A
župa (or
zhupa,
županija) is a historical type of administrative division in
Central Europe and the
Balkans, that originated in medieval
Slavic culture, often translated into "county" or "district". It was mentioned for the first time in the 8th century. It was initially used by the
South and
West Slavs, denoting various territorial units of which the leader was the
župan. In modern Croatian and Slovenian, the term
župa also means an ecclesiastical
parish.