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Learning state and national capitals is a time-honored way of boring schoolchildren during geography lessons. While most of this exercise is just rote memorization, it can get significantly trickier if the capitals start moving around or multiplying. Sure, the American government has been calling Washington, D.C., home for over 200 years, but a number of other capitals have been known to hit the road. Moreover, some countries aren’t content with a single capital and have several. Here are a few countries and states have seen some travel.
1. Cote d’Ivoire
The country formerly known as the Ivory Coast has seen a number of capitals dating back to its days as a French colony, but in 1933, Abidjan became the center of government. The arrangement made sense given that Abidjan is the nation’s largest city and its major economic hub.
In 1983, though, President Felix Houphouet-Boigny decided maybe Abidjan wasn’t the best choice and moved the capital to Yamoussoukro, where he spent $300 million building the world’s largest church (pictured). Why the rash move? Because he was from Yamoussoukro. (Apparently you can do that sort of thing if you’re the president of Cote d’Ivoire.) Even after Houphouet-Boigny’s death, the capital remained in Yamoussoukro, although the bulk of the country’s economic activity still takes place in Abidjan.
2. Burma
Burmese civil servants got a bit of an unwelcome shock in November 2005. Their days of living in Rangoon, the capital city, were over. Instead, the government was moving its offices and workers to Pyinmana, almost 200 miles north of Rangoon. Some top officials only got two days’ notice before they had to move their families and belongings.
What made the move all the more puzzling is that no one knew exactly why the government had ordered it. Some observers felt the move was possibly based on an astrological prediction or advice the government had received from soothsayers. Other speculation centered on avoiding a possible U.S. invasion to overthrow the ruling military junta or to calm social unrest in the country’s center. Either way, the capital moved to an undeveloped plot of land outside of the logging town of Pyinmana; the government later christened the new town “Naypyidaw.”
3. South Africa
There might be such a thing as going too far in an effort to separate the branches of government. South Africa has not one, not two, but three capital cities. Pretoria serves as the nation’s administrative capital, while the judiciary resides in its own capital, Bloemfontein. Cape Town acts as South Africa’s legislative capital (pictured).
Why is everything so spread out? The three capitals are relics of South Africa’s unification in 1910. Four previously separate colonies were coming together to form the union, but they couldn’t stop squabbling over which one would get the capital. To settle the argument, three of the four colonies got a capital city apiece, while the fourth colony, Natal, got cash compensation to square things.
4. Nigeria
Lagos, on the Nigerian coast, is Africa’s second most populous city and was the country’s capital until 1991. Lagos wasn’t an ideal seat for the Nigerian government, though. It was super crowded, politically divisive, and oppressively hot and muggy. Throughout the 1980s, government officials designed and built a new capital, Abuja, 300 miles northeast of Lagos to solve these problems. Thanks to its central location, higher elevation, and sparse population density, the government moved the great bulk of its offices to Abuja in 1991, although some functions remain in Lagos.
5. Benin
Benin’s situation is a bit confusing. Porto-Novo, a city that dates back to the 16th century, is Benin’s official capital, and some administrative offices are located there. However, Cotonou, which is over three times larger and the country’s economic hub, is the de facto capital of the nation and provides a home for a large part of the government’s offices and services.
6. Jammu and Kashmir
This one’s not a country, but it’s certainly unique. Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state of India, has two different capitals. Srinagar serves as the state’s summer capital, while Jammu acts as the state’s capital during the winter. This division sounds odd, but it makes sense given both the political climate the literal climate. Srinagar is situated almost a mile above sea level, so it has fairly temperate summers but chilly winters. Jammu, on the other hand, has swelteringly hot summers but milder winters. Plus, since the state is comprised of two distinct historic regions, Jammu and Kashmir, having one capital in Jammu and one in Kashmir is a politically expedient move.
7. Bolivia
Sucre originally became Bolivia’s capital in 1839, a sensible choice that reflected the city’s position as an early hotbed of revolutionary activity and a convenient waypoint for getting to the country’s rich silver mines. By 1898, though, the silver had mostly dried up, and many wanted to move the capital to La Paz, which was closer to the country’s valuable tin reserves. A civil war broke out over the proposed change, though, so a compromise was necessary. La Paz became the administrative capital of the country, while Sucre retained the role of constitutional and judicial capital.
