List of countries with multiple capitals

  Countries that currently have multiple capital cities
  Countries that have had multiple capital cities in the past

Some countries have multiple capitals. In some cases, one city is the capital for some purposes, and one or more others are capital for other purposes, without any being considered an official capital in preference to the others.

There are also cases where there is a single legally defined capital, but one or more other cities operate as the seat of some or all parts of government; while such cases are arguably not technically multiple capitals, the situation is similar, so they are included in this list.

More than one capital at present

Country Capitals Details
 Benin Porto-Novo Official capital; seat of legislature
Cotonou De facto seat of government; seat of judicial bodies
 Bolivia Sucre Official (constitutional) capital; seat of national judiciary
La Paz Seat of national executive, legislative, and electoral bodies
 Chile Santiago Official capital; seat of national administrative and judicial bodies
Valparaiso Seat of national legislature
 Côte d'Ivoire Yamoussoukro Official capital
Abidjan De facto seat of government
 Georgia Tbilisi Official capital and seat of executive government and President
Kutaisi Legislative capital
 Honduras Tegucigalpa De facto capital and, with Comayagüela, one of two cities constituting the Municipality of the Central District, which is the official constitutional capital
Comayagüela With Tegucigalpa, one of two cities constituting the Municipality of the Central District, which is the official constitutional capital
 Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur Official and royal capital; seat of national legislature
Putrajaya Administrative centre and seat of national judiciary
 Montenegro Podgorica Official capital and seat of government
Cetinje Old royal capital and site of palace of head of state
 Netherlands
Amsterdam Official (constitutional) and royal capital
The Hague Administrative centre, seat of national legislature, and seat of national judiciary
 South Africa Pretoria Administrative and executive capital
Cape Town Legislative capital
Bloemfontein Judicial capital
 South Korea Sejong City De facto administrative capital
Seoul Official capital
 Sri Lanka Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte Administrative capital and seat of national legislature
Colombo Commercial capital and seat of national executive and judicial bodies
 Swaziland Mbabane Administrative capital
Lobamba Legislative and royal capital
 Tanzania Dodoma Official and legislative capital
Dar es Salaam De facto seat of government; seat of judicial bodies
 Western Sahara (SADR) El Aaiún Declared capital
Tifariti Temporary capital

Some Kyoto natives also argue that Tokyo and Kyoto are both capitals of Japan at present; see Capital of Japan.

Israel designates Jerusalem as its capital, and seats its government in that city. However, as Jerusalem's political status has not reached a final settlement, most countries locate their embassy in Tel Aviv.[1] Tel Aviv served as the temporary de facto capital of Israel from May to December 1948. Palestine also claims Jerusalem as their capital; but its current de facto seat of the internationally recognized Palestinian government is in Ramallah, while the seat of the Hamas-led government is in Gaza City.

In Germany, the highest judiciary organs (Federal Court of Justice and Federal Constitutional Court) are located in Karlsruhe, whereas the nation's political capital is Berlin. Some ministries are still mainly located in Bonn, the former West German capital, which is still called "federal city" (Bundesstadt).

The Honduran constitution statutes that Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela are both capitals in this country. However, all the branches of government are in Tegucigalpa. Comayagüela currently is part of Tegucigalpa Metropolitan Area.

In Peru, the Peruvian Constitution declared Cusco to be the "Historical Capital" (in Spanish Capital Histórica ), a merely symbolic statement, because the national government continues to reside in Lima.

Republika Srpska, a sub-national entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, has a constitutional capital of Sarajevo, the same as the capital of the country, by the Dayton Accords; but in fact, their government is located in Banja Luka.

Although not considered a country, the European Union has three administrative centres: Brussels (executive and part legislative), Luxembourg (judiciary), and Strasbourg (Parliament).

Cetinje is a historical, the traditional, and the secondary capital of Montenegro. The city's status is specifically recognized by the constitution. While the official residence of the President of Montenegro is located in the city, the rest of the government is in Podgorica.

Saint Petersburg, the former capital of the Russian Empire, is unofficially recognised as the Northern Russian capital. In 2009, the Constitutional Court of Russia moved from Moscow to Saint Petersburg, giving the latter city some of the expected functions of a capital.

In South Africa, Bloemfontein is considered the de facto judicial capital, as it houses the Supreme Court of Appeal. The Constitutional Court is housed in Johannesburg

, and is a higher appeal court in the case of constitutional matters.

Although not a sovereign country on its own, the Portuguese autonomous region of the Azores has three designated regional capital cities: Ponta Delgada at São Miguel Island (seat of the Autonomous Government); Horta at Faial Island (seat of the Legislative Assembly); and Angra do Heroísmo at Terceira Island (seat of the judiciary and the historical capital of the Azores, in addition to being the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Angra).

The Canary Islands, a Spanish autonomous community, has two official capitals, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

More than one capital in the past

Many nations that have maintained only one capital at any given time have, nevertheless, over time, conferred capital status on more than one city.

These current countries have had two cities that served as administrative capitals at the same time, for various reasons such as war, weather or partition. In some cases, the second capital is considered a temporary capital.

Country Years Capitals Details
Afghanistan 1776–1818 Kabul Summer capital
Peshawar Winter capital
 France 1940–1944 Paris Occupied France (German-occupied northern France)
Vichy French State
Brazzaville (1940–42) Free France
Algiers (1942–44)
 Republic of China 1937-1945 Nanjing Capital of puppet state
Chongqing Provisional capital of the Kuomintang
 Germany 1990–1999 Berlin Official and legislative capital
Bonn Seat of administration
 British Raj 1858 –1947 Calcutta (1858–1911) Winter capital
Delhi (1911–1947 )
Shimla Summer capital
Libya 1951–1969 Tripoli One of two official capitals of Kingdom
Benghazi One of two official capitals of Kingdom
 Philippines 1948–1976 Quezon City Official capital
Manila De facto seat of government
 Serbia and Montenegro 2003–2006 Belgrade Administrative & legislative
Podgorica Judicial

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Field Listing::Capital". The World Factbook. Retrieved 2014-04-27.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/20/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.