List of countries with multiple capitals

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.

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

There are also cases where there is a single legally defined capital, but one or more other cities operate as the seat of government of some or all parts of the national 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-NovoOfficial capital; seat of legislature
CotonouDe facto seat of government; seat of judicial bodies
 Bolivia SucreOfficial (constitutional) capital; seat of national judiciary
La PazSeat of national executive, legislative, and electoral bodies
 Burundi GitegaOfficial (constitutional) capital
BujumburaSeat of national executive
 Chile SantiagoOfficial capital; seat of national administrative and judicial bodies
ValparaísoSeat of national legislature
 Ivory Coast YamoussoukroOfficial capital
AbidjanDe facto seat of government
 Dominican Republic Santo DomingoOfficial capital, seat of all national administrative and legislative bodies and some judiciary bodies
Santo Domingo OesteSeat of the Constitutional Court and the Central Electoral Board
 Eswatini MbabaneAdministrative capital
LobambaLegislative and royal capital
 Honduras TegucigalpaDe facto capital and, with Comayagüela, one of two cities constituting the Municipality of the Central District, which is the official constitutional capital
ComayagüelaWith 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
PutrajayaAdministrative centre and seat of national judiciary
 Montenegro Podgorica Official capital
CetinjeSeat of President of Montenegro
 Netherlands Amsterdam De jure capital under the Constitution of the Netherlands
The HagueSeat of government and residence of the royal family
 South Africa PretoriaAdministrative and executive capital
Cape TownLegislative capital
BloemfonteinJudicial capital
 Sri Lanka Sri Jayawardenepura KotteSeat of national legislature
ColomboSeat of national executive and judicial bodies
 Tanzania DodomaOfficial and legislative capital
Dar es SalaamDe facto seat of government; seat of judicial bodies
 Western Sahara (SADR) LaayouneDeclared capital
TifaritiTemporary capital
 Yemen Sana'aInternationally recognized capital, controlled by the Houthis
AdenTemporary capital, controlled by the pro-Hadi forces.

Other countries

Israel designates Jerusalem as its capital, and its government, parliament and Supreme Court are located in the city. However, as Jerusalem's political status has not reached a final settlement, most countries locate their embassy in Tel Aviv.[1] Tel Aviv and Jerusalem served as de facto joint capitals of Israel from May to December 1948. The State of Palestine also claims Jerusalem as its capital, but the 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 declares Cusco to be the "Historical Capital" (Spanish: Capital Histórica), a symbolic statement, because the national government continues to reside in Lima.

Serbian Republic, 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.

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 recognized 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.

The other European countries that have its highest judicial organs outside of the capital are the Czech Republic (Brno instead of Prague) and Estonia (Tartu instead of Tallinn).

While Manila is the official capital of the Philippines, the administrative and political centers of the Philippine government is spread across Metro Manila. The Malacañang Palace, the executive seat of the government and the Supreme Court building as well as the judicial center are located in Manila proper while legislative branch is hosted in two other cities in the metropolis the House of Representatives in Quezon City and the Senate in Pasay.[2]

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
 Republic of China 1937–1945 Nanjing Capital of Japanese-controlled puppet state
Chongqing Provisional capital of the Kuomintang-controlled Republic of China
1945–1991 Nanjing Administrative, legislative, and judicial capital (claimed between the 1949 evacuation and the 1992 Consensus)
Taipei Provisional capital of the Kuomintang-ruled Republic of China in Taiwan
 Georgia 2012–2018 TbilisiOfficial and administrative capital
KutaisiSeat of parliament
 GermanyA 1990–1999 BerlinOfficial capital
BonnSeat of government
 North Korea 1948–1972 PyongyangSeat of administration[3]
SeoulOfficial and constitutional de jure capital[3]
 British India 1858–1947 Calcutta (1858–1911) Winter capital
Delhi (1911–1947)
Simla Summer capital
 Laos 1947–1975 VientianeAdministrative capital
Luang PrabangRoyal capital
 Libya 1951–1969 Tripoli One of two official capitals of the Kingdom of Libya
Benghazi
 Malawi 1974–1994 Lilongwe Administrative and judiciary capital
Zomba Legislative capital
 Norway 1940 OsloOfficial capital
HamarTemporarily one-day capital that seated the parliament[4]
 Philippines 1948–1976 Quezon CityOfficial capital
ManilaDe facto seat of government
1901–1976 BaguioSummer capital (still known as summer capital, outside of political use)
 Serbia and Montenegro 2003–2006 BelgradeAdministrative and legislative
PodgoricaJudicial

^A Bonn had been the de facto capital of West Germany before. With the German reunification Berlin became capital of the united Germany. The government moved to Berlin 9 years later.

Subnational and supernational capitals

At the subnational level, the Canary Islands of Spain have had two co-capitals since 1927, viz. Las Palmas and Santa Cruz. Also, the Azores of Portugal have three co-capitals: Ponta Delgada, Angra do Heroísmo and Horta.

The capital of the Indian-administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir is Srinagar in summer, and Jammu in winter. Ladakh also has two joint capitals of Kargil and Leh.

At the supernational level, Brussels is informally considered the de facto capital of the European Union. However, this informal title is shared with the cities of Frankfurt, Luxembourg City and Strasbourg.

See also

References

  1. "Field Listing::Capital". The World Factbook. Retrieved 2014-04-27.
  2. "The Evolution of Manila". Presidential Museum and Librar. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  3. Eberstadt, Nick (1999). The End of North Korea. Washington: American Enterprise Institute. pp. 26, 32. ISBN 978-0-8447-4087-4.
  4. Kongens nei - 9. april (Norwegian)
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