Profile, Bulgaria (2004)" (PDF). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. http://www.un.org/esa/agenda21/natlinfo/countr/bulgaria/Bulgariahumansettlement2003.PDF. Retrieved 2008-11-30. ^ http://www.un.org/esa/agenda21/natlinfo/countr/bulgaria/Bulgariahumansettlement2003.PDF ^ Robert Conquest (1986) The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-505180-7. ^ "Российское село в демографическом измерении" (Rural Russia measured demographically) (Russian). This article reports the following census statistics: Census year 1959 1970 1979 1989 2002 Total number of rural localities in Russia 294,059 216,845 177,047 152,922 155,289 Of them, with population 1 to 10 persons 41,493 25,895 23,855 30,170 47,089 Of them, with population 11 to 200 persons 186,437 132,515 105,112 80,663 68,807 ^ National Statistics ^ Portobello Community Council ^ A project proposal ^ Village ^ 2002 Census of Governments, Individual State Descriptions (PDF) External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Villages

Village types:

Information about villages in India from GloriousIndia Information on all villages in the UK Planning A Village Types of villages (anthropogenic biomes) v • d • e Types of administrative country subdivision Smallcaps indicate a type used by ten or more countries. Current English terms

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