Editing City-state (section)

== Historical background ==
=== Ancient and medieval world ===
{{Further|List of ancient Greek cities|List of Phoenician cities|Cities of the ancient Near East|Italian city-states|Maya city|Polis|Altepetl}}

[[File:Dubrovnik crop.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Republic of Ragusa]], a maritime city-state, was based in the [[Walls of Dubrovnik|walled city]] of [[Dubrovnik]]]]

Historical city-states included [[Sumer]]ian cities such as [[Uruk]] and [[Ur]]; [[Ancient Egypt]]ian city-states, such as [[Thebes, Egypt|Thebes]] and [[Memphis, Egypt|Memphis]]; the [[Phoenicia]]n cities (such as [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]] and [[Sidon]]); the five [[Philistines|Philistine]] city-states; the [[Berber people|Berber]] city-states of the [[Garamantes]]; the city-states of [[ancient Greece]] (the [[poleis]] such as [[Classical Athens|Athens]], [[Sparta]], [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]], and [[Ancient Corinth|Corinth]]); the [[Roman Republic]] (which grew from a city-state into a vast empire); the [[Italian city-states]] from the Middle Ages to the early modern period, such as [[Republic of Florence|Florence]], [[Republic of Siena|Siena]], [[Duchy of Ferrara|Ferrara]], [[Duchy of Milan|Milan]] (which as they grew in power began to dominate neighboring cities) and [[Republic of Genoa|Genoa]] and [[Republic of Venice|Venice]], which became powerful [[thalassocracies]]; the [[Maya civilization|Mayan]] and other cultures of pre-Columbian [[Mesoamerica]] (including cities such as [[Chichen Itza]], [[Tikal]], [[Copán]] and [[Monte Albán]]); the [[central Asia]]n cities along the [[Silk Road]]; the city-states of the [[Swahili coast]]; [[Republic of Ragusa|Ragusa]] in [[Croatia]]; [[Emirate of Tbilisi|Tbilisi]] in [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]; states of the medieval Russian lands such as [[Novgorod Republic|Novgorod]] and [[Pskov Republic|Pskov]];<ref>{{cite book |last1=Alcock |first1=Antony Evelyn |title=A short history of Europe: from the Greeks and Romans to the present day |date=1998 |publisher=MacMillan |location=Houndmills |isbn=978-0-333-64830-8 |page=84}}</ref> [[Free imperial city|free imperial cities]] of  [[Geographical distribution of German speakers#Europe|German-speaking Europe]]; [[mueang]] of [[Mainland Southeast Asia|Indochina]]; [[Barangay|barangay states]] of [[Philippines|the Philippines]]; and many others. Danish historian Poul Holm has classed the [[Vikings|Viking]] colonial cities in medieval [[Ireland]], most importantly the [[Kingdom of Dublin]], as city-states.<ref>Holm, Poul, "Viking Dublin and the City-State Concept: Parameters and Significance of the Hiberno-Norse Settlement" (Respondent: Donnchadh Ó Corráin), in [[Mogens Herman Hansen]] (ed.), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=8qvY8pxVxcwC A Comparative Study of Thirty City-State Cultures] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130621023251/http://books.google.com/books?id=8qvY8pxVxcwC |date=21 June 2013 }}''. Denmark: Special-Trykkeriet Viborg. (University of Copenhagen, Polis Center). 2000. pp.&nbsp;251–62.</ref>

In [[Cyprus]], the [[Phoenicia]]n settlement of [[Kition]] (in present-day Larnaca) was a city-state that existed from around 800 BC until the end of the 4th century BC.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

Some of the most well-known examples of city-state culture in human history are the ancient [[Greek city-states]] and the merchant city-states of [[Italian Renaissance|Renaissance Italy]], which organised themselves as independent centers. The success of regional units coexisting as [[autonomy|autonomous]] actors in loose geographical and cultural unity, as in [[Italy]] and [[Greece]], often prevented their [[Amalgamation (politics)|amalgamation]] into larger national units.{{citation needed|date=September 2013}} However, such small political entities often survived only for short periods because they lacked the resources to defend themselves against incursions by larger states (such as Roman conquest of Greece). Thus they inevitably gave way to larger organisations of society, including the [[empire]] and the [[nation-state]].<ref>Sri Aurobindo, "Ideal of Human Unity" included in ''Social and Political Thought'', 1970.</ref>{{request quotation|date=August 2015}}

===Central Europe===
[[File:Free Imperial Cities 1792.png|thumb|upright=1.3|The [[Free imperial city|Free imperial cities]] as of 1792.]]

