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37-501: Kingstown / ˈ k ɪ ŋ s ˌ t aʊ n / is the capital and largest city of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines . The city, located on the main island of Saint Vincent , has the main port and the biggest commercial center of the islands. With a population of 12,909 (2012), Kingstown is the most populous settlement in the country. It is the island's agricultural industry centre and a port of entry for tourists. The city lies within
74-677: A classical European understanding of the known world : Europe , North Africa , and Southwest Asia . The phrase is related to the enduring power of the city first as the capital of the Republic and the Empire , and later as the centre of the Catholic Church . In several English-speaking states , the terms county town and county seat are also used in lower administrative divisions . In some unitary states , subnational capitals may be known as 'administrative centres'. The capital
111-497: A monarch held his or her court, the selection, relocation, founding, or capture of a modern capital city is a highly symbolic event. For example: The capital city is usually but not always a primary target in a war, as capturing it usually guarantees capture of much of the enemy government, victory for the attacking forces, or at the very least demoralization for the defeated forces. In ancient China , where governments were massive centralized bureaucracies with little flexibility on
148-445: A compromise between two or more cities or other political divisions, historical reasons, or enough land was needed to deliberately build a new planned city for the capital. The majority of national capitals are also the largest city in their respective countries. Modern examples are Beijing , Berlin , Cairo , London , Madrid , Mexico City , Moscow , Paris , Rome , Jakarta , Metro Manila , Seoul , and Tokyo . Counties in
185-559: A country is sometimes called the " first-level (or first-order ) administrative division" or "first administrative level". Its next subdivision might be called "second-level administrative division" or "second administrative level" and so on. An alternative terminology is provided by the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics which terms the principal division as the second level or NUTS-2. Administrative divisions are conceptually separate from dependent territories , with
222-405: A distinction is made between the official ( constitutional ) capital and the seat of government, which is in another place . English-language news media often use the name of the capital city as an alternative name for the government of the country of which it is the capital, as a form of metonymy . For example, the "relations between London and Washington " refers to the " relations between
259-470: A matter of convention, and because all or almost all the country's central political institutions, such as government departments, supreme court, legislature, embassies, etc., are located in or near them. Many modern capital cities are located near the centre of the country, so that they are more accessible to its population and have better protection from possible invasions. (See also § Capitals in military strategy ) The location may also be based on
296-406: A number of smaller entities. Within those entities are the large and small cities or towns, which may or may not be the county seat . Some of the world's larger cities culturally, if not officially, span several counties, and those crossing state or provincial boundaries have much in common culturally as well, but are rarely incorporated within the same municipal government. Many sister cities share
333-660: A particular independent sovereign state is divided. Such a unit usually has an administrative authority with the power to take administrative or policy decisions for its area. Usually, sovereign states have several levels of administrative division. Common names for the principal (largest) administrative divisions include: states (subnational states, rather than sovereign states), provinces , lands , oblasts and regions . These in turn are often subdivided into smaller administrative units known by names such as comarcas , raions or districts , which are further subdivided into municipalities , communes or communities constituting
370-427: A province, region, canton, land, governorate, oblast, emirate, or country. Administrative units that are not federated or confederated but enjoy a greater degree of autonomy or self-government than other territories within the same country can be considered autonomous regions or de facto constituent states of that country. This relationship is by some authors called a federacy or asymmetric federalism . An example
407-554: A territory: Plymouth in Montserrat . There are several countries where, for various reasons, the official capital and seat of government are separated: Some historical examples of similar arrangements, where the recognized capital was not the official seat of government: With the rise of the modern nation-state , the capital city has become a symbol for the state and its government , and imbued with political meaning. Unlike medieval capitals, which were declared wherever
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#1732772607766444-467: Is (by area or population), the fewer levels of administrative divisions it has. For example, Vatican City does not have any administrative subdivisions, and Monaco has only one level (both are city-states ), while such countries as France and Pakistan have five levels each. The United States is composed of states, possessions, territories , and a federal district , each with varying numbers of subdivisions. The principal administrative division of
