A World Tour
Countries and Capitals
Is a capital always a country's biggest city? Not at all! Meet a country with three capitals and a capital built from scratch in less than four years.
Did you know?
South Africa has three capital cities! Pretoria is where the President works, Cape Town is where Parliament makes laws, and Bloemfontein is home to an important court (the Supreme Court of Appeal).
Reykjavík in Iceland is the northernmost capital of any independent country. Its name means 'smoky bay', after the steam rising from nearby hot springs. Its buildings are heated using heat from inside the Earth!
Brazil built a brand-new capital, Brasília, in just 41 months. It became the capital on 21 April 1960, taking over from Rio de Janeiro.
Try this: Capital Card Game
Take 10 small cards. On the front of each, write a country; on the back, its capital. Start with India's neighbours: Nepal – Kathmandu, Bhutan – Thimphu, Bangladesh – Dhaka and Maldives – Malé. Add six more using a map or an atlas. Shuffle the cards and quiz your family. Whoever gets the most right is the 'Capital Champion'!
Go further: Canberra: The Compromise Capital
Sydney and Melbourne are Australia's two biggest cities, and both wanted to be the capital. So, as a compromise (a fair middle way), a brand-new site was chosen in 1908: Canberra. Two architects from Chicago, Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin, won a competition to design the city. A river was even dammed to make a big lake in the middle, now called Lake Burley Griffin!