List of purpose-built capital cities

This is a list of capital cities that were built from the ground up to be national or regional capitals, rather than being a pre-existing city chosen to be the capital.

National

City	Country	Notes
Abuja	Nigeria	from 1991, moved from Lagos in order to provide a capital city that was a mix of the three major ethnic groups, the Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa-Fulani. Other reasons include more central geographic location and to avoid overcrowded Lagos.
Ayutthaya	Ayutthaya Kingdom (Thailand)	founded 1350
Belmopan	British Honduras now Belize	from 1970, moved from Belize City after 1961's Hurricane Hattie caused extensive damage to the city.
Brasília	Brazil	from 1960, moved from Rio de Janeiro because of overcrowding, to encourage inland growth, to make the location of the capital more regionally neutral as laid out in the Brazilian constitution in 1891, and to avoid the vulnerability to attacks by sea.
Bridgetown	Barbados	moved from James Town to Bridgetown in 1628, due to better topography for a finer shipping harbour.
Canberra	Australia	Was designed by Chicago, Illinois architects Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin. The site was selected as a compromise between rivals Sydney, New South Wales and Melbourne, Victoria, Australia's two biggest cities. It is situated in the Australian Capital Territory, found in south-east New South Wales. One of the reasons that the government wanted an inland capital city was that Sydney and Melbourne were both susceptible to sea attacks. Canberra means "Meeting Place" in the Ngunnawal language of the local NgabriAborigines.
Fujiwara-kyō	Japan	from 694, moved from Asuka; moved to Nara in 710
Islamabad	Pakistan	from 1967, moved from Karachi, declared Capital in 1974. Development in Pakistan was for long time focused on the colonial centre of Karachi, and President Ayub Khan wanted it to be equally distributed. Moreover, Karachi was located at one end of the country, making it vulnerable to attacks from the Arabian Sea. A capital which was easily accessible from all parts of the country was needed. The newly selected location of Islamabad was closer to army headquarters in Rawalpindi and the disputed territory of Kashmir in the North.
Karlsruhe	Baden-Durlach (a German state)	from 1715, moved from Durlach; became capital of unified Baden in 1771; remained capital of state of Baden after joining unified Germany in 1871; ceased being capital in 1945
Kyoto	Japan	from 794, moved from Nagaokakyō; moved to Tokyo around 1868 (see article capital of Japan)
Lima	Viceroyalty of Peru	from 1535. Cusco was the capital of the precedent Inca Empire and when Spanish took control of the empire Lima was founded to function as capital. Francisco Pizarro founded Lima at the sea due to advantages of being closer contacts with Panama and the rest of the Spanish Empire and more protected from the war-thorn highlands of Peru.
Mandalay	Myanmar	Built in 1852 by Mindon Min, it was the last royal capital of the Burmese Konbaung Kingdom. The site was chosen in accordance to a supposed prophecy by the Buddha. Mandalay is now the second largest city in Myanmar, and is one of Myanmar's five capitals during a two century span.
Melekeok	Palau	from 2006, moved from Koror
Naypyidaw	Myanmar	from 2005, moved from Yangon to have their military government more centrally located geographically and "to keep an eye" on rebel groups forming and training for coups in the jungles and away from the political activities of Yangon
New Delhi	India	from 1912, moved from Calcutta; note that the neighboring city of Delhi already existed and had previously served as the capital of the Mughal Empire
Nouakchott	Mauritania	from 1958, moved from Saint-Louis, Senegal
Putrajaya	Malaysia	from 2002, the administrative branch moved from Kuala Lumpur. However, Kuala Lumpur remains the official capital.
Quezon City	Philippines	from 1948, moved from Manila; returned to Manila in 1976
Saint Petersburg	Russia	from 1712, moved from Moscow; returned to Moscow in 1918
Valletta	Malta	from 1566, moved from Mdina (then known as Città Notabile)
Washington, D.C.	United States	from 1800, moved from Philadelphia

