Geography Exceptions to the Rule
A running list of geography odd situations and special cases that we come across in EMu
Standardized administrative subdivisions grouped by geographical region
The primary (state/province-level) and secondary (county-level) administrative subdivisions of the following countries have been standardized. This list also includes the county-level suffix term, when applicable. Asterisks indicate regions that have not yet been thoroughly addressed.
Standardized administrative subdivisions grouped by geographical region
The primary (state/province-level) and secondary (county-level) administrative subdivisions of the following countries have been standardized. This list also includes the county-level suffix term, when applicable. Asterisks indicate regions that have not yet been thoroughly addressed.
North America*
United States: Co. following term, exceptions:
Alaska: name only, no suffix
Louisiana: “Parish” following name
Virginia: includes independent cities in addition to counties, noted as “(Independent City)” following city name
Nevada: includes one independent city in addition to counties (Carson City), noted as “Carson City (Independent City)”
Mexico: Mun. following name
[Bermuda: no county-level list]
[Saint-Pierre et Miquelon: no county-level list]
Central America
Belize: Mun., Town, City following name
Costa Rica: (Canton) following name
El Salvador: Mun. following name
Guatemala: Mun. following name
Honduras: Mun. following name
Nicaragua: Mun. following name
Panama: (Distr.) following name
West Indies
[Anguilla: no county-level list]
[Antigua and Barbuda: no county-level list]
[Aruba: no county-level list]
[Bahamas: no county-level list]
[Barbados: no county-level list]
[Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba: no county-level list]
[Cayman Islands: no county-level list]
Cuba: Mun. following name
[Curaçao: no county-level list]
[Dominica: no county-level list]
Dominican Republic: Mun following name
[Grenada: no county-level list]
Guadeloupe: Comm. following name
Haiti: Arrondissement following name
[Jamaica: no county-level list]
[Martinique: no county-level list]
[Montserrat: no county-level list]
Puerto Rico: Barrio following name
[Saint Barthélemy: no county-level list]
[Saint Kitts and Nevis: no county-level list]
[Saint Lucia: no county-level list]
[Sint Maarten: no county-level list]
[Saint Martin: no county-level list]
[Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: no county-level list]
[Turks and Caicos Islands: no county-level list]
[Virgin Islands (U.K.): no county-level list]
Virgin Islands (U.S.): (Subdistrict) following name
South America
Argentina: (Dept.) following name
Bolivia: (Prov.) following name
Brazil: Mun. following name
Chile: (Prov.) following name
Colombia: Mun. following name
Ecuador: Canton following name
[Falkland Islands: no county-level list]
French Guiana: Comm. following name
Guyana: name only
Paraguay: (Distr.) following name
Peru: (Prov.) following name
Suriname: name only
[Trinidad and Tobago: no county-level list]
Uruguay: Mun. following name
Venezuela: Mun. following name
Asia
Afghanistan: (Distr.) following name
[Armenia: no county-level list]
[Azerbaijan: no county-level list]
[Bahrain: no county-level list]
Bangladesh: (Distr.) following name
Bhutan: Gewog following name
[British Indian Ocean Territory: no county-level list]
Brunei: Mukim following name
Cambodia: (Distr.) following name
China: (Prefecture), (City) following name
[Cyprus: no county-level list]
India: (Distr.) following name
Indonesia: (Regency) following name
Iran: (Co.) following name
[Iraq: no county-level list]
Israel: (Subdistr.) following name
Japan: -shi (city or branch admin), -gun (counties) after name
Jordan: (Sub-distr.) following name
Kazakhstan: (Distr.) following name
[Kuwait: no county-level list]
Kyrgyzstan: (Distr.) following name
Laos: (Distr.) following name
Lebanon: (Distr.) following name
Malaysia: (Distr.) following name
[Maldives: no county-level list]
Mongolia: (Distr.) following name
Myanmar: (Distr.) following name
Nepal: (Distr.) following name
North Korea: (Co.), (City), (Distr.) following name
Oman: (Distr.) following name
Pakistan: (Div.) following name
Palestine: (Governorate) following name
Philippines: Mun. following name
[Qatar: no county-level list]
Saudi Arabia: (Gov.) following name
[Singapore: no county-level list]
South Korea: (Co.), (City), (Distr.) following name
Sri Lanka: (Div.) following name
Syria: (Distr.) following name
Taiwan: Co., Special Mun., Mun. following name
Tajikistan: (Distr.) following name
Thailand: (Distr.) following name
Timor-Leste: (Subdistr.) following name
Türkiye (formerly Turkey): (Distr.) following name
Turkmenistan: (Distr.), (Admin. Distr.) following name
[United Arab Emirates: no county-level list]
Uzbekistan: (Distr.) following name
Vietnam: (Distr.), (Urb. Distr.), (Isl.), (Twnshp.) following name
Yemen: (Distr.) following name
Oceania*
American Samoa: Co. following name
[Christmas Island: no county-level list]
[Cocos (Keeling) Islands: no county-level list]
[Cook Islands: no county-level list]
Federated States of Micronesia: (Mun.) following name
Fiji: (Prov.) following name
French Polynesia: (Commune) following name
[Guam: no county-level list]
[Heard Island and McDonald Islands: no county-level list]
[Kiribati: no county-level list]
Marshall Islands: (Mun.) following name
[Nauru: no county-level list]
New Caledonia: (Commune) following name
New Zealand: Distr. Following term
Niue: (Village) following name
[Norfolk Island: no county-level list]
[Northern Mariana Islands: no county-level list]
[Palau: no county-level list]
Papua New Guinea: Distr. following name
[Pitcairn Islands: no county-level list]
[Samoa: no county-level list]
Solomon Islands: Ward following name
[Tokelau: no county-level list]
Tonga: (Distr.) following name
[Tuvalu: no county-level list]
[United States Minor Outlying Islands: no county-level list]
Vanuatu: Area Council, Mun. following name
