Talk:List of countries with multiple capitals

Bhutan

There's any reference setting Punakha like Bhutan's de facto capital. In Thimphu page there are descriptions of government settings in this city, but nothing in Punakha page...Luís Gracindo 7:08, 04 Jun 2006 (UTC)

Unless someone can come up with a reliable source(s) that states Punakha currently serves as Bhutan's capital is some respect, I intend to delete the Bhutan entry, at least as a nation that *currently* has more than one capital. --Mike Beidler 16:28, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Chile

Chile has only one Capital, I read the article in english of what a Capital is, and I think that it is wrong to designate Chile as having two capitals, just because the Congress is in another city. So far I understand, the location of the Congress does not determine the location of a Capital. Chile should be removed from this list, becasue it distorts reality, and is not accurate according to chilean legislation.--3BRBS (talk) 01:09, 21 December 2010 (UTC)

Kazakhstan

Shouldn't Kazakhstan be on the list of countries that have shifted their capitals? From the Kazakhstan page: "In 1997 the capital of Kazakhstan moved from the southern city of Almaty to Akmolinsk (Akmola), later renamed to Astana, a city closer to the geographic center of the country."

Israel

I forgot to write a summary for my last change, which was to add a statement about Jerusalem/Tel Aviv...I still haven't figured out how to change summaries if you forget to write them. My apologies.

I wasn't sure exactly how to integrate that information into the page. I basically echoed what had been done with the statement about Japan. I think the situation in Israel is probably unique, in that the country itself designates one capital, but most of the rest of the world recognizes a different one. If we want a list of "temporary wartime capitals", we could also add Tel Aviv to that, but I'm not sure how often that has happened.

Someday I will learn to sign posts on these pages. The above was mine. Creidieki 20:52, 23 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Japan

Japan has had other capitals as well ... I believe Nara (Heijo-kyo) is generally considered to be Japan's first permanent capital. Depending on how you define capital Japan has had many others as well: Fujiwara-kyo, Asuka, etc. CES 06:38, 23 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Sri Lanka

Should you want to visit the Sri Lankan Parliament, you will find it in the Columbo metropolitan area.

incorrect, it changed to Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte in 1982. While colombo is de facto commercial capital it has no constitutional roll as a captital an is only commercial capital is the same way that New York is commercial capital of the US. And i don't see the US listed as a country with more than one capital. I am going to remove sri lanka from the page unless anyone has any objections. ----Greatestrowerever^{Talk Page} 13:18, 20 October 2008 (UTC)

Not that I disagree with removing Sri Lanka (I don't), but how on Earth is Kotte not in the Colombo Metropolitan Region? Colombo says that the region is defined as the districts of Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara. —JAO • T • C 22:09, 31 May 2009 (UTC)

Well, it is physically in the area known generally, to the outside world, as "Colombo". But to locals, it is not considered to be in Colombo, but in Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, or Kotte for short. This distinction applies to other parts of what would generally be considered to be part of Colombo, such as Wattala. If you go there, you'll find it on the main road between the airport and the CBD, and only 8 miles from the CBD, and for most practical purposes it is indistinguishable from the Colombo area. But the locals never refer to it as "Colombo", always as "Wattala". Many cities are divided into different administrative areas run by different local authorities. Take Sydney, for example. The City of Sydney runs only the inner area including the CBD, and other cities such as the City of Randwick, the City of Parramatta and various others, run other parts of the Sydney greater metropolitan area. A person from Parramatta would be quite correct in saying they're from "Sydney" (used in its broad, general sense), and if the NSW Parliament were located in Parramatta (rather than in the CBD of Sydney), nobody would object to saying that "The NSW Parliament is situated in the capital, Sydney". But Sri Lankans think about these things in their own way, and we have to respect that. -- JackofOz (talk) 23:14, 31 May 2009 (UTC)

