village, small rural population unit, held together by common economic and political ties. Based on agricultural production, a village is smaller than a town and has been the normal unit of community living in most areas of the world throughout history.

The Village Community

The village community consists of a group of people, possibly linked by blood, using land, sometimes held communally, for cultivation and pasturage. This community, noted in the history of many cultures, is thought to have originated in the area of present-day Iraq and Iran, and its establishment seems to have paralleled the transformation of tribal life from nomadic hunting to stable agriculture. Although innumerable variations in patterns of village life have existed, the typical village was small, consisting of perhaps 5 to 30 families. Homes were situated together for sociability and defense, and land surrounding the living quarters was farmed. This farmland might extend for as much as a mile (1.6 km) and was generally parceled out in varying proportions to each family. There were also woods and meadows used for pasturage, firewood, and hunting, which were often held in common.

Evolution

In ancient times the village was largely self-sufficient, but with the development of the town and city the village became more integrated economically and politically with the larger society. At one time there was a great debate amongst anthropologists as to whether villages arose out of the independent settlement of a kindred group that held property communally or whether they were established by a hierarchal authority such as the Roman Empire, in which land was controlled privately or by the state. Today it is generally agreed that there may have been separate and different origins of the village, each area developing independently according to its specific history. For this reason village life once found in Wales, Mexico (see ejido), the Balkans, Russia (see mir), China, Africa, Sweden, India, and Java may all differ considerably from each other.

In England property was at one time held largely in common and each village member was comparatively equal to all others. Sometime between the 5th and 10th cent., however, something resembling a feudal pattern emerged, with a lord ruling each village. After the Norman conquest (1066) this feudal hold was solidified, and village life changed considerably, especially in its property relations (see feudalism; manorial system). In the United States the village life found today bears little resemblance to the small villages of past eras. Moreover, most farming in the United States takes place on land privately owned and may thus differ from the aforementioned village agricultural pattern. Nonetheless, the village is still the predominant form of community organization in many parts of the world, including much of Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Schoenbrunn Village State Memorial, E Ohio, S of New Philadelphia; site of the first town in Ohio, est. 1772 by Moravian missionary David Zeisberger and his Native American converts. During the American Revolution, the town was abandoned; later it was burned by Native Americans. Restoration of the site to its original appearance began in 1923. A museum is there.

Prairie Village, city (1990 pop. 23,186), Johnson co., NE Kans.; inc. 1951. It is a residential suburb in the greater Kansas City area.

Greenwich Village, residential district of lower Manhattan, New York City, extending S from 14th St. to Houston St. and W from Washington Square to the Hudson River. North of the main settlement of New York City in colonial times, in the 1830s it became an exclusive residential section, described in Henry James's novel Washington Square (1880). An influx of foreign immigrants settled there after 1880. Around 1910, the Village gained renown as the home and workshop of artists and of freethinkers. Barns, stables, and houses along the narrow, crooked streets were converted into studios, eating places, nightclubs, theaters, and shops, and the Village acquired a reputation for bohemianism. Interesting old buildings, many dating from the early and mid-1800s, remain, although there is an increasing number of modern apartment houses. Washington Square Park, with its McKim, Mead, and White arch (1892) is a popular meeting place. New York Univ.'s campus surrounds the park. Outdoor art exhibits are held in the Village.

Greenfield Village, reproduction of an early American village, est. 1933 by Henry Ford at Dearborn, Mich., as part of the Edison Institute. A white-spired church, a town hall, an inn, a school, a courthouse, a general store, and other buildings are grouped about a typical New England village green. Many of the structures were brought from their original location; others are reconstructions. Among them are Thomas Edison's Menlo Park workshop and his Fort Myers laboratory, a William McGuffey group including a school in which classes are regularly held, Noah Webster's birthplace, Stephen Foster's home, Luther Burbank's birthplace and office, and the Wright brothers' cycle shop and home. There are also mills and craft shops that illustrate early methods of production. The village has a blacksmith shop, a cobbler's shop, and a tintype studio. Nearby is the Henry Ford Museum, which has a large collection of Americana.

Elk Grove Village, village (1990 pop. 33,429), Cook and Du Page counties, NE Ill., a suburb of Chicago; inc. 1956. With a population of c.100 at the time of its establishment on open farmland, the village has grown dramatically and steadily, largely because of its industrial park. Its many manufactures include electronics.

Bay Village, city (1990 pop. 17,000), Cuyahoga co., NE Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland; inc. 1903. It is a residential community with some light industry.

Residential section, Lower Manhattan, New York, New York, U.S. A village settlement during colonial times, it became in successive stages an exclusive residential area, a tenement district, and, after 1910, a rendezvous for writers, artists, students, bohemians, and intellectuals. The quaintness of its old townhouses led to rising rents in the 1980s and '90s. Washington Square, in its centre, is dominated by Washington Arch and New York University.

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