Wallis and Futuna Islands: (Distr.) following name
Africa
Algeria: (Mun.) following name
Angola: (Mun.) following name
Benin: (Commune) following name
Botswana: (Sub-distr.) following name
Burkina Faso: (Prov.) following the name
Burundi: (Commune) following name
Cabo Verde (formerly Cape Verde): (Parish) following name
Cameroon: Dept. following name
Central African Republic: (Sub-prefecture) following name
Chad: (Dept.) following name
[Comoros: no county-level list]
Côte d'Ivoire (formerly Ivory Coast): (Region) following name
Democratic Republic of the Congo: (Zone) following name
[Djibouti: no county-level list]
Egypt: Markaz following name
Equatorial Guinea: (Distr.) following name
Eritrea: (Subregion) following name
Eswatini (formerly Swaziland): following name
Ethiopia: (Zone) following name
Gabon: (Dept.) following name
Gambia: (Distr.) following name
Ghana: (Distr.) following name
Guinea: (Sub-prefecture) following name
Guinea-Bissau: (Sector) following name
Kenya: (Constituency) following name
Lesotho: (Council) following name
Liberia: (Distr.) following name
[Libya: no county-level list]
Madagascar: (Distr.) following name
[Malawi: no county-level list]
Mali: Cercle following name
Mauritania: (Dept.) following name
[Mauritius: no county-level list]
[Mayotte: no county-level list]
Morocco: (Prov.), (Prefecture) following name
Mozambique: (Distr.) following name
Namibia: (Constituency) following name
Niger: (Dept.) following name
Nigeria: (Local Government Area) following name
Republic of the Congo: (Distr.) following name
Reunion: (Commune) following name
Rwanda: (Distr.) following name
[Saint Helena no county-level list]
[São Tomé and Príncipe: no county-level list]
[Seychelles: no county-level list]
Senegal: (Dept.) following name
Sierra Leone: (Distr.) following name
Somalia: (Distr.) following name
South Africa: Distr. Mun./ Metro Mun. following name
South Sudan: Co. following name
[Western Sahara: no county-level list]
Sudan: (Distr.) following name
Tanzania: (Distr.) following name
Togo: (Prefecture) following name
Tunisia: (Delegation) following name
Uganda: Co. following name
[Western Sahara: no county-level list]
Zambia: (Distr.) following name
Zimbabwe: Distr. following name
Europe
Russia: (Distr.) following name
Mismatched Geography Hierarchy in EMu
Bermuda: country in the Atlantic Ocean. Continent: North America (sometimes miscategorized in West Indies)
Canary Islands: autonomous archipelago of Spain situated in Macaronesia in the Atlantic Ocean. Continent: Africa (not Europe), Country: Spain
Easter Island (Rapa Nui, Isla de Pascua): island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean. Continent: Oceania (not South America), Country: Chile
Hawaii: state of the United States of America situated in the Pacific Ocean. Continent: Oceania (not North America), Country: United States of America
Madeira: autonomous archipelago of Portugal situated in Macaronesia in the North Atlantic Ocean. Continent: Africa (not Europe), Country: Portugal
Trinidad and Tobago: the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Continent: South America (not West Indies)
Important Hierarchical Variations To Note
United Kingdom: Province/state level (primary administrative division) does not match Statoids provided list. Province/state list values consists of the four countries of the United Kingdom: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, which deviates from the primary administrative division list provided by Statoids (http://www.statoids.com/ugb.html). The primary administrative division list for the U.K. provided by Statoids (http://www.statoids.com/ugb.html) was incorporated as the secondary administrative division values in EMu, by country.
Brazil: District/county list values (secondary administrative division) in EMu do not match Statoids provided "Microregions" (http://www.statoids.com/ybr.html). Microregions "...have no administrative function; they were defined by the federal government for purposes of convenience" (Law, 2007). Alternatively, the secondary administrative units (municipalities) were gathered from the Wikipedia page "List of Municipalities of Brazil," according to State (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_municipalities_of_Brazil).
Puerto Rico: As a commonwealth associated with the United States, there are no first-level administrative subdivisions as defined by the U.S. government. The second-level administrative subdivisions are municipios (https://welcome.topuertorico.org/government.shtml#:~:text=Administrative%20Divisions%20None%20%28Commonwealth%20associated%20with%20the%20U.S.%29%3B,The%20mayor%20appoints%20a%20secretary-auditor%20and%20a%20treasurer). For our intents and purposes, we cite the second-level administrative divisions as the first-level, listing the municipios as the State/Province for the country, and use the third-level administrative areas (barrios) as the secondary political subdivisions, as “the barrios of Puerto Rico are the primary legal divisions of the seventy-eight municipalities of Puerto Rico” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrios_of_Puerto_Rico). This is also in agreement with Statoids (http://www.statoids.com/upr.html) although Statoids does not provide the list of barrios.
Abyssinia = Ethiopia
Annam = Vietnam (colonial French term)
Bohemia = Czech Republic
British Honduras = Belize
British Guiana = Guyana
British North Borneo = Malaysia
Burma = Myanmar
Ceylon = Sri Lanka
Formosa = Taiwan
French Indochina = Vietnam
Hispanola = divided politically into Haiti (west) and the Dominican Republic (east)
Macedonia = North Macedonia
Moravia = Czech Republic
New Granada = region consisting of Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela
New Holland = Australia
Northern Rhodesia = Zambia
Persia = Iran
Siam = Thailand
Southern Rhodesia = Zimbabwe
Yugoslavia = region consisting of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia
Zaire = Democratic Republic of the Congo