What Is a Capital City?
⏱ 6 min read
Every country in the world has one special city that we call its capital. The capital is where most of the government works, where leaders meet, and where lots of important decisions are made. But what makes a city become a capital? And why is the capital sometimes not the biggest city in the country? Let's find out.
What does a capital city do?
A capital city is the home of a country's government. That usually means three things live there:
• The country's parliament or congress, where laws are made.
• The country's leader (a president or prime minister) and their main office.
• Most of the country's most important offices and embassies (offices for foreign countries).
Capitals are also often where big ceremonies happen — royal weddings, military parades, national celebrations.
How do countries choose a capital?
There is no single rule. Most capitals were chosen for one of these reasons:
• They were already the biggest, richest city. London, Paris, Tokyo and Cairo all became capitals because they had been important for centuries.
• They were in the middle of the country, so people from every region could reach them. Madrid is almost exactly in the centre of Spain.
• They were a compromise. When Australia became a country in 1901, the two biggest cities — Sydney and Melbourne — both wanted to be the capital. They argued so much that they decided to build a brand new city, Canberra, halfway in between.
Capitals built from scratch
A few countries have done something amazing: they have actually planned and built a brand new city to be their capital.
• Brasília, the capital of Brazil, was designed and built in just four years in the 1950s in the middle of the country. From the air it is shaped a bit like an aeroplane.
• Canberra, Australia, was designed in 1913 by an American architect after an international competition.
• Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, was specially designed in the 1790s to sit between the northern and southern states.
• Naypyidaw became the capital of Myanmar in 2005 — a brand new city with huge wide roads and almost no traffic.
Capitals that aren't the biggest city
It often surprises people that the capital is not always the biggest city. Here are some examples:
• Washington, D.C. is the capital of the USA, but New York is much bigger.
• Canberra is Australia's capital, but Sydney is bigger.
• Brasília is Brazil's capital, but São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are bigger.
• Bern is Switzerland's capital, but Zurich is bigger.
• Ankara is Turkey's capital, but Istanbul is bigger.
Countries with more than one capital
Some countries actually have more than one capital, with different jobs split between them. South Africa has THREE capitals: Pretoria (where the president works), Cape Town (where parliament meets), and Bloemfontein (where the highest court sits). The Netherlands has Amsterdam as its official capital but the government works from The Hague.
Why learn capitals?
Learning capital cities is a great way to start learning about countries. Once you know a country's capital, you naturally start asking questions: Where is it? What language do they speak? What is famous there? Before you know it, you have learned a whole bundle of facts about a part of the world you didn't know much about before.
Capital cities are like the beating heart of every country — full of history, decisions and stories. Try learning one new capital this week. You can practise on our Capitals quizzes once you're ready!