Regency (Indonesia)
A regency (Indonesian: kabupaten), sometimes incorrectly referred to as a district[lower-alpha 1], is an administrative division of Indonesia, directly under a province and on the same level with city (kota). Regencies are divided into districts (Kecamatan, Distrik in Papua region,[1][2] or Kapanewon in the Special Region of Yogyakarta).
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| Subdivisions of Indonesia |
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| Level 1 |
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| Level 2 |
| (full list; cities by GDP; cities by population; regencies by population) |
| Level 3 |
| (kecamatan, distrik, kapanewon, or kemantren) |
| Level 4 |
| (desa or kelurahan) |
| Others |
The English name "regency" comes from the Dutch colonial period, when regencies were ruled by bupati (or regents) and were known as regentschap in Dutch (kabupaten in Javanese and subsequently Indonesian).[3] Bupati had been regional lords under the precolonial monarchies of Java.[4] When the Dutch abolished or curtailed those monarchies, the bupati were left as the most senior indigenous authority.[5][6][7] They were not, strictly speaking, "native rulers" because the Dutch claimed full sovereignty over their territory, but in practice, they had many of the attributes of petty kings, including elaborate regalia and palaces and a high degree of impunity.[8][9]