Capital Cities of the World

A capital city is the official seat of a country's government. It is where the head of state lives and where laws are made. A capital is not always the biggest or most famous city in a country — it is simply the one that has been chosen as the centre of government. This is a very common mix-up, so it is worth remembering carefully.

Australia is not the only surprise. The capital of the United States is Washington, D.C., not the much larger New York. The capital of Canada is Ottawa, not Toronto. The capital of Turkey is Ankara, not Istanbul. In each case the biggest, most famous city is not the one where the government sits, which catches a lot of people out.

Capital cities tend to be important centres of culture, history, and transport. Many have famous landmarks — the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Colosseum in Rome, or the Kremlin in Moscow. Visiting a capital city is often a great way to learn about a country's past, because so much of its history happened there.

Some countries have more than one capital. South Africa has three: Pretoria for the government, Cape Town for parliament, and Bloemfontein for the courts. Bolivia also has two capitals. These arrangements often reflect the history of how countries were formed, sharing power between different regions so that no single city holds it all.