Canton is a political division in some countries of Europe. The name comes from the Italian word contone, meaning a corner or angle. Each of the 23 states that make up Switzerland is known as a canton. The French canton is a division of the political unit known as an arrondissement and is the seat of a justice of the peace. There are about 3,000 cantons in France. Each canton has an average of 12 smaller divisions, called communes. Other countries with cantons include Bosnia-Herzegovina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Luxembourg.
