A town is a type of a human settlement . Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities , though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
103-658: Coburg ( / ˈ k oʊ b ɜːr ɡ / KOH -burg , German: [ˈkoːbʊʁk] ) is a town located on the Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria , Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line , it joined Bavaria by popular vote only in 1920. Until the revolution of 1918, it was one of the capitals of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and
206-408: A Millionenstadt , a city with anywhere between one and five million inhabitants (such as Cologne , Munich , Hamburg and Berlin ). Also, a city with more than five million inhabitants is often referred to as a Megastadt (commonly translated as megacity ). Historically, many settlements became a Stadt by being awarded a Stadtrecht in medieval times. In modern German language use,
309-537: A further 17 towns , which have merged with a municipal parish ( vallasisene linn ). In Finland, there is no distinction between a town and a city as the word kaupunki is used for both bigger and smaller settlements, which are bigger than villages and boroughs; although when talking about the word town , the word pikkukaupunki is used ( pikku means 'little' or 'small'). There are over one hundred municipal towns in Finland. From an administrative standpoint,
412-433: A Nazi swastika on the pommel. The original coat of arms was restored in 1945 at the end of World War II . Today, the silhouette of the patron saint of the city of Coburg can be found mainly on manhole covers and the city coat of arms. Coburg has the typical features of a former capital of a German princely state. There are numerous houses from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. The most important landmarks include: Coburg
515-680: A branch of the family still reigns in Belgium. The former Tsar of Bulgaria, Simeon II (reigned 1943–46), kept his surname while serving as the Prime Minister of Bulgaria from 2001 to 2005. The Duchy was born when the arbitration of the King of Saxony, Frederick Augustus , produced the Treaty of Hildburghausen on 12 November 1826 for the Gothaische Teilung (Gothan Division), the extensive rearrangement of
618-598: A distinction was always made between the Crown revenue from the domains and the State revenue from taxes and duties. Every four years, a common budget, especially in the financial dealings with the German Empire , was made, even if it interfered with the local and national operations of the two Duchies. Grants from the state budgets of both Duchies were made in the ratio of 7 to 3 between Gotha and Coburg. Because of its size and finances,
721-556: A higher degree of services . (There are a few exceptions, when towns of fewer than 50,000 people gained the status: Érd , Hódmezővásárhely , Salgótarján and Szekszárd ) As of middle 2013, there are only 23 such towns in Hungary. The 2011 Census of India defines towns of two types: statutory town and census town . Statutory town is defined as all places with a municipality , corporation , cantonment board or notified town area committee. Census towns are defined as places that satisfy
824-590: A higher tier of local government, larger towns and cities may have the status of a kreisfreie Stadt , combining both the powers of a municipality and a district. Designations in different states are as diverse as e.g. in Australian States and Territories, and differ from state to state. In some German states, the words Markt ('market'), Marktflecken (both used in southern Germany) or Flecken ('spot'; northern Germany e.g. in Lower Saxony ) designate
927-426: A municipality must have at least 3,000 inhabitants to have the right to request the town title. Market towns usually have between 500 and 4,000 inhabitants, with median and average both around 1,000. In Denmark, in many contexts no distinction is made between "city", "town" and "village"; all three translate as by . In more specific use, for small villages and hamlets the word landsby (meaning 'country town')
1030-886: A referendum was held on 30 November 1919 and the decision was made. On 1 May 1920, the Free State of Gotha merged with the new State of Thuringia , and the Free State of Coburg followed two months later, on 1 July 1920, by uniting with the Free State of Bavaria . In the German Empire, the Duchy had only one vote in the Bundesrat and two votes (for the two Duchies of Coburg and Gotha) in the Reichstag . Each Duchy had its own Landtag , elected every four years by male taxpayers over 25 years of age. Only males 30 years or older were eligible to stand for
1133-533: A social and technical infrastructure, as well as a population of no fewer than 3500 people. For resort settlements the requirements are lower with the population needing to be no fewer than 1000 people but infrastructure requirements remain. The legal definition of a town in Canada varies by province or territory , as each has jurisdiction over defining and legislating towns, cities and other types of municipal organization within its own boundaries. The province of Quebec
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#17328441147661236-408: A town such as Parun , the capital of Nuristan Province , whose population is less 20,000 people. In Albania and Kosovo qytezë means 'town', which is very similar to the word for city ( qytet ), although there is no official use of the term for any settlement. In Albanian qytezë means 'small city' or 'new city', while in ancient times it referred to a small residential center within
1339-563: A town-like residential community between Gemeinde and Stadt with special importance to its outer conurbation area. Historically those had Marktrecht (market right) but not full town privileges; see Market town . The legal denomination of a specific settlement may differ from its common designation (e.g. Samtgemeinde – a legal term in Lower Saxony for a group of villages [ Dorf , pl. Dörfer ] with common local government created by combining municipalities [ Gemeinde , pl. Gemeinden ]). In ordinary speech, Greeks use
