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Comarca

A comarca (meaning shire, Spanish and Portuguese plural comarcas, Catalan plural comarques) is a traditional region or local administrative division found in parts of Spain, Portugal, Panama and Brazil.

The comarca is also known in Aragonese as a redolada.

The comarca in Spain

The term comarca is used in several regions of the Iberian Peninsula.

• In Catalonia and Aragon, the comarca exists as a local government area, and has a representative comarcal council.
• In the Valencian Community, the comarca exists only as a traditional region with no administrative competences. They are legally referred as homologated territorial demarcations instead of as comarques.
• In Galicia the comarca or bisbarra are tradional divisions of the land and enjoy limited official recognition, but has no administrative entity.

In other places, such as Extremadura, the comarca may be simply a loosely-defined region.

Because of the comarca's long-standing use, it is sometimes used as the basis for the promotion of tourism, with emphasis on local cultural tradition and history.

Panama

In Panama, the comarca indígena is an administrative region for an area with a substantial Indian population. Three comarcas exist as equivalent to a province, with two smaller comarcas subordinate to a province and considered equivalent to a corregimiento (municipality).

Brazil

In Brazil, the comarca is a territorial division in the judicial system. It indicates the area covered by a lower level court. It may correspond to a municipality, or group together several small municipalities under one court.

See also

• List of terms for country subdivisions
• Comarcas of Spain
• Comarcas of Aragon
• Comarcas of Asturias
• Comarques of Catalonia
• Comarques of the Valencian Community
• Provinces of Panama

External links

• History of comarca divisions in the Catalan Countries (Catalan)