8. Georgia
Several U.S. states have changed their capitals at various points, but Georgia’s legislators must have run up the most frequent buggy miles. Five different cities have served as Georgia’s official capital: Savannah, Augusta, Louisville, Milledgeville, and Atlanta. In the state’s early days, the capital bounced around extensively; Augusta and Savannah both had three separate stints as capital. Following the Civil War, though, the capital moved to Atlanta, where it’s remained since 1868.
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No Brazil? You’d figure that a country that built it’s capital city from scratch for the specific purpose of being one would make this list.
posted by Sir Struggle on 4-16-2009 at 2:34 pm
Louisiana has also had five cities serve as capital. New Orleans, Baton Rouge (current), Donaldsonville, Opelousas and Shreveport.
In 1849, the state moved the capital from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. And then the capital spent a few years running from Union soldiers. During Reconstruction, the capital was again in New Orleans before being permanently back to Baton Rouge in 1880.
posted by Lindsey on 4-16-2009 at 2:56 pm
I am from Louisville, Ga. We tout ourselves as the first “permanent” capital of Georgia. Obvioulsy we need some education on what permanent really means. It does give us something to put on the brochures and water tower!
posted by Will1 on 4-16-2009 at 3:14 pm
Don’t forget about Oregon! Oregon’s original capitol City was Oregon City, then the capitol building was not only burned down once… but three times! Finally they voted between Salem, Portland, and Eugene to move the capitol to and Salem was picked.
posted by Kate on 4-16-2009 at 3:35 pm
During the Civil War the Confederate Capitol of Missouri was located in Marshall, Texas.
posted by Witty Nickname on 4-16-2009 at 3:42 pm
The city of Chillicothe was the 1st and 3rd state capital of Ohio until it was centralized to Columbus
posted by cincypete on 4-16-2009 at 3:47 pm
Brazil should’ve made into the list.
posted by Matt on 4-16-2009 at 3:47 pm
North Dakota has had more than one capital…sort of. Bismarck was the territorial captial, and when ND became a state, it was decided that the new capital would be Jamestown, 100 miles to the east. The records were moved to the court house in Jamestown, but before the state legislators could meet, a group of disgruntled Bismarck-ians rode to Jamestown on horseback in a blizzard, broke into the court house, stole the records, and rode back to Bismarck while fleeing the pissed Jamestown-ites. The held the records hostage until the legislators agreed to just meet in Bismarck and forget about the whole thing. To this day there is no law saying the capitol city must be Bismarck, although technically the capital BUILDING must be located there.
Personally, I would have loved to have been there to see that.
posted by Kung Pow HausFrau on 4-16-2009 at 3:52 pm
Oklahoma’s original capital was a little town called Guthrie. My cousins just moved there and they still keep the original capital building preserved as a museum. its a very cute little town with a lot of original historical buildings.
posted by Krystalmd97 on 4-16-2009 at 4:09 pm
Indiana also has moved its capital.
posted by Jim on 4-16-2009 at 4:14 pm
Illinois has had three capitals if you include the current one. Both of the previous capitals are historical sites and have kept up the original buildings!
ReCaptcha: Daringly Be. I will, ReCaptcha. I will.
posted by Kieran on 4-16-2009 at 5:22 pm
@Kieran. just to add to your comment that Abraham Lincoln was instrumental in moving the capital to his adopted home of Springfield.
posted by Jonny on 4-16-2009 at 6:01 pm
New Zealand has gone through three: Russell, Auckland, and finally Wellington.
posted by Ant2206 on 4-16-2009 at 6:44 pm
What about the U.S.? We’ve had Philadelphia, Annapolis, Trenton, New York, Princeton, and Washington D.C. as capital cities.
posted by Stephen Dowell on 4-16-2009 at 6:59 pm
No mention of Texas with over 10 capitols of its own.
1. San Felipe de Austin
2. Washington-on-the-Brazos
3. Harrisburg
4. Galveston
5. Velasco
6. Columbia (first capital of an elected government of Rep. of Tex.)
7. Houston
8. “site of the town of Waterloo, on the north bank of the Colorado” renamed Austin
9. Houston
10. Austin.
posted by Rodger on 4-16-2009 at 9:38 pm
I live in Georgia and had to take a Georgia history class in high school. Including changing the actual location of Georgia’s capital five times, Atlanta has gone through three names. In 1837, it was named “Terminus” because it was the central hub of the Eastern Terminal Railways. In 1842, it was named “Marthasville” after the governor’s daughter. Finally, in 1847, the city was named “Atlantica-Pacifica,” or “Atlanta” for short, where the name stuck.
posted by Alexsandra on 4-16-2009 at 9:56 pm
Costa Rica had the city of Cartago in the province of the same name as a Capital since the spanish conquest up until the early 19th century.
