Union of Utrecht Union of Utrecht The Union of Utrecht () was a treaty signed on 23 January 1579 in Utrecht, the Netherlands, unifying the northern provinces of the Netherlands, until then under the control of Habsburg Spain. The Union of Utrecht is regarded as the foundation of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces, which was not recognized by the Spanish Empire until the Twelve Years' Truce in 1609. The treaty was signed on 23 January by Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht (but not all of Utrecht) and the province (but not the city) of Groningen. The treaty was a reaction of the Protestant
Provincial city (Taiwan) established as provincial cities. After the government of the Republic of China relocated to Taipei, Taiwan in 1949, the population criterion for provincial cities was raised to 500,000 in the "Guidelines on the Implementation of Local Autonomy in the Counties and Cities of Taiwan Province" (), which was passed in 1981. It was later raised again to 600,000. Since the streamline of provinces in 1998, provincial cities are all directly led by the central government, and are simply referred to as "cities". Currently, the "Local Government Act" of the Ministry of the Interior applies for the creation of a "city",