Capital

This page is about capital cities; for other uses of the word "capital" see capital (disambiguation) and capital (economics)

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The capital or "political capital" of a country or other political entity is the city or town that contains the seat of government.

Historically, it was also the place where the various economic forms of capital were concentrated for easier protection - the origin of the use of the term in economics.

A country may have more than one official capital at any given point in time. It may be separate from the actual seat of government or move about seasonally. Different branches of government may be centered in different cities.

• Lists of capitals: by name, by country, by continent and country
• List of capitals of subnational entities

See also: county town, county seat, borough seat.