Subnational

City	Capital of	Notes
Adelaide	South Australia, Australia	founded 1836
Belo Horizonte	Minas Gerais, Brazil	founded 1897, moved from Ouro Preto
Chandigarh	both Punjab and Haryana, India	from 1947, because partition of India placed Punjab's capital, Lahore, in Pakistan; Haryana created out of part of Indian Punjab in 1966 and shares capital
Changwon	Gyeongsangnam-do (South Gyeongsang), South Korea	from 1983, moved from Busan
Columbia	South Carolina, United States	from 1790, moved from Charleston
Columbus	Ohio, United States	from 1816, moved from Chillicothe
Gandhinagar	Gujarat, India	founded 1960 upon split of Bombay State into two states
Goiânia	Goiás, Brazil	from 1933, moved from Goiás Velho
Indianapolis	Indiana, United States	from 1825, moved from Corydon
Jackson	Mississippi, United States	from 1821, moved from Natchez
Jefferson City	Missouri, United States	from 1826, moved from St. Charles
Jhongsing Village	Taiwan Province, Republic of China (Taiwan)	from 1956, moved from Taipei City
Lansing	Michigan, United States	from 1847, moved from Detroit
La Plata	Buenos Aires Province, Argentina	from 1882, moved from Buenos Aires
Lelystad	Flevoland, Netherlands	founded 1967, the province consists almost entirely of reclaimed land
Madison	Wisconsin, United States	founded 1836, capital moved from Burlington, now part of Iowa in 1837
Magas	Ingushetia, Russia	from 2002, moved from Nazran
Milledgeville	Georgia, United States	from 1807, moved from Louisville; briefly moved to Macon in 1864, then back; moved to Atlanta in 1868
Molave	Zamboanga, Philippines	from 1948, moved from Dipolog; ceased to be the capital after the division of the province into Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur in 1952
Palayan	Nueva Ecija, Philippines	from 1965, moved from Cabanatuan; Cabanatuan retains the old provincial capitol and is still used by the provincial government
Palmas	Tocantins, Brazil	founded 1990 as capital of the new state of Tocantins, formed in 1988
Perth	Western Australia, Australia	founded in 1829 as the capital of the Swan River Colony, which, several years later, was enlarged and renamed Western Australia
Pierre	South Dakota, United States	from 1889 when the Dakota Territory divided into North and South Dakota and gained statehood, moved from then territorial capital Bismarck, North Dakota which, by default, became state capital of North Dakota. Previous territorial capital before Bismarck was Yankton, South Dakota from 1861-1883.
Raleigh	North Carolina, United States	from 1794, moved from New Bern
Salt Lake City	Utah, United States	founded in 1847; de facto capital of Utah prior to 1856 and de jure capital since.
Sapporo	Hokkaidō, Japan	from the early 1870s, moved from Hakodate
Savannah	Georgia, United States	founded 1733 as capital of new Georgia colony; remained capital until 1777 and was briefly again in 1782 and 1784-6
Shah Alam	Selangor, Malaysia	from 1978, moved from Kuala Lumpur when the latter became a Federal Territory
Tallahassee	Florida, United States	from 1824, from the capitals of the colonies of East Florida and West Florida Pensacola and St. Augustine
Teresina	Piauí, Brazil	from 1852, moved from Oeiras
Trece Martires	Cavite, Philippines	from 1954, moved from Cavite City; still the seat of the provincial government despite the capital having transferred to Imus.
Victoria	British Columbia, Canada	nearby Fort Victoria had existed earlier, but in 1849 the town was specifically laid out to be the capital of the new Colony of Vancouver Island; became capital of United Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia in 1866 when united with the mainland; remained capital after British Columbia became Canadian province in 1871

Proposed

• In 2010, Indonesia was mulling the relocatation of its overcrowded capital from Jakarta to a new site.
• In February 2011, the Autonomous Government of Southern Sudan adopted a resolution to study moving the capital of the new Republic of South Sudan that was to be created in July of that year to a new, planned city. In September 2011, the government of South Sudan approved a project to build a new capital at Ramciel in Lakes state; it is projected that the project will take at least five years.

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