1442-690: Is Stadt , as it is the case in many other languages that do not differentiate between these concepts. The word for a 'village', as a smaller settlement, is Dorf . However, the International Statistics Conference of 1887 defined different sizes of Stadt , based on their population size, as follows: Landstadt ('country town'; under 5,000), Kleinstadt ('small town'; 5,000 to 20,000), Mittelstadt ('middle town'; between 20,000 and 100,000) and Großstadt ("large town"; 100,000 to 1,000,000). The term Großstadt may be translated as 'city'. In addition, Germans may speak of
1545-467: Is a de facto statutory city. All the Czech municipalities with more than 40,000 inhabitants are cities. Town and market town are above all ceremonious honorary degrees, referring to population, history and regional significance of a municipality. As the statistics of Czech municipalities shows, towns usually have between 1,000 and 35,000 inhabitants, with median around 4,000 and average around 6,500. Nowadays
1648-547: Is an alternative name for "city" or "village" (especially a small city or large village; and occasionally even hamlets ). Sometimes, the word town is short for township . In general, today towns can be differentiated from townships, villages, or hamlets on the basis of their economic character, in that most of a town's population will tend to derive their living from manufacturing industry, commerce , and public services rather than primary sector industries such as agriculture or related activities. A place's population size
1751-422: Is commonly referred to as a city or as a town, no distinction and no objective legal criteria exist to make such a distinction under law. Ontario allows municipalities to select whichever administrative term they like with no legal distinction existing between towns, townships, cities, and villages. Instead all municipalities, with the exception of Toronto and Ottawa, fall into one of three legal categories under
1854-520: Is difficult to call the remaining provincial capitals "large towns" as, in general, they are less developed and have shrinking population, some with as few as 30,000 inhabitants. In Bulgaria the Council of Ministers defines what constitutes a settlement, while the President of Bulgaria grants each settlement its title. In 2005 the requirement that villages that wish to classify themselves as town must have
1957-611: Is home to two major festivals: Samba-Festival Coburg [ de ] and Johann Strauss Musiktage . Coburg is referred to as "Europe's Capital of Samba." As a result of the large presence of the US Army prior to German re-unification, Americans and American culture are still present in Coburg and the surrounding area. This influence ranges from American-style pubs and restaurants to two sports clubs sponsoring baseball teams. The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council asserts that Frankfurt
2060-569: Is named after the town, in connection with the Bulgarian royal house of Coburg ( Saxe-Coburg-Gotha ). Coburg can be reached by car via B 303 Schweinfurt -Coburg-Schirnding, B 4 Hamburg -Coburg- Nuremberg or motorway A 73 Suhl -Coburg-Nuremberg. Coburg has four train stations: From the main station one can go to Lichtenfels , Bamberg , Forchheim , Erlangen , Fürth and Nuremberg, to Neustadt bei Coburg , Sonneberg , to Bad Rodach and to Kulmbach , Neuenmarkt-Wirsberg. Since December 2017,
2163-550: Is not a reliable determinant of urban character. In many areas of the world, e.g. in India at least until recent times, a large village might contain several times as many people as a small town. In the United Kingdom, there are historical cities that are far smaller than the larger towns. The modern phenomenon of extensive suburban growth, satellite urban development, and migration of city dwellers to villages has further complicated
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#17328441147662266-420: Is partitioned into 2098 municipalities ( German : Gemeinden ) of fundamentally equal rank. Larger municipalities are designated as market towns ( German : Marktgemeinden ) or cities ( Städte ), but these distinctions are purely symbolic and do not confer additional legal responsibilities. There is a number of smaller communities that are labelled cities because they used to be regional population centers in
2369-548: Is surrounded by the Landkreis Coburg . Coburg lies at the foot of the Thuringian Highland . Coburg, Bavaria was part of West Germany until reunification in 1990, but on three sides it borders Thuringia which was East Germany. The border between Bavaria and Thuringia was also the inner German border . Coburg is divided into 15 Stadtteile : Coburg was first mentioned in a monastic document dated 1056, which marked
2472-468: Is the location of Veste Coburg , one of Germany's largest castles. Today, Coburg's population is close to 41,500. Since it was little damaged in World War II, Coburg retains many historic buildings, making it a popular tourist destination. Coburg lies about 90 kilometres (56 miles) south of Erfurt and about 100 kilometres (62 miles) north of Nuremberg on the river Itz . It is an urban district and
2575-655: Is today the largest employer and largest payer of Gewerbesteuer [ de ] (local corporate tax) in Coburg. Kapp Werkzeugmaschinen has been a manufacturer of gear-milling machines since 1953, after taking over the production assets of COMAG (Coburger Maschinenbau GmbH). Waldrich-Coburg, founded in 1920, manufactures CNC-milling machines in a range of sizes, the largest of which can handle an object of size 50 x 14 x 10 metres. Founded in 1919, Kaeser Compressors produces air compressors in various sizes. Coburg has an above-average share of goods-producing employees. In 2013, out of 32,962 employees 10,421 worked in