In the [[Holy Roman Empire]] (962–1806) over 80 [[Free imperial city|Free Imperial Cities]] came to enjoy considerable autonomy in the Middle Ages and in early modern times, buttressed legally by [[international law]] following the [[Peace of Westphalia]] of 1648. Some, like three of the earlier [[Hanseatic cities]] – [[Bremen]], [[History of Hamburg|Hamburg]] and [[Free City of Lübeck|Lübeck]] – pooled their economic relations with foreign powers and were able to wield considerable diplomatic clout. Individual cities often made protective alliances with other cities or with neighbouring regions, including the [[Hanseatic League]] (1358 – 17th century), the [[Swabian League of Cities]] (1331–1389), the [[Décapole]] (1354–1679) in the Alsace, or the [[Old Swiss Confederacy]] ({{circa}} 1300 – 1798). The [[Cantons of Switzerland|Swiss cantons]] of [[Canton of Zürich|Zürich]], [[Canton of Bern|Bern]], [[Canton of Lucerne|Lucerne]], [[Canton of Fribourg|Fribourg]], [[Canton of Solothurn|Solothurn]], [[Canton of Basel|Basel]], [[Canton of Schaffhausen|Schaffhausen]], and [[Canton of Geneva|Geneva]] originated as city-states.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

After the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, some cities – then members of different [[confederation|confederacies]] – officially became sovereign city-states, such as the [[Bremen (state)|Free Hanseatic City of Bremen]] (1806–11 and again 1813–71), the [[Free City of Frankfurt |Free City of Frankfurt upon Main]] (1815–66), the [[Hamburg|Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg]] (1806–11 and again 1814–71), the [[Free City of Lübeck|Free and Hanseatic City of Lübeck]] (1806–11 and again 1813–71), and the [[Free City of Kraków]] (1815–1846). Under [[Habsburg]] rule the city of [[Fiume]] had the status of a [[Corpus separatum (Fiume)|''corpus separatum'']] (1779–1919), which – while falling short of an independent sovereignty – had many attributes of a city-state.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}

===Italy===
{{Main|Italian city-states}}
{{See also|Medieval commune|Lombard League|Maritime republics|Signoria}}

[[File:Italy 1494.svg|thumb|right|Italy in 1494, after the [[Peace of Lodi]]]]

In [[Northern Italy|Northern]] and [[Central Italy]] during the medieval and Renaissance periods, city-states — with various amounts of associated land — became the standard form of polity. Some of them, despite being [[de facto]] independent states, were formally part of the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. The era of the Italian states, in particular from the 11th to the 15th centuries, featured remarkable economic development, trade, manufacture, and mercantile capitalism, together with increasing urbanization, with remarkable influence throughout much of the Mediterranean world and Europe as a whole. During this time, most of the Italian city-states were ruled by one person, such as the [[Signoria]] or by a dynasty, such as the [[House of Gonzaga]] and the [[House of Sforza]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Italy - Italy in the 14th and 15th centuries|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Italy|access-date=2021-05-12|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|archive-date=25 February 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080225042403/http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-27717/Italy|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Examples of Italian city-states during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance====

*[[Republic of Florence]], [[Duchy of Milan]], [[Duchy of Ferrara]],<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Haney
 | first1 = John
 | title = Cesare Borgia
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=R1MbAQAAMAAJ
 | series = World leaders past & present
 | location = New York
 | publisher = Chelsea House
 | date = 1987
 | page = 74
 | isbn = 9780877545958
 | access-date = 4 October 2020
 | quote = [...] the duchy of Ferrara — a small but strategically important city-state situated between Venice and the Romagna.
}}
</ref> [[History of San Marino|San Marino]], [[Duchy of Modena and Reggio]], [[Duchy of Urbino]], [[Duchy of Mantua]] and the [[Republic of Lucca]].

