A capital city (or just capital) is the area of a country, province, region, or state, regarded as enjoying primary status; although there are exceptions, a capital is almost always a city which physically encompasses the offices and meeting places of the seat of government The seat of government is defined by Brewer's Politics as "the building, complex of buildings or city from which a government exercises its authority". The seat of government is usually located in the capital. In some countries the seat of government differs from the capital, e.g. in the Netherlands where The Hague is the seat of and is fixed by law Law is a system of rules, usually enforced through a set of institutions. Laws can shape or reflect politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a primary social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus ticket to trading on derivatives markets. Property law defines rights and. An alternate term is political capital, but this phrase has a second meaning Political capital is primarily based on a public figure's favorable image among the populace and among other important factors in or out of the government. Political capital is essentially the opinion of another person, group of people, or nation about you, your organization, or your government. A politician gains political capital by virtue of based on an alternative sense of capital. Often, a capital city is the largest city in that country but not always.

The word capital is derived from the Latin Latin or sometimes Roman is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Although often considered a dead language, in view of the fact that it has no native, fluent speakers, Latin continues to be taught in schools and has been, and currently is, used in the process of new word production in modern languages from many caput meaning "head" and, in the United States ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language, the related term capitol This is a list of U.S. state capitols in the United States, not to be confused with a list of state capitals (the cities where they are located) refers to the building where government business is chiefly conducted.

The seats of government in major sub-state jurisdictions are often called "capitals", but this is typically the case only in countries with some degree of federalism Federalism is a political concept in which a group of members are bound together by covenant with a governing representative head. The term federalism is also used to describe a system of the government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and constituent political units (like states or provinces), where major substate jurisdictions have an element of sovereignty Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided. The concept has been discussed, debated and questioned throughout history, from the time of the Romans through to the present day,. In unitary states A unitary state is a sovereign state governed as one single unit in which the central government is supreme and any administrative divisions exercise only powers that the central government chooses to delegate. Many states in the world have a unitary system of government, "administrative center" or other similar terms are typically used. For example, the seat of government in a U.S. state A U.S. state is any one of 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of commonwealth rather than state. State citizenship is is usually called its "capital", but the main city in a region of England is usually not, even though in Ireland, a county's main town is usually regarded as its capital. At lower administrative subdivisions, terms such as county town A county town is the 'capital' of a county in the Republic of Ireland or the United Kingdom. County towns are usually the location of administrative or judicial functions, or established over time as the de facto main town of a county. The concept of a county town eventually became detached from its original meaning of where the county, county seat A county seat is a term for an administrative center for a county or civil parish, primarily used in the United States. In the Northeast United States, the statutory term often is shire town, but colloquially county seat is the term in use there. Parts of the Canadian Maritimes also use the term shire town. In England, Wales and Ireland, the term, or borough seat A county seat is a term for an administrative center for a county or civil parish, primarily used in the United States. In the Northeast United States, the statutory term often is shire town, but colloquially county seat is the term in use there. Parts of the Canadian Maritimes also use the term shire town. In England, Wales and Ireland, the term are usually used.

