Countries and Their Capitals: The Ultimate List Guide

In most cases, the capital is a central city with the largest collection of institutions in the political system. In the beginning, this was meant to be the place where the government was located.

But, since it is the case every now and then that a government seat moves, the expression persisted capital has become more popular. In the present, the term “permanent capital” has mostly symbolic meaning, and it doesn’t always resemble the place of government.

For instance, the Dutch hold the government seat located in The Hague, while the capital is Amsterdam. Germany also had several seats in administration (Berlin, Bonn, and for brief periods even Flensburg) as Bonn was the capital from 1949 until 1990. In the past, and even after that, there was just Berlin.