 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Capital districts and territories" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(November 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
A capitaldistrict,capital region, or capitalterritory is normally a specially designatedadministrative division where acountry's seat ofgovernment is located. As such, in afederal model of government, nostate or territory has any political or economic advantage relative to the others because of the nationalcapital lying within itsborders. A capital territory can be a specific form offederal district.
A distinction should be made between administrative divisions which include national capitals, but have no special designated status legally (for example,Île de France has no distinct quality from other regions ofFrance). Some federal countries (likeBelgium andGermany), give their national capitals the status of full, equal federal units.
A few federal countries have their national capitals located in the capital city of a constituent state:Sarajevo, the capital ofBosnia and Herzegovina, is also the capital of theFederation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of federal units andde jure capital ofRepublika Srpska, the other federal unit; further,Bern, the capital ofSwitzerland, is the capital of theCanton of Bern.
Unusually, Canada is the onlyfederation in the world not to accord a special administrative subdivision to its capital (cf.District of Columbia (United States),Federal District (Brazil),Federal Capital Territory (Nigeria),National Capital Territory (India),Australian Capital Territory (Australia));Ottawa is merely another municipality in the Province ofOntario. The Canadian government does designate the Ottawa area as theNational Capital Region, although this term merely represents the jurisdictional area of the government agency that administers federally owned lands and buildings and is not an actual political unit. The City of Ottawa is governed as any other city in Ontario would be. The capitalBerlin is one of three cities that operate asStates of Germany.
In some non-federal countries there are capital cities that do not belong to any region, but have a special status, for exampleOslo in Norway. In some countries, the region including the capital does not have special significance but has names hinting at that. For example, theCapital Region of Denmark is the name of a normal national region.
The following have a special administrative district or territory for theircapital cities:
| Class name | Term for capital | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Capital area | Yes | Seoul Capital Area |
| Capital District | Yes | Capital District (Colombia),Capital District (Venezuela),Niamey Capital District |
| Capital Region | Yes | Capital Region of Denmark |
| Capital Territory | Yes | Australian Capital Territory,Islamabad Capital Territory |
| Federal capital territory | Yes | Federal Capital Territory (Nigeria) |
| Federal district | No | Federal District (Brazil),Federal District (Mexico) |
| National Capital District | Yes | National Capital District (Papua New Guinea) |
| National capital region | Yes | National Capital Region (Canada),National Capital Region (India),National Capital Region (Japan),National Capital Region (Philippines) |
| National capital territory | Yes | National Capital Territory (India) |
| Neutral municipality | No | Neutral Municipality (Brazil) |
TheBuenos Aires city, previously in theFederal District ofArgentina. In 1996, under the1994 reform of the Argentine Constitution, the city gainedautonomous city status, changed its formal name to Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, and held its first mayoral elections. Buenos Aires is represented in theArgentine Senate by three senators and in theArgentine Chamber of Deputies by 25 national deputies.
TheAustralian Capital Territory is one of two self-governing internal territories of theCommonwealth of Australia, the other being theNorthern Territory. Created in 1911, the ACT was originally called the Federal Capital Territory, the current name being acquired in 1938. The ACT was constituted specifically to house the seat of government, the goal being to avoid situating the new nation's capitalCanberra in eitherNew South Wales orVictoria, the two most populous states. The ACT is anenclave of New South Wales.
Although the ACT has its ownChief Minister and its own legislature (theAustralian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly), theFederal Parliament retains the right to overrule ACT legislation. While governing the entire ACT, the Legislative Assembly acts as a municipal/state government.
At a federal level, the ACT and the NT both elect twoSenators, with the ACT electing 3 members of theHouse of Representatives and the NT two. The terms of the territory senators are tied to the term of the House of Representatives, not to the term of the Senate. This means that if there is an election for the Senate only (as last happened in 1970), this would involve only half the state senators, and the territory senators' terms would continue. Conversely, if there is an election for the House of Representatives only (as last happened in 1972), this would also involve the territory senators but not the state senators.
Brasília, the capital ofBrazil, is set within theFederal District. Its territory includes several other cities, officially calledadministrative regions, since the Federal District cannot be divided intomunicipalities in the same manner as thestates of Brazil.