Historically, the major economic center of a state or region often becomes the focal point of political power, and becomes a capital through conquest or amalgamation. This was the case for London London is a leading global city being the world's largest financial centre alongside New York City, and has the largest city GDP in Europe. Central London is home to the headquarters of most of the UK's top 100 listed companies and more than 100 of Europe's 500 largest. London's influence in politics, finance, education, entertainment, media,, Berlin Berlin (English pronunciation: /bɜrˈlɪn/; German pronunciation: [bɛɐ̯ˈliːn] ) is the capital city and one of 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union. Located in northeastern, and Moscow Moscow (English pronunciation: /ˈmɒskoʊ/ or /ˈmɒskaʊ/; Russian: Москва́ , tr. Moskva, IPA [mɐˈskva]; see also other names) is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia. The capital naturally attracts the politically motivated and those whose skills are needed for efficient administration of government such as lawyers A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person licensed to practice law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political and social authority, and deliver, journalists A journalist collects and disseminates information about current events, people, trends, and issues. His or her work is acknowledged as journalism, and public policy Public policy is the body of principles that underpin the operation of legal systems in each state. This addresses the social, moral and economic values that tie a society together: values that vary in different cultures and change over time. Law regulates behaviour either to reinforce existing social expectations or to encourage constructive researchers. A capital that is the prime economic, cultural, or intellectual center is sometimes referred to as a primate city A primate city is the leading city in its country or region, disproportionately larger than any others in the urban hierarchy. A 'primate city distribution' has one very large city with many much smaller cities and towns, and no intermediate-sized urban centres, in contrast to the linear 'rank-size distribution'. The 'law of the primate city' was. Such is certainly the case with Paris Paris ([paʁi] in French, pronounced /ˈpærɪs/ in English) is the capital and largest city of France. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region (or Paris Region, French: Région parisienne). The city of Paris, within its administrative limits largely unchanged since 1860, has an estimated, London London is a leading global city being the world's largest financial centre alongside New York City, and has the largest city GDP in Europe. Central London is home to the headquarters of most of the UK's top 100 listed companies and more than 100 of Europe's 500 largest. London's influence in politics, finance, education, entertainment, media, and Madrid Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million (as of December 2009); the entire population of the metropolitan area (urban area and suburbs) is calculated to be nearly 6 million. It is the third-most populous municipality in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its among national capitals, and Milan Milan (Italian: Milano, listen Italian pronunciation: [miˈla(ː)no]; Western Lombard: Milan, listen (help·info)) is a city in Italy and the capital of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1,300,000, while the urban area is the first in Italy and the fifth largest in the European Union, Irkutsk Irkutsk is one of the largest cities in Siberia and the administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, situated 5,185 kilometers (3,222 mi) by rail from Moscow. Population: 593,604 (2002 Census); 622,301 (1989 Census) or Phoenix Phoenix is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the fifth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to approximately 1.5 million people, and is the anchor of the Phoenix metropolitan area (also known as the Valley of the Sun), the 12th largest metro area by population in the United States with in their respective state or province.

Capitals are sometimes sited to discourage further growth in an existing major city. Brasília Brasília is the capital of Brazil. The name is commonly spelled Brasilia in English. The city and its District are located in the Central-West region of the country, along a plateau known as Planalto Central. It has a population of about 2,557,000 (3,599,000 in the metropolitan area) as of the 2008 IBGE estimate, making it the fourth largest city was situated in Brazil Brazil (pronounced /brəˈzɪl/ ; Portuguese: Brasil, IPA: [bɾaˈziw]), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: República Federativa do Brasil, listen (help·info)), is the largest country in South America and the only Portuguese-speaking country in the Americas. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical's interior because the old capital, Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, 6th largest in the Americas and receives more international visitors than any other city in the Southern Hemisphere, and southeastern Brazil in general, were considered over-crowded.[citation needed]

The convergence of political and economic or cultural power is by no means universal. Traditional capitals may be economically eclipsed by provincial rivals, as occurred with Nanjing Nanjing (Chinese: 南京; Romanizations: Nánjīng (Pinyin), Nan-ching (Wade-Giles), Nanking (Postal map spelling); Mandarin pronunciation: [nan˧˥ t͡ɕiŋ˥˥]) is the capital of Jiangsu Province, China and a city with a prominent place in Chinese history and culture. The different spellings 'Nanjing' or 'Nanking' bear the same Chinese name ' by Shanghai Originally a fishing and textiles town, Shanghai grew to importance in the 19th century due to its favorable port location and as one of the cities opened to foreign trade by the 1842 Treaty of Nanking. The city flourished as a center of commerce between east and west, and became a multinational hub of finance and business by the 1930s. After 1990,. The decline Societal collapse broadly includes both quite abrupt societal failures typified by collapses such as that of the Mayan Civilization, as well as more extended grinding declines of superpowers like the Roman empire in Western Europe and the Han Dynasty in East Asia. The general subject arises in anthropology, history, sociology, politics and other of a dynasty or culture could also mean the extinction of its capital city, as occurred with Babylon Babylon was a city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers (55 mi) south of Baghdad. All that remains of the original ancient famed city of Babylon today is a mound, or tell, of broken mud-brick buildings and debris in the fertile Mesopotamian plain between and Cahokia Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site is the area of an ancient indigenous city (ca 600–1400 CE) near Collinsville, Illinois. In the American Bottom floodplain, it is across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri. The 2,200-acre (8.9 km2) site included 120 man-made earthwork mounds over an area of six square miles, although only 80 survive. Many present-day capital cities, such as New Delhi New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the center of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi, Abuja Abuja is the capital city of the West African nation of Nigeria. It is located in the center of Nigeria in the Federal Capital Territory . Abuja is a planned city, and was built mainly in the 1980s. It officially became Nigeria's capital on 12 December 1991, replacing Lagos, the previous capital. As of the 2006 census, the Federal Capital, Ankara Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of 850 metres , and as of 2007 the city had a population of 3,763,591. Ankara also serves as the capital of Ankara Province, Brasília Brasília is the capital of Brazil. The name is commonly spelled Brasilia in English. The city and its District are located in the Central-West region of the country, along a plateau known as Planalto Central. It has a population of about 2,557,000 (3,599,000 in the metropolitan area) as of the 2008 IBGE estimate, making it the fourth largest city, Canberra Canberra (pronounced /ˈkænbrə, ˈkænbɛrə/) is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), 280 km (170 mi) south-west of Sydney, and 660 km (410 mi) north-east of, Astana Astana , formerly known as Akmola (Kazakh: Ақмола / Aqmola, until 1998), Tselinograd (Russian: Целиноград, until 1992) and Akmolinsk (Russian: Акмолинск, until 1961), is the capital and second largest city (after Almaty) of Kazakhstan, with an officially estimated population of 691,529 as of 1 March 2010. It is located in, Islamabad Islamabad (Punjabi, Urdu: اسلام آباد) Islām ābād (Meaning "Abode of Islam" or "Abode of Peace") is the capital of Pakistan, and is the tenth largest city in Pakistan with an estimated population of 1.74 million in 2009. The Rawalpindi/Islamabad Metropolitan Area is the third largest in Pakistan, with a population, Ottawa Ottawa ( /ˈɒtəwə/ or sometimes /ˈɒtəwɑː/) is the capital of Canada, a municipality and the second largest city within the province of Ontario. Located in the Ottawa Valley in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario, the city lies on the southern banks of the Ottawa River, a major waterway forming the local boundary between the provinces and Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790. The City of Washington was originally a separate municipality within the Territory of Columbia until an act of Congress in 1871 effectively merged the City and the are planned cities A new town, planned community, or planned city is a city, town, or community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed in a previously undeveloped area. This contrasts with settlements that evolve in a more ad hoc fashion that were built as an alternative to the seat of government residing in an established population centre for various reasons. In many cases in their own right they have become gradually established as new business or commercial centres.

