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DEFINITION OF A CAPITAL CITY
A capital city is an area of a country, province, region or state that is regarded as having primary status above any other city.
A de facto capital is a city that is head of a country's government or judicious system, but not the official capital city, possibly due to tradition, convenience, emergency or political problems.
A purpose built capital has been built because it's previous capital may have become too overpopulated, it's location deemed it vulnerable to attack, it bordered an unfriendly neighbour or it's previous capital was established by an invading force of which the newly gained independent country chose to change.
A split capital is one that has been split either politically or geographically, having two or more separate regions.
ALL OFFICIAL CAPITAL CITIES ARE SHOWN IN RED TEXT
PURPOSE BUILT CAPITAL CITIES
Abuja - Nigeria - established in 1991 - former capital Lagos.
Ankara - Turkey - established in 1923 - former capital Istanbul.
Astana - Kazakstan - established in 1998 - former capital Almaty.
Beijing - China - officially established in 1949 upon the formation of the Peoples Republic.
Belmopan - Belize - established in 1970 after the destruction of it's former capital, Belize City, from the affects of a hurricane.
Brasilia - Brazil - established in 1960 - former capital Rio de Janiero.
Canberra - Australia - newly established in 1913.
Islamabad - Pakistan - established in 1960 - former capital Karachi.
Napyidaw - Myanmar - Established in 2005 - former capital Rangoon / Yangon.
New Delhi - India - established in 1911 - former capital Kolkata / Calcutta.
Ottawa - Canada - newly established in 1855.
Washington D.C - U.S.A. - designated in 1790, established in 1871.
DISTANCE BETWEEN CAPITAL CITY & A COUNTRY'S REMOTEST REGION
Paris, shown below, to New Caledonia, France.- 16,760 km.
London to Pitcairn Island, U.K. - 14,900 km.
Washingto D.C to Attu Island U.S.A. - 7,800.
Moscow, shown above, to Kunashir Island, Russia. - 7,050 km.
THE WORLD'S LARGEST CAPITAL CITIES
By area - Tokyo, shown above, Japan. - 6,993 sq km.
By population - Beijing - China. - 19.6 million.
By population density - Manilla - Philippines - 1.7 million people in 43 sq km.
THE WORLD'S DE - FACTO CAPITAL CITIES
Some countries have both an official capital city and a designated de - facto capital. France, Malta and Nauru have only de - facto capitals as their governments do not believe in giving one particular city a higher status than any other. The official capital cities are shown in red text and the de - facto capital cities are shown in italic white text.
Yamoussoukro - Cote d' Ivoire - Abidjan
Prague - Czech Republic - Brno
Basle - Switzerland - Bern
Dodomo. - Tanzania - Dar Es Salaam
Sucre - Bolivia - La Paz
Paris - France.
Porto Novo - Benin - Cotonou
Amsterdam - Netherlands - The Hague
Tokyo. - Japan - Kyoto
Valletta - Malta.
Santiago - Chile - Valparaiso
South Africa - Bloemfontain (judicial capital) - Cape Town (legislative capital) - Pretoria (executive & recognised national capital)
Yaren - Nauru
THE WORLD'S SPLIT CAPITAL CITIES
Budapest, Hungary - Split geographically by the River Danube into west and east, linking the former city of Buda on the west bank with the former city of Pest on the east bank.
Nicosia, Cyprus - Split politically into north and south, with the northern half of the city situated in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the southern half situated in the Republic of Cyprus.
COUNTRIES WITH CITIES LARGER THAN THEIR CAPITAL CITIES
Not all capital cities around the world are a county's largest city. Shown below are nineteen countries which have one or more cities larger than their capital city.
Australia - Sydney. - Melbourne - Perth - Adelaide - Brisbane - Canberra
Belize - Belize City - San Ignacio - Belmopan
Bolivia - Santa Cruz - El Alto - La Paz - Cochabamba - Sucre
Brazil - Sao Paulo. - Rio de Janiero. - Brasilia
Canada - Toronto. - Ottawa
China - Shanghai. - Beijing
Ecuador - Guayaquil - Quito
India - Mumbai. - Kolkata. - Delhi
Liechtenstein - Schaan - Vaduz
Malta - Birkirkara - Valletta
New Zealand - Auckland - Christchurch - Wellington
Pakistan - Karachi - Lahore - Faisalabad - Rawalpindi - Multan - Gujranwala - Hyderabad - Peshawar - Islamabad.