2678-452: Is traditionally credited with originating the frankfurter . This is disputed by those who claim the hot dog was created in the late 17th century by Johann Georghehner, a butcher, living in Coburg. A popular local delicacy is the Coburger bratwurst , a sausage (the official measure of which is denoted by the marshall's staff held by the statue of the town's patron, Sankt Mauritius , located on
2781-464: Is unique in that it makes no distinction under law between towns and cities. There is no intermediate level in French between village and ville ( municipality is an administrative term usually applied to a legal, not geographical entity), so both are combined under the single legal status of ville . While an informal preference may exist among English speakers as to whether any individual ville
2884-488: Is used, while the Danish equivalent of English city is storby (meaning 'large town'). For formal purposes, urban areas having at least 200 inhabitants are considered by . Historically some towns held various privileges, the most important of which was the right to hold market. They were administered separately from the rural areas in both fiscal, military and legal matters. Such towns are known as købstad (roughly
2987-621: The 22nd Division of the XIth Army Corps . Three battalions of the 6th Thuringian were assigned to Gotha (No. 1), Hildburghausen (No. 2) and Coburg (No. 3) but the Corps headquarters was in Kassel . Unlike Prussia, where military service was mandatory, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha filled its quota in the Imperial Army with the draft. The capitals of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha were Coburg and Gotha . By 1914
3090-678: The Coburg State Theater ) and thereafter maintained at the same time. In addition to the residential castles, Friedenstein in Gotha and Ehrenburg in Coburg, the Ducal family also used the Schloss Reinhardsbrunn in Gotha as well as the Rosenau and Callenberg castles in Coburg and the hunting lodge Greinburg Castle, Grein, Austria (the latter two still today owned by the ducal branch of
3193-440: The Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld . Through successful dynastic policies, the ruling princely family married into several of the royal families of Europe, most notably in the person of Prince Albert , who married Queen Victoria in 1840. As a result of these close links with the royal houses of Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Coburg was frequently visited by the crowned heads of Europe and their families. Coburg
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3296-480: The Ehrenburg . In 1596, Coburg was raised to the status of capital of one of the dynasty's splintered Saxon-Thuringian territories, the newly created Duchy of Saxe-Coburg under the leadership of Duke John Casimir (ruled 1596–1633). From 1699 to 1826, it was one of the two capitals of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld , and from 1826 to 1918 it was a capital of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha . Ernest Frederick ,
3399-698: The Ernestine duchies . After the extinction of the Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg line, the Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen exchanged his Duchy for that of Saxe-Altenburg . The Saxe-Meiningen line became Saxe-Hildburghausen and got from Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld the Saalfelder territories as well as the District of Themar and the places of Mupperg , Mogger , Liebau and Oerlsdorf . The Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld received for that
3502-554: The GDP per inhabitant was €91,506 in Coburg, placing it 5th among the 96 urban and rural districts (Bavarian average: €46,698). Coburg is twinned with: Coburg's coat of arms , honouring the town's German patron Saint Maurice , was granted in 1493. In 1934, the Nazi government forbade any glorification of the African race, and they replaced the coat of arms with one depicting a vertical sword with
3605-675: The German Democratic Republic , Bavarian Coburg became part of West Germany . As a result, the town spent the Cold War years lying right next to the Iron Curtain , surrounded by East German territory on three sides and cut off from much of its natural back country . In 1946, Polish ambassador Oskar R. Lange alleged that Coburg was a base for the Western Allies to organize a Polish armed insurgency led by Władysław Anders against
3708-568: The House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha ). Only the Duchy of Gotha, along with nearby Duchies of Saxe-Meiningen and Saxe-Altenburg and especially the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach – was able to be one of the sponsoring states of the University of Jena . Coburg did not have its own university. It did not have its court of law, either. Gotha had its own court of law while Coburg had to go to Meiningen for
3811-580: The New Apostolic Church , as well as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . There are also three communities of Muslims . Coburg had a large Jewish community until the 1940s. Jews had lived there since the 14th century. The old synagogue was a former church. Today it is used by Old Catholics . Coburg became Protestant after the Reformation . All Catholics were persecuted. A new Catholic community
3914-457: The Old Norse tún . The original Proto-Germanic word, * tūnan , is thought to be an early borrowing from Proto-Celtic * dūnom (cf. Old Irish dún , Welsh din ). The original sense of the word in both Germanic and Celtic was that of a fortress or an enclosure. Cognates of town in many modern Germanic languages designate a fence or a hedge. In English and Dutch, the meaning of
4017-506: The People's State of Reuss (until 1918 the principalities of Reuss-Gera and Reuss-Greiz ). The southern part of the duchy (since 1918 the Free State of Coburg ; culturally and linguistically Franconian ), as southernmost of the Thuringian states, was the only one which, after a referendum, became part of the Free State of Bavaria . The name Saxe-Coburg-Gotha also refers to the family of