The Federal District is a special unit of the federation, as it is not organized in the same manner as a municipality, does not possess the same autonomy as a state (but is ranked among them) and is closely related to the central power.
The District Governor is elected directly for a 4-year term. Local laws are issued by a legislative chamber also elected by the local population. Judiciary affairs are carried out by theUnion, instead of being appointed by the governor as in the otherstates of Brazil. The Federal District has the status of a federal state in many aspects. It has representatives both in theChamber of Deputies (lower house of congress) and in theFederal Senate (upper house of congress).
The Brazilian federal government was transferred to the current Federal District, separate from the state ofGoiás and the border with the state ofMinas Gerais on April 21, 1960, when the planned city of Brasília was inaugurated. Before the transfer, the Brazilian capital was the city ofRio de Janeiro. After the transfer, the territory where the formerFederal District was located became the state ofGuanabara, where the city of Rio de Janeiro was included, this state that existed from 1960 to 1975, when the state of Guanabara was merged with the state ofRio de Janeiro.
In Colombia theCapital District, containing the city ofBogotá was created as a special district in 1955 byGustavo Rojas Pinilla. The district is made up of 20 localities.
In the Dominican Republic, theNational District, containing the city ofSanto Domingo de Guzmán, was created as a special district in 1922.
TheNational Capital Territory is a specialunion territory ofIndia. The territory encompasses three statutory towns:New Delhi (the capital of India), Delhi andDelhi Cantonment, along with 59 census towns and 165 villages. The NCT was set up as a federally administered Union Territory on 11 November 1956. In December 1991, the NCT was given alegislative assembly headed by aChief Minister. The territory is not classified as atrue union territory, though thecentral government does have limited control over the functioning of the territory much like other union territories. The NCT is unique in India in that the municipal control is handled by a locally elected government, and major areas such as the police, and administration are handled by thecentral government.
InIndonesia, the national capitalJakarta is within theDaerah Khusus Jakarta (Special Region of Jakarta). Jakarta is considered one ofIndonesia's provinces, therefore Jakarta is headed by agovernor and not a mayor. However, Jakarta is divided into 5 smaller "administrative cities" (kota administrasi) and one "administrative regency" (kabupaten administrasi). The administrative cities areCentral,North,East,West, andSouth Jakarta. The Kepulauan Seribu (Thousand Islands) administrative regency is also included in the formal definition of Jakarta. All of these sub-units have their own degree of autonomy. Mayors of the five administrative cities and the regent of Kepulauan Seribu administration-regency are not elected, but directly appointed by the Governor and members of theProvincial Parliament of Jakarta. Furthermore, these sub-units do not have local parliament as opposed to other cities or regencies in Indonesia.
Baghdad, the capital ofIraq, is contained within a special capital district.
As per Article 154 of the Federal Constitution, the national capital of Malaysia was set in Kuala Lumpur, then part of the state of Selangor. InMalaysia, the national capital ofKuala Lumpur lies within theFederal Territory of Kuala Lumpur (since 1974) while the federal government administrative centre ofPutrajaya, 40 km (25 mi) to the south of Kuala Lumpur, lies within the Federal Territory of Putrajaya (since 2001). Both federal territories are enclaves within the state ofSelangor.
Bamako, the capital ofMali, is contained within the Bamako Capital District.
TheFederal District was, since 1824, a federal territory that served as the seat of thecapital ofMexico,Mexico City, which was directly administered, until 1997, by the federal government via a presidential-appointed head of government. The Federal District encompassed the historical municipality of Mexico City (abolished in 1928) and other territories in its surroundings. The lack of proper legislation often led to ambiguity regarding to what was under the jurisdiction of Mexico City and what fell under the Federal District. Hence, in 1993, an amendment to article 44 of thefederal constitution defined that both names referred to the same entity. On July 6, 1997, the head of government was elected by popular vote for the first time.
On 29 January 2016, the Federal District ceased to exist and its territory, under the name of Mexico City, became the 32ndfederal entity of the country. Mexico City has the same rights and obligations as any of the other 31 states, albeit it is not technically one.
Niger's capital,Niamey, comprises a capital district of Niger. It is surrounded by theTillabéri Department.
Nigeria's capitalAbuja is located in theFederal Capital Territory. The Territory was established in 1976, and the capital was formally moved fromLagos (the historic capital) in 1991.