Yes, definitely. We should certainly not call Kotte "part of Colombo" without further specification, if locals wouldn't do that. I just reacted to the statement that it was incorrect to call Kotte part of the "Columbo [sic] metropolitan area". Assuming the term is used for the Colombo Metropolitan Region as defined in the Colombo article, that's not incorrect by any stretch of the imagination. —JAO • T • C 00:48, 1 June 2009 (UTC)

United States

Baltimore and Annapolis, Maryland were never capitals of the United States. They were two out of eight different cities where the Second Continental Congress met between 1775 anf 1789. New York City was the first official capital of the United States of America, as designated by Congess. Followed by Philidelphia, PA under the Residence Act of 1790, and Washington, DC upon its completion in 1800. If Balitmore and Annapolis are to be concidered former capitals of the United States, then Lancaster, PA; York, PA; Princeton, NJ; and Trenton, NJ must be included with the 3 times Philidelphia was a site of a meeting of the Continental Congress, as well as New York. NamcoFL 05:17, 23 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I refered to the World Book Encyclopaedia (2003) to compile this table. It was mentioned in it that the above served as a temporary capital. I think that the towns of Annapolis, Baltimore and the additional ones you mentioned should be added to the table as it did serve as the administrative capital of USA. [[User:Nichalp|¶ nichalp | Talk]] 20:02, Jul 23, 2004 (UTC)

"The Union States of America" never existed. The United States of America" was "the Union." Wetman 21:33, 22 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Fixed. --Aponar Kestrel 03:14, 2004 Jul 26 (UTC)

United Kingdom

But Winchester was never the capital of the UK. It was the capital of England, though. Marnanel 15:12, 23 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I think Winchester was the capital of Wessex, not England. William Avery 19:35, 23 Jul 2004 (UTC)

A quick search confirms my memory that the people of Oxford often describe their city as having been the "Royalist capital" (of England) during the English Civil War. http://www.google.com/search?q=oxford+royalist+capital William Avery 19:19, 23 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I believe Winchester was briefly capital of England after the end of the Heptarchy, but I could be wrong. In any case, the table says (well, said) that it had been the capital of the UK, which is clearly wrong. Marnanel 03:02, 26 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I see your point: Alfred called himself King of England, and his capital was Winchester. William Avery 21:43, 26 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Netherlands

The Hague is not the or a capital of the Netherlands. It is the capital of the 'Zuid-Holland' county. The fact that government is centered there doesn't change that. If it does, then I consider this list rather subjective.

Note that capital states: It may consist of or be separate from the actual seat of government.

Tinus 15:45, 23 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I agree. Den Haag is only the seat of goverment, the capital is Amsterdam as it always has been.

- James

Amsterdam is indeed the only capital of the Netherlands. I have removed the Netherlands from the list. Previous debates about capital status of the Hague on other pages have resulted in the outcome that : The idea that the seat of government is the capital is not sufficiently supported (some US dictionaries include seat of government in their definition of capital, UK dictionaries don't): I.e. the claim that seat of government=capital lacks unambiguous support, but even if such definition would be agreed upon, extending that to the Dutch situation would still be synthesis. No single reliable names the Hague capital of the Netherlands, the contrary is true as Amsterdam is (uniquely) named capital in the Dutch constitution.

Therefore it is obvious the Netherlands does not belong on this list; at least not without a reliable source claiming that it does have indeed 2 capitals. Arnoutf (talk) 09:47, 2 July 2011 (UTC)

MauriManya keeps on adding that the Hague is a capital of the Netherlands. The source he provides goes 404 and the site he provides the 'source' from has this on it, which clearly says the following; "In most countries, the capital city is the seat of the national government. That is not the case in the Netherlands, however. Although Amsterdam is the Dutch capital, the government and States General (the Dutch parliament) are based in The Hague. The current head of state, Queen Beatrix, also lives in The Hague. Amsterdam is the Netherlands’ largest city and its economic and cultural hub. It is also the scene of royal inaugurations and marriages. To discover why the government of the Netherlands does not have its seat in the capital, we must make an excursion into the country’s history." This source is the ministry of foreign affairs of the Netherlands, it can obviously be trusted on this matter. This literally says "Amsterdam is the capital", "The government is in the Hague", "The government is not in the capitol"

Tanzania

According the the main article on Tanzania there is a case for including that country here. William Avery 19:32, 23 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Lithuania

I've seen sources that the capital was Kovno from 1918 or 1919 to 1940 (subsequently and currently Vilnius) - the Wikipedia entry for Kovno has that it was temporarily a capital, but isn't clear about the dates.