San Marino - Dogana - Borgo Maggiore - San Marino City
Scotland - Glasgow .- Edinburgh
South Africa - Johannesburg - Durban - Port Elizabeth - Cape Town - Polokwane - Nelspruit - Rustenburg - Pretoria
Switzerland - Zurich - Geneva - Basel - Bern
Turkey - Istanbul. - Ankara
United Arab Emirates - Dubai. - Abu Dhabi
U.S.A - The U.S.A's capital city - Washington D.C - is the 25th largest city in the country. For a list of the country's top ten largest cities, visit our page - States-and-state-capitals-of-the-u-s-a.
CAPITAL CITIES NOT BUILT UPON A BODY OF WATER
Most of the world's capital cities were originally built near areas of fresh water, such as a lake or a river, some which were built near salt water and a very rare few which were built near no water supply at all. Below are listed the twenty capital cities in the world that were built in areas where there was no supply of water what so ever.
Visit our page, Rivers of the worlds capital cities, to find out which river flows through which capital city.
Abuja - Nigeria
Addis Ababa - Ethiopia.
Ashghabat - Turkemenistan.
Asmar - Eritrea
Baku - Azerbaijan.
Brasila - Brazil - Brazil's purpose built capital city, shown above, was not built upon an area of fresh water, although it is surrounded by the man made Lake Paranoa.
Copenhagen - Denmark.
Guatemala City - Guatemala.
Islamabad - Pakistan.
Lome - Togo.
Ouagadougou - Burkino Faso
Riyadh - Saudi Arabia - Although originally built beside the Orchard Oasis - Riyadh Wadi - this body of water has long since dried up.
San Jose - Costa Rica
San'a - Yemen.
San Marino City - San Marino.
San Salvador - El Salvador.
Sofia - Bulgaria - The River Vladaiska, River Perlovska and River Iskar all run through the outskirts of the city.
Yamoussoukro - Cote d' Ivoire
Yaounde - Cameroon
Windhoek - Namibia
CAPITAL CITIES WHICH ARE THE WORLD'S...............
Coldest - Ulan Bator, Mongolia - with an annual average temperature of 2.4 degrees celsius (70 fahrenheit).
Hottest - Bangkok, Thailand, shown above, with an annual average temperature of 25 degrees celsius (27.7 fahrenheit).
Wettest - Monrovia, Liberia - with 5,207 mm of rain per annum.
Driest - Lima, Peru - with just 2.29 mm of rain per annum.
Foggiest - Canberra, Australia - with 47 fog days per annum.
Highest elevation (de - facto capital city) - La Paz, Bolivia - at 3,650 metres above sea level.
Highest elevation (official capital city) - Quito, Ecuador - at 2,800 metres above sea level.
Lowest elevation - Baku - Azerbaijan, at 28 meters below sea level.
Most isolated / remotest - Wellington - New Zealand.
Most northerly - Reykyavik - Iceland.
Most polluted - Beijing, China - with 700 micro grams of PM 2.5 per cubic meter.
Most southerly - Wellington - New Zealand.
Nearest to the line of the Arctic Circle - Reykjavik, Iceland, situated at 64' 08 degrees north.
Nearest to the line of the Equator - Quito, Ecuador - situated at 00' 15' 00 degrees South.
Nearest to the line of the Tropic of Cancer - Muscat, Oman, situated at 23' 36' 31 degrees north.
Nearest to the line of the Tropic of Capricorn - Windhoek, Namibia, situated at 22' 34' 12 degrees south.
Oldest - Damascus - Syria, continually inhabited as a capital city since the year 661.
Youngest - Juba - Republic of South Sudan, established in July 2011.
Situated furthest from it's neighbour's capital city - Wellington in New Zealand is situated 2,326 km from it's nearest neighbour's capital city of Canberra in Australia.
Situated nearest to it's neigbour's capital city - Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo is situated just 1.6 km from Brazzaville, the capital city of the Republic of Congo. The two cities are situated opposite one another across the River Congo, Kinshasa on the south bank and Brazzaville on the north bank.
Windiest - Wellington - New Zealand, shown below - Experiences regular wind speeds of around 16 knots (18 mph) and 173 days a year of wind speeds over 32 knots.
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