(Redirected from Amt (subnational entity))"'''Amt'''" is a name for
subnational administrative units used in some
northern European countries. It is generally larger than a
municipality, and the term is thus roughly equivalent to "
county".
The ''Amt'' in Germany
The ''Amt'' (plural, ''Ämter'') is unique to the
German Bundesländer (federal states) of
Schleswig-Holstein,
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and
Brandenburg. Other German states had this subdivision in the past. Some states have similar administrative units called 'Samtgemeinde' (
Lower Saxony), '
Verbandsgemeinde' (
Rhineland-Palatinate) or 'Verwaltungsgemeinschaft' (
Baden-Württemberg,
Bavaria,
Saxony,
Saxony-Anhalt,
Thuringia).
An ''amt'', as well as the other above-mentioned units, is subordinate to a
district, and is subdivided into municipalities. Normally it consists of very small municipalities; larger municipalities do not belong to an ''amt'', and are called "''Amt''-free municipalities" (''amtsfreie Gemeinden'').
The ''amt'' in Denmark
The ''amt'' (plural, ''amter'';
English, "County") used to be an administrative unit in
Denmark (and, historically, of
Denmark-Norway), and was comprised of one or more municipalities ((Danish, ''
kommuner''). See
Counties of Denmark for more information about the Danish usage of the term.
The
Danish Municipal Reform of
January 1,
2007 created five administrative
regions to replace the traditional 13 ''amter''. At the same time, smaller municipalities were merged into larger units, cutting the number of municipalities from 270 to 98. The counties were established by royal decree in
1662.
The ''amt'' in the Netherlands and Flanders
''Ambacht'' can be seen as
Dutch equivalent to ''amt''. ''Ambachten'' existed in
Holland,
Zeeland and
Flanders up to about 1800.
The ''amt'' in Norway
From 1662 to
1919, the
counties of Norway were called ''amter''. They are now referred to as ''fylker''.
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