*The powerful [[maritime republics]]: [[Republic of Venice]], [[Republic of Genoa]], [[Republic of Amalfi]], [[Republic of Pisa]], [[Republic of Ancona]] and [[Duchy of Gaeta]].

===Southeast Asia===
In the history of [[Mainland Southeast Asia]], aristocratic groups, Buddhist leaders, and others organized settlements into autonomous or semi-autonomous city-states. These were referred to as ''[[mueang]]'', and were usually related in a tributary relationship now described as [[Mandala (political model)|mandala]] or as ''over-lapping sovereignty'', in which smaller city-states paid tribute to larger ones that paid tribute to still larger ones—until reaching the apex in cities like [[Ayutthaya (city)|Ayutthaya]], [[Bagan]], [[Bangkok]] and others that served as centers of Southeast Asian royalty. The system existed until the 19th century, when [[colonization]] by European powers occurred. [[Rattanakosin Kingdom|Siam]], a regional power at the time, needed to define their territories for negotiation with the European powers so the Siamese government established a [[nation-state]] system, incorporated their tributary cities ([[Lan Xang]], [[Dark Ages of Cambodia|Cambodia]] and some Malay cities) into their territory and abolished the mueang and the tributary system.<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1            = Scott
 |first1           = James C.
 |author-link1     = James C. Scott
 |title            = The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia
 |year            = 2009
 |url              = https://archive.org/details/artofnotbeinggov0000scot
 |url-access       = registration
 |series           = Yale agrarian studies
 |publisher        = Yale University Press
 |publication-date = 2009
 |isbn             = 9780300156522
 |access-date      = 2017-10-08
 |df               = dmy-all
}}
</ref>{{request quotation|date=October 2017}}<ref>Winichakul, Thongchai. 1997. Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo-Body of a Nation. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press</ref><ref>Baker, Chris and Pasuk Phongpaichit. 2009. ''A History of Thailand: 2nd ed.'' Sydney: Cambridge University Press</ref>

In early Philippine history, the [[Barangay state|barangay]] was a complex sociopolitical unit which scholars have historically<ref name="ManoloQuezon20171002">{{Cite news |url=http://news.abs-cbn.com/blogs/opinions/10/02/17/opinion-bamboozled-by-the-barangay |title=The Explainer: Bamboozled by the barangay |last=Quezon |first=Manolo |date=2017-10-02 |work=ABS-CBN News |access-date=2017-10-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171002143838/http://news.abs-cbn.com/blogs/opinions/10/02/17/opinion-bamboozled-by-the-barangay |archive-date=2017-10-02 |url-status=live |language=en-US |author-link=Manolo Quezon}}</ref> considered the dominant organizational pattern among the various [[Filipinos|peoples]] of the [[Geography of the Philippines|Philippine archipelago]].<ref name="Junker2000">{{Cite book |last=Junker |first=Laura Lee |title=Raiding, Trading, and Feasting: The Political Economy of Philippine Chiefdoms |publisher=Ateneo de Manila University Press
|year=2000 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Lbsfi30OXgMC&pg=PA74 74], [https://books.google.com/books?id=Lbsfi30OXgMC&pg=PA130 130] |isbn=9789715503471 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lbsfi30OXgMC}} {{ISBN|971-550-347-0}}, {{ISBN|978-971-550-347-1}}.</ref> These sociopolitical units were sometimes also referred to as barangay states, but are more properly referred to using the technical term ''[[polity]]''.<ref name="Junker2000"/><ref name="Junker1990">{{cite journal | title=The Organization of Intra-Regional and Long-Distance Trade in Pre-Hispanic Philippine Complex Societies | author=Junker, Laura Lee | journal=Asian Perspectives | year=1990 | volume=29 | issue=2 | pages=167–209}}</ref> Evidence suggests a considerable degree of independence as city states ruled by [[Datu]]s, [[Raja]]hs and [[Sultan]]s.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ycT9AQAAQBAJ&q=Barangay+city-states&pg=PA108|title=Urban Development and Civil Society: The Role of Communities in Sustainable Cities|first1=Michael|last1=Carley|first2=Harry|last2=Smith|date=5 November 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134200504|access-date=7 May 2018|via=Google Books|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180204182628/https://books.google.com.ph/books?id=ycT9AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA108&dq=Barangay+city-states&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjnrM3VlIzZAhWFv7wKHWDWCaUQ6AEIKzAB#v=onepage&q=Barangay+city-states&f=false|archive-date=4 February 2018}}</ref> Early chroniclers<ref name="Plasencia1589">{{Cite web |last=Plasencia |first=Fray Juan de |title=Customs of the Tagalogs |location=[[Nagcarlan, Laguna]] |year=1589 |url=http://www.filipiniana.net/Search.do?searchString=%20Plasencia,%20Juan%20de |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090123052115/http://www.filipiniana.net/Search.do?searchString=%20Plasencia%2C%20Juan%20de |archive-date=23 January 2009}}</ref> record that the name evolved from the term ''[[balangay]]'', which refers to a plank boat widely used by various cultures of the Philippine archipelago prior to the arrival of European colonizers.<ref name="Junker2000"/>

