Countries With More Than One Capital

Most quizzes want one answer per country, but the reality is often messier. A number of countries separate the branches of government geographically, usually as a compromise between rival regions or as a deliberate act of nation-building. Here are the notable cases and, for each, the answer a standard quiz is looking for.

South Africa — three capitals

• Pretoria — administrative capital; seat of the executive (the President and cabinet).
• Cape Town — legislative capital; seat of Parliament.
• Bloemfontein — judicial capital; seat of the Supreme Court of Appeal.

The three-way split dates to the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, when the four self-governing colonies negotiated the merger. Each of the former Boer and British territories wanted the capital; the solution was to give a different branch of government to different regions. Pretoria is the usual single-word answer, and it is where foreign embassies are located.

Bolivia — two capitals

Sucre is the constitutional capital and the seat of the judiciary. La Paz is the seat of the executive and the legislature, and is by far the larger and better-known city — it is also the highest administrative capital in the world, at around 3,600 m. Quizzes disagree, but the technically correct single answer is Sucre, because it is named as the capital in the constitution.

The others

• Eswatini — Mbabane is the administrative and executive capital; Lobamba is the royal and legislative capital, home to the parliament and the residence of the Queen Mother.
• Malaysia — Kuala Lumpur is the official capital and the seat of the King and Parliament; Putrajaya, a purpose-built city, is the administrative and judicial centre, home to the Prime Minister's office and most ministries.
• Sri Lanka — Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is the legislative capital (Parliament sits there); Colombo remains the commercial capital and de facto centre of government.
• Tanzania — Dodoma has been the official capital since 1996, chosen for its central location, but much of the government and most embassies remained in the former capital, Dar es Salaam, for decades.
• Côte d'Ivoire — Yamoussoukro, the birthplace of the first president, has been the official capital since 1983; the government and diplomatic community are largely still in Abidjan.
• Benin — Porto-Novo is the official capital and seat of the legislature; Cotonou is the seat of government and the largest city.
• Montenegro — Podgorica is the official capital; Cetinje is designated the "Old Royal Capital" and hosts some presidential functions.
• Netherlands — Amsterdam is the constitutional capital, but the government, parliament, supreme court and the monarch's working palace are all in The Hague.

Why countries do this

Three motives recur. The first is compromise: when two or more regions or cities are rivals, splitting the functions is a way to share the prize (South Africa, and in a looser sense the choice of neutral cities like Canberra and Ottawa). The second is administrative efficiency: building a dedicated government city relieves congestion in the commercial capital (Putrajaya, Naypyidaw, Brasília). The third is symbolic: moving or splitting the capital can assert national unity or honour a founding figure (Yamoussoukro, Dodoma, Astana).