4120-564: The 12th or 13th century. In 1248, the castle came into possession of the House of Henneberg and in 1353 it passed to the House of Wettin with the marriage of Frederick III with Catherine of Henneberg and was initially regarded by them as a Saxon outpost within Franconia . During the Diet of Augsburg in 1530 reformer Martin Luther spent six months at the castle (located at the southernmost point of
4223-484: The 1950s, to accommodate exponential population increase. The first new towns included Tsuen Wan and Kwun Tong . In the late 1960s and the 1970s, another stage of new town developments was launched. Nine new towns have been developed so far. Land use is carefully planned and development provides plenty of room for public housing projects. Rail transport is usually available at a later stage. The first towns are Sha Tin , Tsuen Wan , Tuen Mun and Tseung Kwan O . Tuen Mun
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4326-533: The 21st century, merged most κοινότητες with the nearest δήμοι , dividing the whole country into 325 self-governing δήμοι . The former municipalities survive as administrative subdivisions ( δημοτικά διαμερίσματα , δημοτικές ενότητες ). Cyprus, including the Turkish-occupied areas, is also divided into 39 δήμοι (in principle, with at least 5,000 inhabitants, though there are exceptions) and 576 κοινότητες . Hong Kong started developing new towns in
4429-565: The Allies in their war against France. But, because of the great distance from Coburg and of the unrest caused by the Hambach Festival , the Duke sold the Principality in 1834 to Prussia . The newly created Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was initially a double duchy, ruled by Ernest III as Duke Ernest I in a personal union , but with only one vote in the Bundesrat . The opportunity to unify
4532-647: The Coburg station is served by Intercity Express high speed trains of the Munich-Nuremberg-Coburg-Erfurt-Berlin(-Hamburg) line ( Nuremberg–Erfurt high-speed railway ). Small planes can land on the two airfields : Large airports nearby are in Frankfurt , Erfurt and Nuremberg . Town#Germany The word "town" shares an origin with the German word Zaun , the Dutch word tuin , and
4635-458: The Duchy did not have ambassadors but it did have trade consuls. They were for trade with Austria-Hungary , Belgium, Argentina , Brazil , Chile , Cuba , Ecuador , France, Great Britain, Italy, Mexico , Peru , Portugal , Prussia, Russia, Spain, Switzerland , and Turkey . The United States had its own consul in Coburg from 1897 to 1918. During the American Civil War , Ernst Raven
4738-586: The Duchy of Saxe-Coburg , Districts of Königsberg and Sonnefeld from Saxe-Hildburghausen, and the properties of Callenberg and Gauerstadt from Saxe-Meiningen. By then, the Principality of Lichtenberg , on the Nahe River , had already been a part of the Duchy of Coburg for ten years. Ernest III, the sovereign of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, had received it in 1816 from the Congress of Vienna for providing assistance to
4841-794: The Duke of Albany. But, because he chose to side with the Germans against the British in the First World War , he was stripped of his British titles in 1919. After the November Revolution ended the monarchy in 1918, the two duchies became two different and independent states, the Free State of Coburg , and the Republic of Gotha, later renamed the Free State of Gotha . Their leaders believed, however, that their new countries were not economically viable, so they began to search for possible mergers. Eventually,
4944-561: The German Federal Archives for the victims of the Nazi persecution of Jews in Germany lists in particular 63 Jewish inhabitants of Coburg, who were deported and mostly murdered. Coburg's Jewish community was not reestablished after the war. After World War II , which Coburg survived largely undamaged, the town faced the challenge of integrating over 15,000 refugees . While the other Saxon-Thuringian principalities were incorporated into
5047-541: The King of Belgium in 1831 and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , born in Schloss Rosenau , marrying his first cousin, Queen Victoria in 1840. The marriage between Albert and Victoria established the present British royal house, which renamed itself Windsor during World War I . This marriage led to a union with Germany's ruling dynasty, the Hohenzollerns , when the couple's eldest child, Victoria , married
5150-647: The Minister of Internal Affairs selects candidates from a committee-screened list of applicants, whom the President of Republic usually affirms by issuing a bill of town's rank to them. Since being a town carries extra fiscal support from the government, many relatively small villages try to win the status of városi rang ('town rank') nowadays. Before the fall of communism in 1990, Hungarian villages with fewer than 10,000 residents were not allowed to become towns. Recently some settlements as small as 2,500 souls have received
5253-504: The Municipalities Act: Single-tier (I.e. towns that are located within a region or county but that are considered separate for municipal purposes such as Hamilton ), lower-tier (i.e. municipalities that are part of a region or county such as St. Catharines ), or upper-tier (i.e. regional municipalities such as Niagara ). Accordingly, many larger municipalities continue to use the title of town due to it better reflecting
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#17328441147665356-715: The National Statistics Institute (INE) as an urban entity with a population from 2001 to 5000 or an area with a population from 1001 to 2000 and an established economic activity. In Czechia , a municipality can obtain the title of a city ( Czech : statutární město ), town ( Czech : město ) or market town ( Czech : městys ). The title is granted by law. Statutory cities (in English usually called just "cities"), which are defined by law no. 128/2000 Coll., can define their own self-governing municipal districts. There are 26 such cities, in addition to Prague , which
