Twelve Capitals Where the Seat of Government Is Split or Was Moved

Pretoria is South Africa's executive capital, the seat of the executive branch and of foreign embassies, about 56 km north-northeast of Johannesburg. It was founded in 1855 and had 741,651 residents in the 2011 census.

Bloemfontein holds the other side of the South African split as its judicial capital, hosting the Supreme Court of Appeal. Founded in 1846 as a British outpost, it was the capital of the Orange Free State Republic and is also the capital of the Free State province.

Mbabane is the executive capital of Eswatini and its most populous city, in the Mdzimba Mountains. The town developed after the administrative centre relocated there in 1902.

Lobamba is Eswatini's legislative capital, between Mbabane and Manzini. It is the seat of Parliament, home to the Ludzidzini Royal Village and the National Museum of Eswatini, and had about 9,900 residents in 2006.

Bujumbura, formerly Usumbura, is Burundi's largest city and a port on Lake Tanganyika. It was the political capital until 2019, when the seat of government moved to Gitega, and it remains the leading economic and commercial centre.

Gitega was the royal seat of the Kingdom of Burundi until 1966 and was reinstated as the national capital by parliamentary vote on 16 January 2019, ending Bujumbura's tenure since independence. It lies roughly 62 km east of Bujumbura on the central plateau.

Dodoma was founded in 1907 by German colonists during construction of the central railway. It was chosen in 1974 to replace Dar es Salaam as Tanzania's capital and became the official capital in 1996, while Dar es Salaam remains the commercial and maritime capital.

Yamoussoukro was designated the political and administrative capital of Cote d'Ivoire in 1983 by President Felix Houphouet-Boigny, whose birthplace it was. It lies 240 km northwest of Abidjan, which continues as the economic capital.

Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is Sri Lanka's legislative capital and a suburb of Colombo, the largest city and former capital. The administrative capital formally changed in 1982, marked by the inauguration of the Parliament building on 29 April 1982.

Naypyidaw is the capital of Myanmar and its third-largest city, founded in 2005. It is an entirely planned city and, unusually among Myanmar's cities, is not part of any state or region but sits in the Naypyidaw Union Territory.

Brasília was founded by President Juscelino Kubitschek on 21 April 1960 to replace Rio de Janeiro as Brazil's capital. It is the seat of the Federal District and had 2,996,899 residents in 2025, making it the country's third-most populous city.

Sucre is the de jure capital of Bolivia and capital of the Chuquisaca Department, founded in 1538. At 2,790 m it is the second-highest capital city in the world after Quito, and it had 296,125 residents in the 2024 census.