Lithuanians always call it Kaunas, Poles Kowno, Kovno is Russian. The story is very complicated. First, a source showing it was what is called the Provisional Capital of the Republic of Lithuania: Harrison's Lithuania, available on archive.org. Here's what happened, from memory: The Lithuanian Republic was proclaimed in Vilnius/Wilno in 1919 with Vilnius as its capital. The Republic of Poland contested the claim, and during fighting with Russian Bolsheviks Poland de facto administered the entire region around Wilno and a large chunk of White Russia, aka Belarus. This can be seen on numberous maps on the internet from the period. Poland called rump Lithuania Central Lithuania or somesuch, see Czeslaw Milosz for more on that. Rump Lithuania was forced to set up termporary capital in Kaunas for the duration of its period of independence while there were multiple disputes in the League of Nations about the status of Wilno/Vilnius and plebicites/referenda planned. When the Mutual Assistance Pacts between the Soviet Union and the Baltic states led to actual Red Army troops based in the Baltic states, and a Lithuanian People's Government petitioned Moscow for inclusion as a constituent republic in the USSR, a Berlin-based Lithuanian opposition group formed a government in exile. The organization in Berlin was the Lithuanian Activists Front. Back in the Lithuanian SSR Stalin, now in control of the eastern marches under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, gave Vilnius back to the Lithuanian SSR. The LAF had Nazi support and planned to use the German invasion to declare themselves the de facto government in Lithuania, which they did, in Kaunas. The LAF Provisional Government pledged allegiance to Adolf Hitler and sought to enter WWII on the Axis side. The Germans appreciated their help in organizing Lithuanians to kill Jews, but did not need or want a competing nationalist base of power inside their occupied territory in the east. So the capital of Lithuania in the modern period was briefly the declarative capital Vilnius ca. 1919, followed by the de facto provisional capital of Kaunas till 1940. Depending on whom you ask, Lithuania either disappeared in 1940 and remained disappeared until 1990, or briefly came back to life in summer of 1941, under the provisional government at the provisional capital Kaunas, from late June to mid-August. The provisional government maintained that Vilnius was Lithuanian and the Lithuanian capital, but didn't have time to move many boots there, only some pro-Nazi state security staff. Historically, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was in Trakai (Troky in Polish) before it moved to Vilnius. Kernave is considered an even older capital than Trakai but not on much firm basis if you ask me. So a good bit of it depends on how you interpret history: for 50 years the only sovereign Lithuanian territory was a few small offices in Rome and Washington, D. C. Hypatea (talk) 14:33, 20 March 2011 (UTC)

Ireland

Ireland is regarded as a nation whereas Northern Ireland is certainly not regarded as a nation. Ireland should be re-included on the list of nations with two capitals.

Regarded by whom? (The whole island is not, for example, regarded as one state by the constitution of the Republic of Ireland; see Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution of Ireland.) Marnanel 01:11, 27 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Tuvalu?

Shouldn't Tuvalu be on this page, too? Its article seems to say that Vaiaku, Fongafale and Funafuti are its capitals. Adam78 03:09, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

Vaikaku is a village on the islet of Fongafale, which is part of the atoll of Funafuti. There's only one capital -- it's just a matter of scale. ;) —Nightstallion (?) ^{Seen this already?} 17:46, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Micronesia has had multiple capitals, if only administrative. Hypatea (talk) 14:35, 20 March 2011 (UTC)

Philippines?

