A comarca is a traditional region or local administrative division found in Portugal, Spain and some of their former colonies: Panama, Nicaragua, and Brazil. The term is derived from the term marca, meaning a "march, mark", plus the prefix co-, meaning "together, jointly". The comarca is known in Aragonese as redolada and in Basque as eskualde. In addition, in Galician, comarcas are also called bisbarras. Although the English word county and its near synonym shire have similar meanings, they are usually translated into Spanish as condado, a term which in Iberia only refers to regions historically ruled by a count. However, "comarca" is occasionally used: examples include the :es:comarca|Spanish Wikipedia entry for "comarca" and some translations of The Lord of the Rings.
According to the new judicial division of 2015, Angola will be subdivided into 60 comarcas, each with a court of first instance. The courts of comarca will replace the previous provincial and municipal courts. Comarca is also the name of a suburb of Luanda, the capital of Angola.
Brazil and Portugal
Historical
Until the 16th century, large administrative regions were divided into comarcas. There were six traditional comarcas: Entre-Douro-e-Minho, Trás-os-Montes, Beira, Estremadura, Alentejo and Algarve, of which the last had the honorary title of "kingdom". In the 16th century, the comarcas were gradually referred to as "provinces". The name "comarca" was applied to the administrative and judicial subdivisions of the provinces from the 17th century. Each comarca corresponded to the territorial area of jurisdiction of a corregedor, a high-ranking administrative and judicial officer who represented the Crown in the district. In the 19th century, the comarcas were replaced by separate administrative and judicial divisions, reflecting the implementation of the separation of executive and judicial powers. The new administrative divisions became the administrative districts and the new judicial divisions kept the name comarca.
Present
Nowadays, in Brazil, Portugal, and some other countries of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, the comarca is the basic territorial division in the judicial system. It corresponds to the territorial area of jurisdiction of a court of first instance. The comarca may correspond to a municipality or group several small municipalities together. Presently, in Brazil, there are 2,680 comarcas. A judiciary organization reform implemented in Portugal in 2014 reduced the number of comarcas from 231 to 23.
In Asturias, the historic division is the conceyu. Currently, there are several comarcas but they are contemporary creations destined to tourism promotions, without administrative or government powers.
In Cantabria, the comarca is a traditional or historical division, usually identified with the greatest rivers of the region.
In the Valencian Community, the comarca is 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 traditional divisions of the land that have limited official recognition, but have no administrative relevance. However, the Galician government is attempting to transform the bisbarras into territorial administrative tiers, to create a new regional network proposed to be more balanced and efficient. Galician comarcas also have a comarcal council.
In other places, such as Extremadura, the comarca may simply refer to a loosely defined region. Because of the comarcas long-standing use, it is sometimes used as the basis for the promotion of tourism, with emphasis on local cultural tradition and history.
In Panama, the comarca indígena is an administrative region for an area with a substantial Amerindian population. Three comarcas exist as equivalent to provinces. Two smaller comarcas are subordinate to a province and considered equivalent to a corregimiento.
Fiction
Some Spanish-language editions of British writer J. R. R. Tolkien's works use the term La Comarca as a translation for the English "The Shire".
