Emirate
Generally speaking, an
emirate is a place that is administered by an
emir. An emirate usually refers to a province that is administered by a certain
prince (a region in
Saudi Arabia that is administered by an
emir is called an
emirate), although in
Arabic the term can be generalized to mean any province of a country that is administered by a member of the ruling class. An example of the later use is seen in the
United Arab Emirates, which is a country that is comprised of seven united emirates, and where each emirate is administered by a
shaikh.