5459-649: The Saxon duchy) while his liege lord , John, Elector of Saxony , attended the Diet. Luther was forbidden to attend by the Elector, who feared that he would be imprisoned and burned as a heretic. While quartered at the castle Luther continued with his translation of the Bible into German. In 1547, the princely residence was moved from the Veste to a former monastery, rebuilt as a Renaissance palace ,
5562-464: The Soviet-backed communists in Poland . Over two-thirds of Coburg's population live in the core town of Coburg rather than in one of the Stadtteile merged with it in the 20th century. Some of those retain a largely rural character. Most residents of Coburg are members of the Evangelical Church ( Lutheran ). Other Christian communities are Baptists , Seventh-day Adventists , the ICF Movement , Jehovah's Witnesses , Catholics , Old Catholics and
5665-490: The United Kingdom and his eldest son, Edward, the Prince of Wales , was already her heir apparent . Besides, he was prohibited by the Constitutions of both duchies from inheriting the throne if there were other eligible male heirs. But he had already renounced his claim in favour of his next brother, Prince Alfred , Duke of Edinburgh. So Alfred became the next Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Alfred's only son, also named Alfred , died in 1899, so when Duke Alfred died in 1900 he
5768-436: The Veste Coburg museum. Under his son, Ernest , the Schlossplatz [ de ] with what is today the Landestheater Coburg was created. He also rebuilt the Ehrenburg in Gothic revival style . In the mid-19th century, Duke Ernest II supported national and liberal ideas and Coburg hosted the first meeting of the German National Association , the founding of the Deutscher Sängerbund [ de ] and
5871-412: The appurtenances of local government (e.g. a police force). In the United States these are referred to as "incorporated towns". In other cases the town lacks its own governance and is said to be "unincorporated". The existence of an unincorporated town may be legally set out by other means, e.g. zoning districts. In the case of some planned communities , the town exists legally in the form of covenants on
5974-403: The area and populations of the two duchies were: There are two residences in Gotha and Coburg. Therefore, the whole ducal court, including the Court Theater, had to move twice a year: from Gotha to Coburg for the summer, from Coburg to Gotha for the winter. For the Court Theater, two almost identical buildings had to be built in 1840 in Gotha (destroyed in the Second World War) and Coburg (now
6077-469: The beginning of the root word (e.g. nagyváros ) have been normalized to differentiate between cities and towns (towns being smaller, therefore bearing the name kisváros .) In Hungary, a village can gain the status of város ('town'), if it meets a set of diverse conditions for quality of life and development of certain public services and utilities (e.g. having a local secondary school or installing full-area sewage collection pipe network). Every year
6180-399: The character of the municipality. For example, Oakville (2021 Population: 213,759) is the largest municipality to use the title of town to reflect its largely suburban character while other municipalities such as Richmond Hill (2021 Population: 202,022) have opted to change their status from "town" to "city" to encourage investment. In Chile , towns (Spanish: pueblos ) are defined by
6283-410: The consolidation of large estates during the Roman Empire , the town became the center of large farms. A distinction was created between rustic and urban settlements: In Afghanistan , a city and a town are both referred to as shār ( Dari : شهر ; Pashto : ښار ). The capital of each of its 34 provinces may include a major city such as Kabul whose population is over five million people or
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#17328441147666386-414: The definition of towns, creating communities urban in their economic and cultural characteristics but lacking other characteristics of urban localities. Some forms of non-rural settlement, such as temporary mining locations, may be clearly non-rural, but have at best a questionable claim to be called a town. Towns often exist as distinct governmental units, with legally defined borders and some or all of
6489-559: The distant past. The city of Rattenberg for example has about 400 inhabitants. The city of Hardegg has about 1200 inhabitants. There are no unincorporated areas. Of the 201 cities in Austria, 15 are statutory cities ( Statutarstädte ). A statutory city is a city that is vested, in addition to its purview as a municipality, with the duties of a district administrative authority . The status does not come with any additional autonomy: district administrative authorities are essentially just service centers that citizens use to interact with
6592-476: The elections. The Coburger assembly had 11 members and its twin in Gotha had 19. The assemblies met every year but, every two years, they would combine, alternatively in Gotha and Coburg, for the matters and questions that involve both Duchies. For both duchies, however, there was a Ministry of State in Gotha but Coburg and Gotha had their own subordinate and almost independent ministries. The Minister of State directed Gotha's Ducal ministry but, for both Duchies, he
6695-461: The first Deutsches Turnfest [ de ] (national sports festival). During the 19th century, dynastic marriages created ties with the royal families of Belgium, Bulgaria, Portugal and Britain. This turned the ducal family from the rulers of a fairly obscure backwater duchy into one playing an influential role in European politics. The era of political influence peaked with Leopold Frederick ; born Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld , becoming
