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List of countries with multiple capitals

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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 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-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
 Burundi Gitega Official (constitutional) capital
Bujumbura Seat of national executive
 Chile Santiago Official capital; seat of national administrative and judicial bodies
Valparaíso Seat of national legislature
 Côte d'Ivoire Yamoussoukro Official capital
Abidjan De facto seat of government
 Czechia Prague Official capital, seat of national administrative and legislative bodies
Brno Seat of national judiciary bodies
 Dominican Republic Santo Domingo Official capital, seat of all national administrative and legislative bodies and some judiciary bodies
Santo Domingo Oeste Seat of the Constitutional Court and the Central Electoral Board

 Eswatini

Mbabane Administrative capital
Lobamba Legislative and royal 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
Cetinje Seat of President of Montenegro
 Netherlands Amsterdam De jure capital under the Constitution of the Netherlands
The Hague Seat of government
 South Africa Pretoria Administrative and executive capital
Cape Town Legislative capital
Bloemfontein Judicial capital
 Sri Lanka Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte Official capital and seat of national legislature
Colombo De facto seat of national executive and judicial bodies
 Tanzania Dodoma Official and legislative capital
Dar es Salaam De facto seat of government; seat of judicial bodies
 Western Sahara (SADR) Laayoune Declared capital
Tifariti Temporary capital
 Yemen Sana'a Internationally recognized capital, controlled by the Houthis
Aden Temporary capital

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" (Template:Lang-es), a 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.

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.

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 the judicial center are located in Manila proper while legislative branch hosted in two other cities in the metropolis the House of Representatives in Quezon City and the Senate in Pasay.[2]

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.

More than one capital in the past

Main article: List of historical national capitals

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 Fall capital
 Republic of China 1937–1945 Nanjing Capital of puppet state
Chongqing Provisional capital of the Kuomintang
1945–1991 Nanjing Administrative, legislative, and judicial capital (claimed after 1949)
Taipei Provisional capital of the Kuomintang-ruled Republic of China in Taiwan
 Georgia 2012–2018 Tbilisi Official and administrative capital
Kutaisi Seat of parliament
 GermanyA 1990–1999 Berlin Official capital
Bonn Seat of government
 North Korea 1948–1972 Pyongyang Seat of administration[3]
Seoul Official and constitutional de jure capital[3]
 India 1858–1947 Calcutta (1858–1911) Winter capital
Delhi (1911–1947)
Simla Summer capital
 Laos 1947–1975 Vientiane Administrative capital
Luang Prabang Royal capital
Libya 1951–1969 Tripoli One of two official capitals of the Kingdom of Libya
Benghazi One of two official capitals of the Kingdom of Libya
Malawi 1974–1994 Lilongwe Administrative and judiciary capital
Zomba Legislative capital
 Philippines 1948–1976 Quezon City Official capital
Manila De facto seat of government
1901–1976 Baguio Summer capital (still known as summer capital, outside of political use)
 Serbia and Montenegro 2003–2006 Belgrade Administrative and legislative
Podgorica Judicial

^A Bonn was capital of West Germany before. With the German reunification Berlin became capital of the united Germany, the government moved to Berlin 9 years later.

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. ^ a b Eberstadt, Nick (1999). The End of North Korea. Washington: American Enterprise Institute. pp. 26, 32. ISBN 978-0-8447-4087-4.
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