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Capital
*** Shopping-Tip: Capital
:''This article concerns places that serve as centers of government and politics. For alternative meanings see
capital (disambiguation)''
In
politics, a '''capital''' (also called '''capital city''' or '''political capital''' — although the latter phrase has an alternative meaning based on an alternative meaning of "
capital") is the principal
city or
town associated with its
government. It is almost always the city which physically encompasses the offices and meeting places of the
seat of government and fixed by
law. The word ''capital'' is derived from the
Latin ''caput'' meaning "head," and the related term ''
capitol'' refers to the building where government-business is chiefly conducted.
Seats of government in major substate jurisdictions are usually called "capitals", but at lower administrative subdivisions, terms such as
county town,
county seat, or
borough seat are also used.
Historically, the major economic center of a state or region becomes the focal point of power, and becomes a capital through conquest or amalgamation. This was the case for
London and
Moscow. The capital naturally attracts the politically motivated and those whose skills are needed for efficient administration of government such as
lawyers,
journalists, and
public policy researchers. A capitals that is the prime economic, cultural, or intellectual center is sometimes referred to as a
primate city. Such is certainly the case with
Paris and
Buenos Aires among national capitals, and
Irkutsk or
Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City in their respective state or province.
Capitals are sometimes sited to discourage further growth in an existing major city.
BrasÃlia was planted in
Brazil's interior because the old capital,
Rio de Janeiro, along with entire Southeastern Brazil, was considered already crowded. The government of
South Korea announced in 2004 it would move its capital from
Seoul to
Yeongi-Gongju — even though the word ''Seoul'' itself means "capital" in the
Korean language.
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
Thebes, Egypt Thebes by
Alexandria,
Nanjing by
Shanghai, or
Edinburgh by
Glasgow. The decline of a dynasty or culture could mean the extinction of its capital city as well, as occurred with
Babylon and
Cahokia. And many modern capital cities, such as
Abuja,
Canberra and
Ottawa, were deliberately fixed outside existing economic areas, and may not have established themselves as new commercial or industrial hubs since.
Multiple capitals
{{seealso|List of multiple capitals}}
A number of cases exist where states or other entities have multiple capitals. In
South Africa, for example, the administrative capital is
Pretoria, the legislative capital is
Cape Town, and the judicial capital is
Bloemfontein, the outcome of the compromise that created the
Union of South Africa in 1910.
In others, the "effective" and "official" capitalsex may differ for pragmatic reasons, resulting in a situation where a city known as "the capital" is not, in fact, host to the seat of government:
*
Yamoussoukro was designated the national capital of
Côte d'Ivoire in 1983, but as of 2004 most government offices and embassies were still located in
Abidjan
*
Sucre, Bolivia Sucre is still the
constitutional capital of
Bolivia, but most of the national government long abandoned that region for
La Paz, Bolivia La Paz
*
Amsterdam is the nominal national capital of the
Netherlands even though the Dutch government and
supreme court are both located in
The Hague.
In such cases, the city housing the administrative capital is usually understood to be the "national capital" among outsiders. For instance,
Santiago, Chile Santiago is understood to be the capital of
Chile even though its
National Congress of Chile Congress is in
ValparaÃso Valparaiso.
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:
* Ruined and almost uninhabited
Athens was made capital of newly independent
Greece with the romantic notion of reviving the glory of the ancients. Similarly, following the
Cold War and
German reunification,
Berlin, Germany Berlin is now once again the capital of a prosperous and influential country. Other restored capital cities include
Moscow after the
October Revolution.
A symbolic relocation of a capital city to a geographically or demographically peripheral location may be for either
economic geography economic or
military geography strategic reasons (sometimes known as a "
forward capital" or
spearhead capital).
Peter I of Russia moved his government from
Moscow to
Saint Petersburg to give the
Russian Empire a
The West western orientation, while
Kemal Atatürk did the same by actually moving east, to
Ankara, away from more
Ottoman Empire Ottoman Istanbul. Other examples include
Abuja,
Astaná,
BrasÃlia,
Islamabad,
Naypyidaw and
Yamoussoukro.