481-730: Is no fixed rule, for " all politics is local " as is perhaps well demonstrated by their relative lack of systemic order. In the realm of self-government, any of these can and does occur along a stretch of road—which for the most part is passing through rural, unsettled countryside. Since the terms are administrative political divisions of the local regional government, their exact relationship and definitions are subject to home rule considerations, tradition, as well as state statute law and local governmental (administrative) definition and control. In British cultural legacy, some territorial entities began with fairly expansive counties which encompass an appreciably large area, but were divided over time into
518-500: Is often the largest city of its constituent, though not always . Historically, the major economic centre of a state or region has often become the focal point of political power, and became a capital through conquest or federation . Historical examples are ancient Babylon , ancient Athens , ancient Rome , Abbasid Baghdad , Constantinople , Chang'an , and ancient Cusco . The modern capital city has not always existed: in medieval Western Europe, an itinerant (wandering) government
555-524: Is the municipality holding primary status in a country , state , province , department , or other subnational division , usually as its seat of the government . A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses the government's offices and meeting places; the status as capital is often designated by its law or constitution . In some jurisdictions , including several countries, different branches of government are in different settlements, sometimes meaning multiple official capitals. In some cases,
592-485: Is the autonomous republic of Karakalpakstan within Uzbekistan . Due to variations in their use worldwide, consistency in the translation of terms from non-English to English is sometimes difficult to maintain. In many of the following terms originating from British cultural influence, areas of relatively low mean population density might bear a title of an entity one would expect to be either larger or smaller. There
629-582: Is the case with Nanjing by Shanghai , Quebec City by Montreal , and several US state capitals . The decline of a dynasty or culture could also mean the extinction of its capital city, as occurred at Babylon and Cahokia . "Political nomadism" was practiced in ancient Near East to increase ties between the ruler and the subjects. Although many capitals are defined by constitution or legislation, many long-time capitals have no such legal designation, including Bern , Edinburgh , Lisbon , London , Paris , and Wellington . They are recognized as capitals as
666-541: Is usually not a separate national capital, but rather the capital city of one constituent nation will also be the capital of the state overall, such as London , which is the capital of England and of the United Kingdom. Similarly, each of the autonomous communities of Spain and regions of Italy has a capital city, such as Seville and Naples , while Madrid is the capital of the Community of Madrid and of
703-523: The Byzantine capital, Constantinople , Byzantine forces were able to regroup in several provinces; provincial noblemen managed to reconquer the capital after 60 years and preserve the empire for another 200 years after that. The British forces sacked various American capitals repeatedly during the Revolutionary War and War of 1812 , but American forces could still carry on fighting from
740-695: The Kingdom of Spain as a whole and Rome is the capital of Italy and of the region of Lazio . In the Federal Republic of Germany , each of its constituent states (or Länder , plural of Land ) has its own capital city, such as Dresden , Wiesbaden , Mainz , Düsseldorf , Stuttgart , and Munich , as do all of the republics of the Russian Federation . The national capitals of Germany and Russia (the Stadtstaat of Berlin and
777-537: The United Kingdom have historic county towns, which are often not the largest settlement within the county and often are no longer administrative centres, as many historical counties are now only ceremonial, and administrative boundaries are different. The number of new capitals in the world increased substantially since the Renaissance period, especially with the founding of independent nation-states since
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#1732772607766814-561: The breadfruit tree here for planting, c. 1793 . The town is surrounded by steep hills. Secondary education is provided by the Thomas Saunders Secondary School at Richmond Hill. The city is served by Argyle International Airport , which has commercial passenger services to the United States, Canada and to the United Kingdom. Capital city A capital city or just capital
851-523: The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Naypyidaw was founded in Burma 's interior as the former capital, Rangoon , was claimed to be overcrowded. A few nation-states have multiple capitals, and there are also several states that have no capital. Some have a city as the capital but with most government agencies elsewhere. There is also a ghost town which is currently the de jure capital of
888-492: The federal city of Moscow ) are also constituent states of both countries in their own right. Each of the states of Austria and cantons of Switzerland also have their own capital cities. Vienna , the national capital of Austria , is also one of the states, while Bern is the ( de facto ) capital of both Switzerland and of the Canton of Bern . Governing entities sometimes plan, design and build new capital cities to house
925-475: The United Kingdom and the United States ". The word capital derives from the Latin word caput (genitive capitis ), meaning ' head ', later borrowed from Medieval Latin capitālis ('of the head'). The Latin phrase Roma Caput Mundi meaning 'Rome capital of the world' ( lit. ' head of the world ' ) was already used by the poet Ovid in 1st century BC . It originates out of