6798-508: The following criteria: Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Saxe-Coburg and Gotha ( German : Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha ), or Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (German: Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha [ˈzaksn̩ ˈkoːbʊʁk ˈɡoːtaː] ), was an Ernestine duchy in Thuringia ruled by a branch of the House of Wettin , consisting of territories in the present-day states of Thuringia and Bavaria in Germany. It lasted from 1826 to 1918. In November 1918 , Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha ,
6901-400: The fourth Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, moved his capital from Saalfeld to Coburg in 1764. Coburg then became capital of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and later of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha . In the early 19th century, the town's medieval fortifications were demolished and replaced by parks. The duke also started the collection of copperplate engravings that is today part of
7004-400: The future King George V of the United Kingdom. In November 1918, the last Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Charles Edward , abdicated. The Freistaat Coburg which now came into being had to decide whether to become part of Thuringia or Bavaria . In a November 1919 referendum, the locals voted to join Bavaria with an 88% majority. On 1 July 1920, Coburg joined Bavaria. In 1929, Coburg
7107-406: The future Kaiser Friedrich III . After her marriage, Queen Victoria said of Coburg: If I were not who I am, this would have been my real home, but I shall always consider it my second one. Due to the royal connections among the royal houses of Europe, Coburg was the site of many royal Ducal weddings and visits. Britain's Queen Victoria made six visits to Coburg during her 63-year reign. In 1894
7210-465: The garden of the palace of Het Loo in Apeldoorn , which was the model for the privy garden of William III and Mary II at Hampton Court ). In Old Norse tún means a (grassy) place between farmhouses, and the word is still used with a similar meaning in modern Norwegian. Old English tūn became a common place-name suffix in England and southeastern Scotland during the Anglo-Saxon settlement period. In Old English and Early and Middle Scots ,
7313-421: The historical importance, the existence of central functions (education, retail etc.) and the population density of an urban place might also be taken as characteristics of a Stadt . The modern local government organisation is subject to the laws of each state and refers to a Gemeinde ( municipality ), regardless of its historic title. While most Gemeinden form part of a Landkreis ( district ) on
7416-770: The legal administration. According to the Staatsgrundgesetz ( House laws ) of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the full title of the Duke was: Wir, Ernst, Herzog zu Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha, Jülich, Cleve und Berg, auch Engern und Westphalen, Landgraf in Thüringen, Markgraf zu Meißen, gefürsteter Graf zu Henneberg, Graf zu der Mark und Ravensberg, Herr zu Ravenstein und Tonna usw. Translation: We, Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Jülich, Cleves and Berg , also Angria and Westphalia , Landgrave in Thuringia, Margrave of Meissen , Princely Count of Henneberg , Count of
7519-406: The manufacturing or construction sectors (31% vs. a national average of 24%), 4,853 in trade, transport and tourism, 10,381 in professional services and 7,230 in public and private services. Hotels in Coburg counted over 61,000 overnight visitors in 2014 (of which around 53,000 were from Germany). They stayed for a total of almost 120,000 nights, or close to two nights per stay on average. In 2017,
7622-542: The name of their respective seats, and if they were not municipal seats, they would have the category of village. Bulgarians do not, in general, differentiate between 'city' and 'town'. However, in everyday language and media the terms "large towns" and "small towns" are in use. "Large towns" usually refers to Sofia , Plovdiv , Varna and Burgas , which have population over 200,000. Ruse and Stara Zagora are often included as well due to presence of relatively developed infrastructure and population over 100,000 threshold. It
7725-418: The national government, for example to apply for driver licenses or passports. The national government generally uses the provinces to run these points of contact on its behalf; in the case of statutory cities, the municipality gets to step up. In Brazil, since 1938, it was defined that the seat of the municipalities would pass to the category of city and give it the name and the districts would be designated by
7828-399: The other Thuringian states , it had to defer to the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen for the representation. Ernest I died in 1844. His elder son and successor, Ernest II, ruled until his own death in 1893. Because he had died childless, the throne of the two duchies would have passed to his late brother Prince Albert 's male descendants. But Prince Albert was the husband of Queen Victoria of
7931-476: The properties within the town. The United States Census identifies many census-designated places (CDPs) by the names of unincorporated towns which lie within them; however, those CDPs typically include rural and suburban areas and even surrounding villages and other towns. The distinction between a town and a city similarly depends on the approach: a city may strictly be an administrative entity which has been granted that designation by law, but in informal usage,
8034-417: The rank of town (e.g. Visegrád, Zalakaros or Gönc) and meeting the conditions of development is often disregarded to quickly elevate larger villages into towns. As of middle 2013, there are 346 towns in Hungary, encompassing some 69% of the entire population. Towns of more than 50,000 people are able to gain the status of megyei jogú város (town with the rights of a county ), which allows them to maintain