In addition,Awka, the capital ofAnambra State, within Nigeria, is part of Awka Capital Territory. While this is mainly a geographical name for the metropolitan area, a state government body, Awka Capital Territory Development Authority, has been significant in terms of urban planning.
North Korea's capital city,Pyongyang, while traditionally located withinSouth Pyongan Province, is currently seen as a "directly governed city" (chikalshi직할시). For a time, Pyongyang was considered a "special city" (t'ŭkpyŏlshi특별시), to make it equivalent to its South Korean counterpart,Seoul.
Oslo acts as aconsolidated city-county, and is separate from the othercounties of Norway. All counties are co-governed by acounty council and representatives from the national government.
The capital ofPakistan,Islamabad, is aplanned city within theIslamabad Capital Territory, which was created in 1960 out of thePunjab Province. The Territory elects representatives to both houses of the legislature. Before Islamabad was made the capital,Karachi was located in theFederal Capital Territory, which later reverted to theSindh Province.
Port Moresby, the capital ofPapua New Guinea has been contained within theNational Capital District of Papua New Guinea since the country achieved independence in 1975.
Lima, the nation's capital, is contained entirely withinLima Province, the onlyprovince in the country not belonging to any of thetwenty-five regions. It is surrounded by theLima Region on all sides but west.
The National Capital Region of the Philippines isMetro Manila, the country's seat of government containingManila, the country's capital. Created in 1975 out of four cities and twelve municipalities of the province ofRizal and one municipality of the province ofBulacan, the region is administered by seventeen separately elected mayors and their councils which are coordinated by theMetropolitan Manila Development Authority, a national government agency headed by a chairperson directly appointed by thePhilippine President.Quezon City, the country's former capital from 1948 to 1976, is also located within this region.
In 1983, the government ofSolomon Islands gave the designation of Capital Territory to a 22 square-kilometre area around the city ofHoniara. Afterwards, the Capital Territory was a separate self-governing entity, similar in status to theProvinces of Solomon Islands, although Honiara remained the capital ofGuadalcanal Province.
South Korea's capital city,Seoul, while traditionally located withinGyeonggi Province, is currently seen as a "special city" (Teukbyeolsi/T'ŭkpyŏlshi 특별시).Seoul's mayor is seen as the equivalent of any provincialgovernor.
Since 1968,Stockholm has been aconsolidated city-county.
Historically, until 1967,Stockholm did not belong to anycounty ofSweden, includingStockholm County. Instead, there was aGovernor that had the normal responsibilities of theCounty Administrative Boards and its managers, the governors. This did not mean there was a large practical difference. There were noCounty Council (which is elected by the people and is responsible for example for health care); instead, Stockholm city handled such tasks.
Taipei, the capital of theRepublic of China (colloquially known asTaiwan), is aspecial municipality (Chinese:直轄市;pinyin:zhíxiáshì).
As provided byArticle 1, Section 8 of theUnited States Constitution, theseat of theUnited States government is a federal district known as theDistrict of Columbia. When created in 1790, the District comprised 100 square miles (260 km2) of land donated by the states ofMaryland andVirginia.Columbia was a poetic name for the United States used at the time.
The City of Washington was built in the center of the District, but other towns were also located in the territory such asGeorgetown andAlexandria. The United States Congressreturned the Virginia portion of the District back to that state in 1846. TheDistrict of Columbia Organic Act of 1871 revoked the charters of the individual cities of Washington and Georgetown and instead created a single government for the whole District of Columbia. The City of Washington no longer exists; however, the name continues in use and the District is often referred to as just Washington, D.C. Georgetown now exists as a historic district within the District of Columbia.
Since theHome Rule Act of 1973,[1] the District of Columbia has been run by an electedmayor anddistrict council. Congress retains ultimate authority over the District and has the right to review the local budget and taxes, overturn laws passed by the district council, and terminatehome rule. District residents pay federaltaxes and are represented by a single,non-voting member in theUnited States House of Representatives.
Because of theTwenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution, the people of the District of Columbia are allowed to vote for President of the United States. The District is allotted three electoral votes, equal to that of the least populous state.
TheCapital District has the capital ofVenezuela,Caracas.