Capital city


A capital city, or just capital, is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational division, usually as its seat of government. A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses the government's offices and meeting places; the status as capital is often designated by law or a constitution. In some jurisdictions, including several countries, different branches of government are in different settlements, sometimes meaning there are multiple official capitals. In some cases, a distinction is made between the official capital and the seat of government.
English-language media often use the name of the capital metonymically to refer to the government sitting there. Thus, "London–Washington relations" is understood to mean diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and the United States.
File:Tavares.Forum.Romanum.redux.jpg|thumb|Rome, as the capital of the Roman Empire, acquired the nickname of Caput Mundi.

Terminology and etymology

The word capital derives from the Latin word caput, meaning 'head', later borrowed from Medieval Latin capitālis. The Latin phrase Caput Mundi was already used by the poet Ovid in the 1st century BC. It originates out of a classical European understanding of the known world: Europe, North Africa, and Southwest Asia. The phrase is related to the enduring power of the city first as the capital of the Republic and the Empire, and later as the centre of the Catholic Church.
In several English-speaking states, the terms county town and county seat are also used in lower administrative divisions. In some unitary states, subnational capitals may be known as 'administrative centres'. The capital is often the largest city of its constituent, though not always.File:The Forbidden City - View from Coal Hill.jpg|thumb|Beijing, as the last of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China, has served as the country's political centre for most of the past eight centuries.

Origins

Historically, the major economic centre of a state or region has often become the focal point of political power, and became a capital through conquest or federation. Historical examples are ancient Babylon, ancient Athens, ancient Rome, Abbasid Baghdad, Constantinople, Chang'an, and ancient Cusco. The modern capital city has not always existed: in medieval Western Europe, an itinerant government was common.
File:Tehran Star Trail.jpg|thumb|Tehran, the capital of Iran since the Qajar Empire, and the most populous city in West Asia.
The capital city attracts politically motivated people and those whose skills are needed for efficient administration of national or imperial governments, such as lawyers, political scientists, bankers, journalists, and public policy makers. Some of these cities are or were also religious centres, e.g. Constantinople, Rome/Vatican City, Jerusalem, Babylon, Moscow, Belgrade, Paris, and Beijing. In some countries, the capital has been changed for geopolitical reasons; Finland's first city, Turku, which had been the country's most important city since the Middle Ages and became capital in 1809, lost its position during the Grand Duchy of Finland in 1812, when Helsinki was made the current capital of Finland by the Russian Empire.
The convergence of political and economic or cultural power is by no means universal. Traditional capitals may be economically eclipsed by provincial rivals as is the case with Nanjing by Shanghai, Quebec City by Montreal, and several US state capitals. The decline of a dynasty or culture could also mean the extinction of its capital city, as occurred at Babylon and Cahokia. "Political nomadism" was practiced in ancient Near East to increase ties between the ruler and the subjects.
Although many capitals are defined by constitution or legislation, many long-time capitals have no such legal designation, including Bern, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London, Paris, and Wellington. They are recognized as capitals as a matter of convention, and because all or almost all the country's central political institutions, such as government departments, supreme court, legislature, embassies, etc., are located in or near them.
The earliest capital existing is Damascus which has existed since c.2500BC.

Modern capitals

Many modern capital cities are located near the centre of the country, so that they are more accessible to its population and have better protection from possible invasions. The location may also be based on a compromise between two or more cities or other political divisions, historical reasons, or enough land was needed to deliberately build a new planned city for the capital. The majority of national capitals are also the largest city in their respective countries. Modern examples are Berlin, Cairo, London, Madrid, Mexico City, Moscow, Paris, Rome, Jakarta, Metro Manila, Seoul, and Tokyo.
Counties in the United Kingdom have historic county towns, which are often not the largest settlement within the county and often are no longer administrative centres, as many historical counties are now only ceremonial, and administrative boundaries are different. The number of new capitals in the world increased substantially since the Renaissance period, especially with the founding of independent nation-states since the eighteenth century.
In Canada, there is a federal capital, while the ten provinces and three territories each have capital cities. The states of such countries as Mexico, Brazil, and Australia also each have capital cities. For example, the six state capitals of Australia are Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. In Australia, the term "capital cities" is regularly used to refer to those six state capitals plus the federal capital Canberra, and Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territory. Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and also of the United Arab Emirates overall.
In unitary states which consist of multiple constituent nations, such as the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Denmark, each will usually have its own capital city. Unlike in federations, there is usually not a separate national capital, but rather the capital city of one constituent nation will also be the capital of the state overall, such as London, which is the capital of England and of the United Kingdom. Similarly, each of the autonomous communities of Spain and regions of Italy has a capital city, such as Seville and Naples, while Madrid is the capital of the Community of Madrid and of the Kingdom of Spain as a whole and Rome is the capital of Italy and of the region of Lazio.
In the Federal Republic of Germany, each of its constituent states has its own capital city, such as Dresden, Wiesbaden, Mainz, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, and Munich, as do all of the republics of the Russian Federation. The national capitals of Germany and Russia are also constituent states of both countries in their own right. Each of the states of Austria and cantons of Switzerland also have their own capital cities. Vienna, the national capital of Austria, is also one of the states, while Bern is the capital of both Switzerland and of the Canton of Bern.

Planned capitals

Governing entities sometimes plan, design and build new capital cities to house the seat of government of a polity or of a subdivision. Deliberately planned and designed capitals include:
These cities satisfy one or both of the following criteria:
  1. A deliberately planned city that was built expressly to house the seat of government, superseding a capital city that was in an established population center. There have been various reasons for this, including overcrowding in that major metropolitan area, and the desire to place the capital city in a location with a better climate.
  2. A town that was chosen as a compromise among two or more cities, none of which was willing to concede to the the privilege of being the capital city. Usually, the new capital is geographically located roughly equidistant between the competing population centres.

    Compromise locations

Some examples of the second situation are:
Changes in a nation's political regime sometimes result in the designation of a new capital. Akmola became the capital of Kazakhstan in 1997, following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Naypyidaw was founded in Burma's interior as the former capital, Rangoon, was claimed to be overcrowded.