8137-700: The ruling House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , which played many varied roles in the dynastic and political history of Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the early part of the 20th century, before the First World War , it was the family of the sovereigns of the United Kingdom , Belgium , Portugal , Bulgaria , and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. In 1910, the Portuguese king was deposed, and the same thing occurred in Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in 1918 and in Bulgaria in 1946. As of 2024 ,
8240-557: The same meaning as borough albeit deriving from a different etymology) and they retain the exclusive right to the title even after the last vestiges of their privileges vanished through the reform of the local administration carried through in 1970. In Estonia , there is no distinction between a town and a city as the word linn is used for both bigger and smaller settlements, which are bigger than villages and boroughs. There are 30 municipal towns ( omavalitsuslik linn ) in Estonia and
8343-411: The school were destroyed. Coburg's Jewish community numbered 68 in 1869, 210 (1.3% of the total population) in 1880, 316 (1.3%) in 1925, and 233 (0.9%) in 1933. Around 150 managed to leave by 1942, either emigrating from Germany or moving to other German cities. The rest were deported to Riga , Izbica , and Theresienstadt in three transports between November 1941 and September 1942. The memorial book of
8446-430: The smallest level of local authorities are all called communes . They can have anywhere from a handful to millions of inhabitants, and France has 36,000 of them. The French term for town is bourg but French laws generally do not distinguish between towns and cities which are all commonly called villes . However, some laws do treat these authorities differently based on the population and different rules apply to
8549-421: The term is also used to denote an urban locality of a particular size or importance: whereas a medieval city may have possessed as few as 10,000 inhabitants, today some consider an urban place of fewer than 100,000 as a town, even though there are many officially designated cities that are much smaller than that. 193 countries have been involved in a common effort to agree on a common statistical definition of
8652-607: The three big cities Paris , Lyon and Marseille . For historical reasons, six communes in the Meuse département exist as independent administrative entities despite having no inhabitants at all. For statistical purposes, the national statistical institute ( INSEE ) operates a distinction between urban areas with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants and bigger communes, the latter being called villes . Smaller settlements are usually called villages . Germans do not, in general, differentiate between 'city' and 'town'. The German word for both
8755-455: The three categories: cities, towns and rural areas. Australian geographer Thomas Griffith Taylor proposed a classification of towns based on their age and pattern of land use . He identified five types of towns: Through different periods of recorded history, many towns have grown into sizeable settlements, with the development of properties, centres of culture, and specialized economies. Çatalhöyük , currently an archaeological site,
8858-468: The town hall and overlooking the square) roasted over a pine cone fire. The sausage is served in a semmel (a small bread bun, a third the size of the sausage itself), and is highly popular with locals and tourists alike. According to tradition, the Coburger bratwurst was first produced in 1530 on the occasion of a visit by Martin Luther . Coburg Peak on Trinity Peninsula in Graham Land , Antarctica ,
8961-466: The transfer of ownership to the Archbishop-Elector of Cologne , although there was a settlement at the site that predates it called Trufalistat . The origin of the name Coburg is unclear; the first element may be kuh , which would give a literal meaning of "cow borough". "Coburg" initially referred to a property centred on the hill where Veste Coburg was later built. Its oldest remains date to
9064-448: The two duchies in 1826 was missed. After the Staatsgrundgesetz ( House laws ) of 1852, the duchies were bound in a political and real union . They were then a quasi-federal unitary state. Later attempts to merge the duchies failed in 1867 because the Landtag of Gotha did not want to assume the higher state debts of Coburg and in 1872 because of the questions about the administration of
9167-675: The walls of a castle. In Australia, most rural and regional centres of population can be called towns; many small towns have populations of less than 200. The smallest may be described as townships. In addition, some local government entities are officially styled as towns in Queensland , South Australia , Western Australia and the Northern Territory , and formerly also (till the 1990s) in Victoria . The Austrian legal system does not distinguish between villages, towns, and cities. The country
9270-512: The wedding of Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse and Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha brought together Queen Victoria , her son Edward (future Edward VII) , her second son Alfred (Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha) , her daughter the German Dowager Empress Friedrich (Victoria) , and many of her grandchildren, such as future Tsar Nicholas and Alexandra of Russia (Alix of Hesse), Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, and
