When a partition is done in mysql , does it create tables or does it create virtual tables (i.e. views) which are pretty much stored queries accessed by a table name?

Here is an example (although in Oracle, this is just used as an example - I am most curious about how it is handled in mysql) from http://www.devarticles.com/c/a/Oracle/Partitioning-in-Oracle/1/:

CREATE TABLE SAMPLE_ORDERS
(ORDER_NUMBER NUMBER,
ORDER_DATE DATE,
CUST_NUM NUMBER,
TOTAL_PRICE NUMBER,
TOTAL_TAX NUMBER,
TOTAL_SHIPPING NUMBER)
PARTITION BY RANGE(ORDER_DATE)
(
PARTITION SO99Q1 VALUES LESS THAN TO_DATE(‘01-APR-1999’, ‘DD-MON-YYYY’),
PARTITION SO99Q2 VALUES LESS THAN TO_DATE(‘01-JUL-1999’, ‘DD-MON-YYYY’),
PARTITION SO99Q3 VALUES LESS THAN TO_DATE(‘01-OCT-1999’, ‘DD-MON-YYYY’),
PARTITION SO99Q4 VALUES LESS THAN TO_DATE(‘01-JAN-2000’, ‘DD-MON-YYYY’),
PARTITION SO00Q1 VALUES LESS THAN TO_DATE(‘01-APR-2000’, ‘DD-MON-YYYY’),
PARTITION SO00Q2 VALUES LESS THAN TO_DATE(‘01-JUL-2000’, ‘DD-MON-YYYY’),
PARTITION SO00Q3 VALUES LESS THAN TO_DATE(‘01-OCT-2000’, ‘DD-MON-YYYY’),
PARTITION SO00Q4 VALUES LESS THAN TO_DATE(‘01-JAN-2001’, ‘DD-MON-YYYY’)
)
;

• mysql
• database-partitioning

According to the Mysql 5.6 Reference Manual (16.1 Overview of Partitioning in MySQL):

Partitioning takes this notion a step further, by enabling you to distribute portions of individual tables across a file system according to rules which you can set largely as needed. In effect, different portions of a table are stored as separate tables in different locations.