===20th-century cities under international supervision===

====Danzig====
{{Main|Free City of Danzig}}

The Free City of Danzig was a semi-[[autonomous]] city-state that existed between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the [[Baltic Sea]] port of Danzig (now [[Gdańsk]], [[Poland]]) and nearly 200 towns in the surrounding areas. It was created on 15 November 1920<ref>{{cite book| title = Danzig&nbsp;– Biographie einer Stadt| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=9ifeo6zdSMcC| date = February 2011| publisher = C.H. Beck| language = de| isbn = 978-3-406-60587-1| page = 189| last1 = Loew| first1 = Peter Oliver| author-link1 = Peter Oliver Loew| access-date = 24 May 2020| archive-date = 30 March 2023| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230330105540/https://books.google.com/books?id=9ifeo6zdSMcC| url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| title = Das Bistum Danzig in Lebensbildern| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=VMvgZQrdkxcC| year = 2003| publisher = LIT Verlag| language = de| isbn = 3-8258-6284-4| page = 8| last1 = Samerski| first1 = Stefan| access-date = 24 May 2020| archive-date = 30 March 2023| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230330105522/https://books.google.com/books?id=VMvgZQrdkxcC| url-status = live}}</ref> under the terms of Article 100 (Section XI of Part III) of the 1919 [[Treaty of Versailles]] after the end of [[World War I]].

====Fiume====
{{Main|Free State of Fiume}}

After a prolonged period where the city of [[Fiume]] enjoyed considerable autonomy under [[Habsburg]] rule (see [[Corpus separatum (Fiume)]]), The Free State of Fiume was proclaimed as a fully independent free state which existed between 1920 and 1924. Its territory of {{convert|28|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} comprised the city of Fiume (now in [[Croatia]] and, since the end of World War II, known as [[Rijeka]], both names meaning "river" in the respective languages) and rural areas to its north, with a corridor to its west connecting it to [[Italy]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}

====Jerusalem====
{{Main|Corpus separatum (Jerusalem)}}

Under the [[United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine]] of 1947, [[Mandatory Palestine]] was to be partitioned into three states: a Jewish state of [[Israel]], an Arab state of [[Palestine]], and a ''corpus separatum'' ([[Latin language|Latin]] for "[[Corpus separatum (disambiguation)|separated body]]") consisting of a Jerusalem city-state under the control of [[United Nations Trusteeship Council]]. Although the plan had some international support and the UN accepted this proposal (and still officially holds the stance that Jerusalem should be held under this regime), implementation of the plan failed as the [[1948 Palestine war]] broke out with the [[1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine]], ultimately resulting in Jerusalem being split into [[West Jerusalem]] and [[East Jerusalem]]. Israel would eventually gain control of East Jerusalem in the [[Six-Day War]] in 1967.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}