Then, there was the “ambulatory law”, that stated that every four years the capital would be moved between the four provinces of the Central Valley: San Jose, Heredia, Cartago and Alajuela. However a short civil war was fought because of some differences in the population about this and other things.
In the end, all those provinces had the opportunity to host the Capital at one point in the 19th century.
Now, the Capital is San José (That doesn’t look like the “San José” from Jurassic Park at all!!!!)
posted by Rodolfo Quesada on 4-16-2009 at 10:09 pm
Arizona has had 3 capitals, Tucson, Prescott and Phoenix.
posted by Marty on 4-16-2009 at 10:42 pm
Guthrie WAS originally the capital of Oklahoma when the state was admitted to the Union in 1907. However, in 1910, a group of people sneaked into the capital in the middle of the night, heisted the state seal, and moved it to Oklahoma City. I’m not sure why, but that was pretty much it for Guthrie as far as capital status. All the government and most of the businesses moved to OKC and that’s the way it’s been ever since.
If you ask me, if Guthrie wasn’t willing to put up more of a fight than that, they deserved to lose the capital.
posted by Anthony on 4-16-2009 at 11:40 pm
When I visited California’s Capitol building in Sacramento I picked up a freebie pamphlet on the history of the state capital, including all its previous locations. Monterey, San Jose, Vallejo, Benicia, then finally Sacramento, all in a space of about five years (and in 1861 they had to hold the legislative session in San Francisco because Sacramento was so flooded)…the twisty-turny details of all the shifts and the reasons for them made for the funniest read I’d had in years.
posted by VM on 4-17-2009 at 12:06 am
Calcutta served as the capital of India during the British Raj until 1911.
posted by Debasis Mandal on 4-17-2009 at 1:30 am
I live in Israel, and our capital has been Jerusalem for over 60 years, but most of the international community still doesn’t believe that Jerusalem is even in Israel. All the embassies (and some government ministries, like Defense) are in Tel Aviv.
posted by NG on 4-17-2009 at 3:49 am
Australia – Melbourne was where parliament sat until Canberra was developed in the 1920’s.
posted by Maozze on 4-17-2009 at 5:32 am
I believe Hawaii changed their state capitol as well. It went from Lahaina,Maui , the one time whaling capitol to Honolulu on the main island of Oahu.
posted by BeeLee on 4-17-2009 at 11:41 am
Nebraska also moved its capitol, although only once. It was originally Omaha, because it was the most populous city, but moved to Lincoln in order to be more centrally located (if you look at a map of Nebraska today, you’ll see that that aim failed miserably). I think Omahans are still upset about this, because most of them frequently pretend that they are not a part of the state of Nebraska.
posted by kate on 4-17-2009 at 2:00 pm
Seconding about Indiana. I’m from NJ and moved here a little over 2 years ago, my fiance was telling me the stories about how it was moved (I think it was like Valparaiso or Vincennes before) and it’s so interesting! With so many states changing capitals I think it’s weird you JUST included GA… wish you had done the USA instead of GA.
posted by Kelly J on 4-17-2009 at 10:10 pm
@Kieran, you’re right about the buildings being kept up in the second Illinoisan capital of Vandalia, but not in the original capital of Kaskaskia. The location of the first state house is underwater now; it was swallowed up, along with the rest of the remnants of the original settlement, by the Mississippi River during the flood of 1881.
The flood also cut carved out Kaskaskia Island, where George Rogers Clark’s “Liberty Bell of the West” was moved to escape the flood waters. So ironically, Kaskaskia Island, which contains the only bits left of the first capital of Illinois, is cut off completely from Illinois by the river and is now only accessible from Missouri.
posted by Lauren on 4-18-2009 at 12:21 pm
What about Canada? Our capital city has changed six times…Kingston-Montreal-Toronto-Quebec City-Toronto-Quebec City-Ottawa.
posted by Bryony on 4-29-2009 at 1:39 pm