962-720: The capital has been changed for geopolitical reasons; Finland 's first city, Turku , which had served as the country's capital since the Middle Ages under the Swedish rule, lost its position during the Grand Duchy of Finland in 1812, when Helsinki was made the current capital of Finland by the Russian Empire. The convergence of political and economic or cultural power is by no means universal. Traditional capitals may be economically eclipsed by provincial rivals as
999-703: The countryside, where they enjoyed support from local governments and the traditionally independent civilian frontiersmen. Exceptions to these generalizations include highly centralized states such as France , whose centralized bureaucracies could effectively coordinate far-flung resources, giving the state a powerful advantage over less coherent rivals, but risking utter ruin if the capital were taken. Constituent state List of forms of government Administrative divisions (also administrative units , administrative regions , #-level subdivisions , subnational entities , or constituent states , as well as many similar generic terms) are geographical areas into which
1036-484: The eighteenth century. In Canada , there is a federal capital , while the ten provinces and three territories each have capital cities. The states of such countries as Mexico , Brazil (including the famous cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo , capitals of their respective states), and Australia also each have capital cities. For example, the six state capitals of Australia are Adelaide , Brisbane , Hobart , Melbourne , Perth , and Sydney . In Australia,
1073-431: The former being an integral part of the state and the other being only under some lesser form of control. However, the term "administrative division" can include dependent territories as well as accepted administrative divisions (for example, in geographical databases ). Communities united in a federation under a federal government are more specifically known as federated states . A federated state may be referred to as
1110-545: The great crisis of Japanese invasion . National capitals were arguably less important as military objectives in other parts of the world, including the West, because of socioeconomic trends toward localized authority, a strategic modus operandi especially popular after the development of feudalism and reaffirmed by the development of democratic and capitalistic philosophies. In 1204, after the Latin Crusaders captured
1147-580: The parish of Saint George in the south-west corner of Saint Vincent . The modern capital, Kingstown, was founded by French settlers shortly after 1722, although Saint Vincent was under British rule for 196 years before its independence. The botanical garden , conceived in 1765, is one of the oldest in the Western hemisphere . William Bligh , made famous from the Mutiny on the Bounty , brought seed of
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1184-466: The provincial level, a dynasty could easily be toppled with the fall of its capital. In the Three Kingdoms period, both Shu and Wu fell when their respective capitals of Chengdu and Jianye fell. The Ming dynasty relocated its capital from Nanjing to Beijing , where they could more effectively control the generals and troops guarding the borders from Mongols and Manchus . The Ming
1221-424: The seat of government of a polity or of a subdivision. Deliberately planned and designed capitals include: These cities satisfy one or both of the following criteria: Some examples of the second situation (compromise locations) are: Changes in a nation's political regime sometimes result in the designation of a new capital. Akmola (renamed Astana in 1998) became the capital of Kazakhstan in 1997, following
1258-402: The smallest units of subdivision (the local governments ). Some administrative division names (such as departments , cantons , prefectures , counties or governorates ) can be used for principal, second-level, or third-level divisions. The levels of administrative divisions and their structure largely varies by country (and sometimes within a single country). Usually the smaller the country
1295-677: The term "capital cities" is regularly used to refer to those six state capitals plus the federal capital Canberra , and Darwin , the capital of the Northern Territory . Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and also of the United Arab Emirates overall. In unitary states which consist of multiple constituent nations, such as the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Denmark , each will usually have its own capital city. Unlike in federations , there
1332-820: Was common. The capital city attracts politically motivated people and those whose skills are needed for efficient administration of national or imperial governments, such as lawyers , political scientists , bankers , journalists , and public policy makers . Some of these cities are or were also religious centres , e.g. Constantinople (more than one religion), Rome / Vatican City (the Roman Catholic Church ), Jerusalem (more than one religion), Babylon, Moscow (the Russian Orthodox Church ), Belgrade (the Serbian Orthodox Church ), Paris, and Beijing. In some countries,
1369-632: Was destroyed when Li Zicheng took their seat of power, and this pattern repeats itself in Chinese history, until the fall of the traditional Confucian monarchy in the 20th century. After the Qing dynasty 's collapse, decentralization of authority and improved transportation and communication technologies allowed both the Chinese Nationalists and Chinese Communists to rapidly relocate capitals and keep their leadership structures intact during
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