Manila is the only legal capital. Perhaps it can be reworded. --Howard the Duck 14:04, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

Montenegro

I also cannot find any documented evidence that Cetinje serves currently as Montengro's capital in any capacity. In lieu of evidence, I am deleting reference to it. --Mike Beidler 17:06, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

I think you mean Montenegro, not Macedonia. -- (Shocktm | Talk | contribs.) 21:21, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Heh. You're right. Boy, am I tired today. Fixed.  ;-) --Mike Beidler 23:38, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

I think Cetinje warrants an inclusion, as a city specifically mentioned in the constitution of the country. The constitution uses the term glavni grad (which is the usual Serbian word for capital) for Podgorica and prestonica (which I am having a hard time translating, but I think it's meant to mean "seat of the head of state") for Cetinje. -- Jao 16:15, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

Quoting Constitution of Montenegro: "Article 7, THE CAPITAL CITY AND ADMINISTRATIVE CENTRE. The administrative centre of Montenegro shall be Podgorica. The capital city of Montenegro shall be Cetinje." --Serguei Trouchelle 16:28, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

Yes, I have seen that translation before, but that doesn't mean it's not a strange translation. Glavni grad (literally "main city") is the word which Serbs use when English-speakers say capital (see http://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Француска or any other country article in the Serbian Wikipedia, for example). It seems very out of place to translate it into "administrative centre" in this, and only this, situation. -- Jao 19:34, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

South Africa

Is there any documentation from official (i.e., South African government) sources that South Africa has three capitals, as opposed to one "official" capital (i.e., Pretoria) and two other cities that serve as hosts to one of the three branches of government (i.e., Cape Town and Bloemfontein)? --Mike Beidler 19:04, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Russia

Russia too can be added in the list? The constitutional court is transferred to Saint Petersburg. Yuriy75 (talk) 15:28, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

New Discussion

A discussion has been started at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Countries/Lists of countries which could affect the inclusion criteria and title of this and other lists of countries. Editors are invited to participate. Pfainuk talk 12:06, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

Castile and Leon and early Spain

had multiple capitals. Shouldn't these be added? See the footnote 1 in the infobox of es:Corona de Castilla for a start.--189.62.166.199 (talk) 18:23, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

Libya

Since some countries have recognized the rebel government, it might be added that Libya, to a certain extent, has 2 capitals. Tripoli is the "official" capital, while Benghazi is the "rebel" capital. 99.59.26.174 (talk) 05:48, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

fundamental flaw underlying this list

The article opens with the statement: "Some countries have multiple capitals; often one city is the seat of government while the other is the legal capital." This sentence is utter nonsense. Consider the sentence if you replace "capital" with apple and "seat of government" with orange the line then would read "Some situations hold multiple aples; often one of these is an orange while the other is a legally acknowledged apple".

For example in my home country, we as inhabitants, and our constitution are clear and unambiguous: There is only one capital: Amsterdam. Yet the Netherlands is in this list as its seat of government is in the Hague. No one with any knowledge of the Dutch situation (at least no one sane) would list the Hague as capital, there is no source naming the Netherlands a multiple capital city. So most of this list seems synthesis (i.e. violation of WPOR). Arnoutf (talk) 17:39, 1 July 2011 (UTC)

After some more reading of the different definitions: In the case of the Netherlands (1 city with all institutions of a capital - The Hague / 1 city always referred to as capital and mentioned as such in the constitution, and being the more important of the Dutch cities - Amsterdam).

Either we accept the dictionary definition, which would favour The Hague as sole capital, as no reference in those definitions is made about the possibility that a law (after all a human idea) can overrule the defintion

Or we follow Dutch constitution (and colloquial use) and label Amsterdam capital, as a dictionary definition is only a human idea.

In either case the Netherlands has only one single capital; albeit a different one. Calling both of them capital is never done, and that would be synthesis in my view. Arnoutf (talk) 18:43, 22 August 2011 (UTC)