Contents

Unorthodox capital city arrangements

See also: List of countries with multiple capitals Some countries have multiple capitals; often one city is the seat of government while the other is the legal capital

A number of cases exist where states have multiple capitals, and there are also several states that have no capital. In other cases, the official capital is not the effective one for pragmatic reasons. That is, the city known as the capital is not the seat of government. Occasionally, the official capital may host the seat of government, but is not the geographic origin of political decision-making.[citation needed] The following list specifies the details observed in sovereign states.

Capitals that are not the seat of government

Countries in the world where capital and seat of government are currently separated:

International entities

Capital as symbol

With the rise of modern empires and the nation-state, the capital city has become a symbol for the state and its government, and imbued with political meaning. Unlike medieval capitals, which were declared wherever a monarch held his or her court, the selection, relocation, founding or capture of a modern capital city is an emotional affair. For example:

Capitals in military strategy

The capital city is almost always a primary target in a war, as capturing it usually guarantees capture of much of the enemy government, victory for the attacking forces, or at the very least demoralization for the defeated forces.

In ancient China, where governments were massive centralized bureaucracies with little flexibility on the provincial level, a dynasty could easily be toppled with the fall of its capital. In the Three Kingdoms period, both Shu and Wu fell when their respective capitals of Chengdu and Jianye fell. The Ming dynasty relocated its capital from Nanjing to Beijing, where they could more effectively control the generals and troops guarding the borders from Mongols and Manchus. The Ming was destroyed when the Li Zicheng took their seat of power, and this pattern repeats itself in Chinese history, until the fall of the traditional Confucian monarchy in the 20th century. After the Qing Dynasty's collapse, decentralization of authority and improved transportation and communication technologies allowed both the Chinese Nationalists and Chinese Communists to rapidly relocate capitals and keep their leadership structures intact during the great crisis of Japanese invasion.

National capitals were arguably less important as military objectives in other parts of the world, including the West, because of socioeconomic trends toward localized authority, a strategic modus operandi especially popular after the development of feudalism and reaffirmed by the development of democratic and capitalistic philosophies. In 1204, after the Latin Crusaders captured the Byzantine capital, Constantinople, Byzantine forces were able to regroup in several provinces; provincial noblemen managed to reconquer the capital after 60 years and preserve the empire for another 200 years after that. The British forces sacked various American capitals repeatedly during the Revolutionary War and War of 1812, but American forces could still carry on fighting from the countryside, where they enjoyed support from local governments and the traditionally independent frontiersmen-civilians. Exceptions to these generalizations include highly centralized states such as France, whose centralized bureaucracies could effectively coordinate far-flung resources, giving the state a powerful advantage over less coherent rivals, but risking utter ruin if the capital is taken; in their military strategies, traditional enemies of France such as Germany focused on the capture of Paris.

