definition
strict definition
natural division
Areas set by the terrain itself, such as a valley, a basin, a range or an island group.
A natural division is a division whose areas are set by the terrain: a valley, a basin, a range, an island or a group of them. Their edges follow watersheds, coastlines and ridgelines rather than a decision.
People name and use such areas and address them as places, while no authority defines their extent. Where a boundary is stored, it is derived from the landform, so two sources may draw it differently without either being wrong.
Where a municipality or region later adopted a landform's name for a unit of its own, that unit belongs to whichever division maintains it. The landform stays natural.
Related definitions
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administrative division
Official named areas a municipality maintains, without a council of their own. -
cadastral division
Land-register areas holding the parcels, usually the pre-merger village boundaries. -
ecclesiastical division
Parishes and church districts, drawn by a religious body for its own congregations. -
electoral division
Constituencies drawn to elect someone to a body above, redrawn as population shifts. -
judicial division
Areas assigning a place to the court competent for it, so a matter is heard in the right one. -
military division
Areas under military authority, such as a garrison, training ground or closed zone. -
planning division
Areas a plan or program applies to, lasting only as long as the program does. -
political division
Areas with an elected council or representative of their own, set by the municipality. -
postal division
Delivery areas of a postal operator, cut for routes rather than for places. -
protected division
Conservation areas where what may be done with the land is restricted by law. -
school division
Catchment areas assigning an address to the school it is entitled to attend. -
service division
Supply and response areas of a utility or emergency service, cut by network and driving time. -
statistical division
Areas cut for counting, kept stable over time, often named after the quarter they contain. -
tenure division
Areas a use right runs over, such as a hunting, forestry or fishing ground. -
traditional division
Territories held under customary law, recognized by those who live under it. -
vernacular division
Names people use for parts of a place, with edges nobody has ever fixed by an authority.