9373-793: The whole union. The Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha received on 3 May 1852 a national constitution, which had taken substantial parts of the fundamental rights from the Constitution of the National Assembly in Frankfurt. It also joined the German Zollverein in 1834, the North German Confederation in 1866 and the German Empire in 1871. At the Bundesrat in Berlin , where it had a seat, it kept its agents but, since 1913, like most of
9476-617: The word χωριό ('village') to refer to smaller settlements and the word πόλη or πολιτεία ('city') to refer to larger ones. Careful speakers may also use the word κωμόπολη to refer to towns with a population of 2,000–9,999. In Greek administrative law there used to be a distinction between δήμοι , i.e. municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants or considered important for some other geographical (county seats), historical or ecclesiastical (bishops' seats) reason, and κοινότητες, referring to smaller self-governing units, mostly villages. A sweeping reform, carried out in two stages early in
9579-469: The word took on the sense of the space which these fences enclosed, and through which a track must run. In England, a town was a small community that could not afford or was not allowed to build walls or other larger fortifications, and built a palisade or stockade instead. In the Netherlands, this space was a garden, more specifically those of the wealthy, which had a high fence or a wall around them (like
9682-641: The words ton , toun , etc. could refer to diverse kinds of settlements from agricultural estates and holdings, partly picking up the Norse sense (as in the Scots word fermtoun ) at one end of the scale, to fortified municipalities. Other common Anglo-Saxon suffixes included ham 'home', stede 'stead', and burh 'bury, borough, burgh'. In toponymic terminology, names of individual towns and cities are called astyonyms or astionyms (from Ancient Greek ἄστυ 'town, city', and ὄνομα 'name'). In some cases, town
9785-479: Was assigned to the position of consul in the state of Texas. He applied to the Confederate Government for a diplomatic exequatur on 30 July 1861 and was accepted. Before 1867, the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha had its own Army. But, on 26 June 1867, because of a treaty signed in 1866 with Prussia, its Army was added, for defending and recruiting purposes, to the 6th Thuringian Infantry Regiment No. 95 of
9888-498: Was considered to be the oldest inhabited town, or proto-city , that existed from around 7500 BC. Inscribed as a World Heritage Site , it remains a depopulated town with a complex of ruins. In Roman times , a villa was a rural settlement formed by a main residential building and another series of secondary buildings. It constituted the center from which an agricultural holding was administered. Subsequently, it lost its agricultural functions and reduced its activity to residential. With
9991-446: Was forced to abdicate. In 1920, the northern part of the duchy (since 1918 the Free State of Gotha ; culturally and linguistically Thuringian ) was merged with six other Thuringian free states to form the Free State of Thuringia : Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (until 1918 a grand duchy), Saxe-Altenburg and Saxe-Meiningen (until 1918 duchies), Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen (until 1918 principalities), as well as
10094-596: Was founded in the 19th century. Coburg has an oceanic climate ( Cfb in the Köppen climate classification ). In 1919 Max Brose and Ernst Jüngling established the metal works Max Brose & Co. to manufacture car parts. The company is still in operation today, as Brose Fahrzeugteile . In 1950, the Haftpflicht-Unterstützungs-Kasse kraftfahrender Beamter Deutschlands a. G. (today HUK-Coburg [ de ] ) relocated from Erfurt to Coburg. HUK
10197-406: Was imposed against Jewish businesses. In 1932 the municipal council abrogated the lease of St. Nicholas Church. In 1933 the synagogue was closed down. It still remains standing. On 25 March 1933, 40 Jews in Coburg were arrested and tortured. They were not released until the affair became internationally known. On 9 November 1938, Kristallnacht , all Jewish men were interned. Jewish homes, shops, and
10300-534: Was intended to be self-reliant, but was not successful and turned into a bedroom community like the other new towns. More recent developments are Tin Shui Wai and North Lantau (Tung Chung-Tai Ho) . In Hungary there is no official distinction between a city and a town (the word for both in Hungarian is város ). Nevertheless, the expressions formed by adding the adjectives kis ('small') and nagy ('large') to
10403-492: Was responsible for the state affairs, the economical and commercials policies, the judiciary and the conduct of Imperial laws. In Coburg, for state matters as such as community services, police duties, support of the state church, and education, as well as management of assets and finances, and also, until 1891, court matters, the local authorities could not interfere with the decisions from Gotha. The finances of both Duchies remained basically disconnected. But, in their management,
10506-585: Was succeeded by his nephew the Duke of Albany , the 16-year-old son of Queen Victoria's youngest son, Leopold , as Duke Alfred's next brother Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and his son Prince Arthur of Connaught had renounced their own claims to the succession. Reigning as Duke Carl Eduard, Charles Edward , because of his age, began under the Regency of Prince Ernst von Hohenlohe-Langenburg until he came of age in 1905. The new Duke also continued to use his British title,
10609-477: Was the first German town in which the Nazi Party won the absolute majority of the popular vote during municipal elections. In 1932, Coburg was the first German town to make Adolf Hitler an honorary citizen . Coburg had Jewish citizens as early as the 14th century. In the 1870s they were granted permission to permanently lease the Church of St. Nicholas for conversion into a synagogue. In 1931 an unofficial boycott
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