* The selection or founding of a "neutral" capital city — i.e. one unencumbered by regional or political identity — was meant to represent the unity of a new state when
Bern,
Canberra,
Madrid and
Washington, D.C. became capitals.
* During the
American Civil War, tremendous resources were expended to defend
Washington, D.C. from
Confederate States of America Confederate attack even though the small
Federal Government of the United States federal government could have been moved relatively easily in the era of
railroads and
telegraph.
Strategic importance of capitals
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 old
China, where governments were massive centralized bureaucracies with little flexibility on the provincial level, a
Chinese Dynasties 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
Cheng Du and Jian Ye fell. The
Ming were destroyed when the
Manchus 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 technologies allowed both the
Chinese Nationalists and
Chinese Communists to rapidly relocate capitals and keep their leadership structures intact during the great crisis of
Second Sino-Japanese War Japanese invasion.
National capitals were arguably less important as military objectives in other parts of the world including the West, due to 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 1205, after the Latin
Crusaders captured the
Byzantine Empire 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 Empire British forces sacked various
United States American capitals repeatedly during the
American Revolutionary War 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.
Largest national capital cities
Image:Capital not largest city.PNG List_of countries whose capital is not their largest city thumb|[[List of countries whose capital is not their largest city|Countries whose capital city is not their largest city.html" title="Meaning of Countries.html" title="Meaning of thumb|[[List of countries whose capital is not their largest city|Countries">thumb|[[List of countries whose capital is not their largest city|Countries whose capital city is not their largest city">Countries.html" title="Meaning of thumb|[[List of countries whose capital is not their largest city|Countries">thumb|[[List of countries whose capital is not their largest city|Countries whose capital city is not their largest city
Some of the largest cities in the world are not national capitals. The largest national capitals on each continent, by urban/metropolitan area population, are:
* Africa:
Cairo (11,146,000)
* Asia:
Tokyo (35,237,000)
* Europe:
Moscow (13,600,000)
* North America:
Mexico City (17,809,471)
* Oceania:
Wellington (367,600)
* South America:
Buenos Aires (14,230,000)
Lists of capitals
*Lists of national capitals
**
List of national capitals by name
**
List of capitals and larger cities by country by country (with also the largest city)
**
List of countries by continent by continent and country
*
List of historical national capitals
*
List of capitals of subnational entities
*
List of multiple capitals
*
List of countries that have the name of their capital included in their name
*
List of countries whose capital is not their largest city
Category:Capitals
Category:Political geography
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als:Hauptstadt
ang:Heafodburg
ar:عاصمة
zh-min-nan:Siú-to·
br:Kêr-benn
bg:Столица
ca:Capital
cs:Hlavnà město
cy:Prif Ddinas
da:Hovedstad
de:Hauptstadt
et:Pealinn
el:Î Ï?ωτεÏ?ουσα
eo:Ĉefurbo
fa:پایتخت
fr:Capitale
fy:Haadstêd
ga:PrÃomhchathair
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ko:수�
io:Chefurbi
id:Ibu kota
ia:Capital
os:Сæйраг Ñ?ахар
is:Höfuðborg
it:Capitale (città )
he:ערי בירה (לפי ×ž×“×™× ×”)
ka:დედ�ქ�ლ�ქი
sw:Mji mkuu
ht:Kapital
ku:Serbajar
la:Caput
lv:Galvaspilsēta
lt:SostinÄ—
li:Houfsjtad
hu:Főváros
mk:Главен град
ms:Ibu negara
mo:КапиталÑ?
nah:Weyaltepetl
nl:Hoofdstad
ja:首都
no:Hovedstad
nn:Hovudstad
nds:Hööftstadt
nrm:Capitale
pl:Stolica (administracja)
pt:Capital
ro:Capitală
ru:Столица
sc:Capitali
simple:Capital (city)
sl:Glavno mesto
sr:Главни град
fi:Pääkaupunki
sv:Huvudstad
ta:தலை நகரம�
th:เมืà¸à¸‡à¸«à¸¥à¸§à¸‡
tr:BaÅŸkent
zh:首都
Category:Microeconomics JEL:D
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