, the chief territorial division of certain countries. In some countries, such as Canada, the provinces have a degree of self-government comparable to that of the states of the United States. In other countries, such as Portugal, the provinces are administrative subdivisions with little or no authority of their own.
The word province is from the Latin provincia, which originally meant “command,” or “government,” and later referred to a conquered country under the administration of an official called a proconsul or propraetor. Before the Declaration of Independence the American colonies were called provinces.
