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List of countries with multiple capitals

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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.

More than one capital at present

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Countries with multiple capitals
  More than one capital at present
  More than one capital in the past
Country Capitals Details
 Benin Porto-Novo Official capital
Cotonou De facto administrative capital
 Bolivia Sucre Constitutional capital
La Paz De facto executive and legislative capital
 Chile Santiago Executive and judicial capital
Valparaíso Legislative capital
 Czech Republic Prague Official capital
Brno Judicial capital
 Eswatini Mbabane Administrative capital
Lobamba Legislative capital (parliament) and place of royal residence
 Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Constitutional and legislative capital (parliament), seat of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong
Putrajaya Administrative centre and judicial capital; variously referred to as the administrative capital[1]
 Netherlands Amsterdam Official capital
The Hague Legislative capital (parliament)
 South Africa Pretoria Administrative and executive capital
Bloemfontein Judicial capital
Cape Town Legislative capital (parliament)
 Sri Lanka Colombo Executive and judicial capital
Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte Legislative capital (parliament)

More than one capital in the past

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These 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 Year(s) Capitals Details
Afghanistan 1776–1818 Kabul Summer capital
Peshawar Winter capital
 British India 1858–1947 Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) (1858–1911) Administrative capital
New Delhi (1911–1947)
Shimla (formerly Simla) Summer capital
Austria-Hungary 1873–1918 Vienna Cisleithania
Budapest Kingdom of Hungary
 Republic of China 1937–1945 Nanjing Capital of the Japanese-controlled puppet state
Chongqing Provisional capital of the Kuomintang-ruled Republic of China
1945–1991 Nanjing Administrative, legislative, and judicial capital (claimed between the 1949 Retreat and the 1992 Consensus)
Taipei Provisional capital of the Kuomintang-ruled Republic of China on Taiwan
 France 1940–1944 Vichy De facto administrative capital
Paris De jure constitutional capital, also capital for the German military administration
 Kingdom of Italy 1943–1944 Brindisi (1943–Feb 1944) De facto provisional capital
Salerno (Feb–Jun 1944)
Rome De jure capital until 1944 when it was liberated by the Allies
 Italian Social Republic 1943–1944 Salò De facto capital until 1944 when it became the primary capital
Rome De jure capital until 1944 when it was liberated by the Allies
 Laos 1947–1975 Vientiane Administrative capital
Luang Prabang Royal capital
 Libya 1951–1963 Tripoli One of two official capitals of the Kingdom of Libya, then Bayda became the capital of Libya from 1963 to 1969
Benghazi
 Malawi 1974–1994 Lilongwe Administrative and judiciary capital
Zomba Legislative capital
Netherlands-Indonesia Union 1948–1956 Amsterdam Kingdom of the Netherlands
Jakarta United States of Indonesia
 Norway 1940 Oslo Official capital
Hamar Temporarily one-day capital that seated the parliament[2]
 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 capital
Podgorica Judicial capital

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Putrajaya | Smart Putrajaya". smart.putrajaya.my. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  2. ^ Kongens nei - 9. april (Norwegian)