Relative size of capital cities

In most countries the seat of government is situated in the largest city; exceptions to this practice are listed below.

Capitals located in the 2nd largest city

Capitals located in the 3rd largest city

Capitals located in the 4th largest city

Capitals located in the 5th largest city

Other capitals

Unless otherwise stated population data is based on figures presented in their respective Wikipedia articles.

Distance to the capital

The greatest distance between a capital and the remotest part of the country is from

Other great distances are

Distances between capital cities (nearest and farthest)

The closest two capital cities of two sovereign countries are Vatican City, Vatican, and Rome, Italy, one of which is inside the other (the distance between the middle points, St. Peter's Square/Piazza Venezia is about 2 km).
The second closest two capital cities between two sovereign countries are Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, which are about 1.6 km (1 mile) apart, one upstream from the other on different banks of the Congo River (the distance between the middle points is about 10 km).
Vienna and Bratislava, sometimes erroneously considered the two closest capitals, are actually 55 km (34 miles) apart.
The longest distance from one capital of a sovereign country to the one closest to it is 2330 km (1448 miles) between Wellington, New Zealand and Canberra, Australia. Each is nearer to the other than to the capital of any other sovereign country.
The greatest distance between the capitals of two sovereign countries that share a border is 6423 km (3991 miles), between Pyongyang, North Korea and Moscow, Russia.

References

  1. ^ Demey, Thierry (2007). Brussels, capital of Europe. S. Strange (trans.). Brussels: Badeaux. ISBN 2-9600414-2-9.
  2. ^ Geonames.com)
  3. ^ Geonames.com
  4. ^ Geonames.com
  5. ^ Geonames.org
  6. ^ "Encarta". Archived from the original on 2009-10-31. http://www.webcitation.org/5kwQa6X9r.
  7. ^ Geonames.org
  8. ^ Geonames.com
  9. ^ Geonames.com
  10. ^ Mongabay.com
  11. ^ The Washington, D.C. urban area is the 8th largest metropolitan area by population in the United States.

See also

Types of administrative country subdivision
Smallcaps indicate a type used by ten or more countries.
Current English terms

Autonomous area · Bailiwick · Banner (Autonomous banner) · Block · Borough (County borough · Metropolitan borough) · Cadastral division · Capital (Federal capital) · Canton · Circle · Circuit · City (Autonomous city · Chartered city · Independent city) · Colony · Commune · Community (Autonomous community · Residential community) · Condominium · Constituency · County (Administrative county · Autonomous county · Metropolitan county) · Council · Department · District (Autonomous district · Capital district · City district · Federal district · Metropolitan district · Municipal district · Subdistrict) · Division · Duchy · Eldership · Federal dependency · Governorate · Hamlet · Insular area · Local administrative unit · Local Government Area · Municipality (Direct-controlled municipality · District municipality · Regional municipality · Regional county municipality · Rural municipality) · Neighbourhood · Parish (Civil parish) · Periphery · Prefecture (Autonomous prefecture · Subprefecture) · Principality (Co-principality) · Protectorate · Province (Autonomous province) · Quarter · Regency · Region (Autonomous region · Capital region · Special administrative region) · Republic (Autonomous republic) · Reservation (Reserve) · Riding · Shire · State · Suzerainty · Territory (Autonomous territorial unit · Capital territory · Dependent territory · National territory · Union Territory) · Town · Townland · Township (Civil township) · Urban (urbanized) area · Village · Ward
Current non-English and loanword terms

Amt · Arrondissement · Bakhsh · Baladiyah · Barangay · Bairro · Bezirk / Regierungsbezirk · Comarca · Comune · Daïra · Frazione · Freguesia · Gmina · Judeţ · Kommun · Liwa · Località · Oblast · Okrug · Ostān · Plasă · Powiat · Raion · Ranchería · Shabiyah · Shahr · Shahrestān · Sýsla · Taluka · Tehsil · Vingtaine · Voivodeship · Wilayah · Woreda
Defunct and historical English terms

Agency · Barony · Diocese · Exarchate · Free imperial city · Hide · Hundred · Imperial Circle · March · Praetorian prefecture · Presidency · Residency · Rural district · Sanitary district · Tithing · Urban district · Viscountcy (Viscounty)
Defunct and historical non-English terms

Burgh · Deme · Commote · Heerlijkheid · Katepanikion · Naucrary · Nome · Pargana · Satrapy · Theme
See also Political division · Census division · Electoral division

Categories: Capitals | Administrative divisions

 

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