====Memel====
{{Main|Klaipėda Region}}

The Klaipėda Region or Memel Territory was defined by the [[Treaty of Versailles]] in 1920 when it was put under the administration of the [[Council of Ambassadors]]. The Memel Territory was to remain under the control of the [[League of Nations]] until a future day when the people of the region would be allowed to vote on whether the land would return to Germany or not. The then predominantly [[ethnic German]] Memel Territory ([[Prussian Lithuanians]] and Memellanders constituted the other ethnic groups), situated between the river and the town of that name, was occupied by [[Lithuania]] in the [[Klaipėda Revolt]] of 1923.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}

====Ottoman====
Some proposals for the [[partition of the Ottoman Empire]] envisaged international zones at [[Istanbul]]/Constantinople or the wider [[Turkish straits]],<ref>{{multiref|
{{cite book |last1=Bennett |first1=G. |title=British Foreign Policy during the Curzon Period, 1919–24 |date=9 August 1995 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-230-37735-6 |page=80 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6iSBDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA80 |language=en}}|
{{cite journal |last1=Stevens |first1=Harold Ray |title=Conrad, Geopolitics, and "The Future of Constantinople" |journal=The Conradian |date=2006 |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=15–27 |jstor=20873573 |issn=0951-2314}}|
{{cite journal |title=Constantinople as a Free City |journal=The Literary Digest |date=3 December 1921 |volume=71 |issue=1650 |page=19 |url=https://archive.org/details/literarydigest71newy/page/n616 |publisher=Funk & Wagnalls |location=New York}}|
{{cite book |last1=Helmreich |first1=Paul C. |title=From Paris to Sèvres: the partition of the Ottoman Empire at the Peace Conference of 1919–1920 |date=1974 |publisher=Ohio State University Press |location=Columbus |isbn=978-0-8142-0170-1 |pages=22–23, 40, 44, 154–155, 189–190 |url=https://archive.org/details/fromparistosevre0000helm}}
}}</ref> and possibly also at [[İzmir]]/Smyrna.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tusan |first1=Michelle |title=The Last Treaty: Lausanne and the End of the First World War in the Middle East |date=15 June 2023 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-009-37108-7 |page=155 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WjHEEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA155 |language=en}}</ref> Although the [[allies of World War I]] occupied both after the 1918 [[Armistice of Mudros]], the British-led [[occupation of Istanbul]] recognised Turkey as de jure sovereign, while the Greek [[occupation of Smyrna]] was [[Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922)|an attempted annexation]]. The 1923 [[Treaty of Lausanne]] re-established Turkish control of both areas.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}

====Shanghai====
{{Main|Shanghai International Settlement}}

The Shanghai International Settlement (1845–1943) was an international zone with its own legal system, postal service, and currency.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

====Tangier====
{{Main|Tangier International Zone}}

[[File:Tangier 12.JPG|thumb|Tangier]]

The international zone within the city of [[Tangier]], in North Africa was approximately {{convert|373|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}. It was at first under the joint administration of France, Spain, and the United Kingdom, plus later Portugal, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United States. The international zone was initially attached to Morocco. It then became a French-Spanish protectorate from 1923 until 29 October 1956, when it was reintegrated into the state of Morocco.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}

====Trieste====
{{Main|Free Territory of Trieste}}

The Free Territory of Trieste was an independent territory situated in Central Europe between northern Italy and Yugoslavia, facing the north part of the Adriatic Sea, under direct responsibility of the [[United Nations Security Council]] in the aftermath of World War II, from 1947 to 1954.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

==== West Berlin ====
In the 20th century [[West Berlin]], though lacking sovereignty, functioned from 1948 until 1990 as a state legally not belonging to any other state, but ruled by the [[Western Bloc|Western Allies]]. They allowed – notwithstanding their overlordship as occupant powers – its internal organisation as one state simultaneously being a city, officially called Berlin (West). Though West Berlin maintained close ties to the [[West Germany|West German]] Federal Republic, it never legally formed a part of it.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}