Capital districts and territories

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Capital district
)

A capital

capital lying within its borders. A capital territory can be a specific form of federal district
.

A distinction should be made from 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 of France). Some federal countries (like Belgium and Germany
), give their national capitals the status as full, equal federal units.

A few federal countries have their national capitals located in the capital city of a constituent state: Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is also the capital of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of federal units and de jure capital of Republika Srpska, the other federal unit; further, Bern, the capital of Switzerland, is the capital of the Canton of Bern.

Unusually, Canada is the only

National Capital Territory (India), Australian Capital Territory (Australia), and rather, Ottawa is merely another municipality in the Province of Ontario. The Canadian government does designate the Ottawa area as the National 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 capital Berlin is one of three cities that operate as States of Germany
.

In some non-federal countries there are capital cities that do not belong to any region, but have a special status, for example Oslo in Norway. In some countries the region including the capital does not have special significance, but have names hinting that. For example, the Capital Region of Denmark is a name of a normal national region.

The following have a special administrative district or territory for their

capital
cities:

Terminology

Class name Term for capital Example
Capital area Yes Seoul Capital Area
Capital district Yes Capital District (Colombia),
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 (Mexico)
National capital district Yes National Capital District (Papua New Guinea)
National capital region Yes
National Capital Region (Japan), National Capital Region (Philippines)
National capital territory Yes
National Capital Territory (India)
Neutral municipality No Neutral Municipality (Brazil)

Argentina

The

1994 reform of the Argentine Constitution, the city gained autonomous city status, and changed its formal name to Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, and held its first mayoral elections. Buenos Aires is represented in the Argentine Senate by three senators and in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies
by 25 national deputies.

Australia

The

Victoria, the two most populous states. The ACT is an enclave
of New South Wales.

Although the ACT has its own Chief Minister and its own legislature (the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly), the Federal Parliament retains the right to overrule ACT legislation. While governing the entire ACT, the Legislative Assembly acts as a municipal/state government. The Governor-General of Australia exercises certain rights that in the states would be exercised by the governor, such as the power to issue writs for elections.

At a federal level, the ACT and the NT both elect two Senators, with the ACT electing 3 members of the House 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.

Brazil

states of Brazil
.

The Federal District is a special unit of the federation, as it is not organized 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 the

Federal Senate
(upper house of congress).

The Brazilian federal government was transferred to the current Federal District, separate from the state of Goiás and the border with the state of Minas Gerais on April 21, 1960, when the planned city of Brasília was inaugurated. Before the transfer, the Brazilian capital was the city of Rio de Janeiro. After the transfer, the territory where the former Federal District was located became the state of Guanabara, 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 of Rio de Janeiro.

Colombia

In Colombia the

Capital District, containing the city of Bogotá was created as a special district in 1955 by Gustavo Rojas Pinilla
. The district is made up of 20 localities.

Dominican Republic

In Dominican Republic the

was created as a special district in 1922.

India

The

Chief Minister. The territory is not classified as a true union territory, though the central 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, major areas such as the police, and administration are handled by the central government
.

Indonesia

In

Provincial Parliament of Jakarta
. Furthermore, these sub-units do not have local parliament as opposed to other cities or regencies in Indonesia.

Iraq

Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, is contained within a special capital district.

Malaysia

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. In

Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur (since 1974) while the federal government administrative centre of Putrajaya, 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 of Selangor
.

Mali

Bamako, the capital of Mali, is contained within the Bamako Capital District.

Mexico

The

capital of Mexico, 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 lead to ambiguity regarding to what was under the jurisdiction of Mexico City and what fell under the Federal District's. Hence, in 1993, an amendment to the article 44 of the federal 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 32nd federal 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

Niger's capital, Niamey, comprises a capital district of Niger. It is surrounded by the Tillabéri Department.

Nigeria

Nigeria's capital Abuja is located in the Federal Capital Territory. The Territory was established in 1976, and the capital was formally moved from Lagos (the historic capital) in 1991.

North Korea

North Korea's capital city, Pyongyang, while traditionally located within South Pyongan Province, is currently seen as a "directly governed city" (chikalshi 직할시). For a time, Pyongyang was considered a "special city" (t'ŭkpyŏlshi 특별시), to make it equivalent to its South Korean counterpart, Seoul.

Norway

Oslo acts as a consolidated city-county, and is separate from the other counties of Norway. All counties are co-governed by a county council and representatives from the national government.

Pakistan

The capital of

Federal Capital Territory, which later reverted to the Sindh
Province.

Papua New Guinea

National Capital District of Papua New Guinea
since the country achieved independence in 1975.

Peru

Lima Region
on all sides but west.

Philippines

The National Capital Region of the Philippines is Metro Manila, the country's seat of government containing Manila, the country's capital. Created in 1975 out of four cities and twelve municipalities of the province of Rizal and one municipality of the province of Bulacan, the region is administered by seventeen separately elected mayors and their councils which are coordinated by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, a national government agency headed by a chairperson directly appointed by the Philippine President. Quezon City, the country's former capital from 1948 to 1976, is also located within this region.

South Korea

Gyeonggi Province, is currently seen as a "special city" (Teukbyeolsi/T'ŭkpyŏlshi 특별시). Seoul's mayor is seen as the equivalent of any provincial governor
.

Sweden

Since 1968, Stockholm has been a consolidated city-county.

Historically, until 1967,

County Council
(which is elected by the people and is responsible for example for health care); instead, the Stockholm city handled such tasks.

Taiwan (Republic of China)

Taipei, the capital of the Republic of China (colloquially known as Taiwan), is a special municipality (Chinese: 直轄市; pinyin: zhíxiáshì).

United States

As provided by Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution, the seat of the United States government is a federal district known as the District of Columbia. When created in 1790, the District comprised 100 square miles (260 km2) of land donated by the states of Maryland and Virginia. 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 as

Alexandria. The United States Congress returned the Virginia portion of the District back to that state in 1846. The District 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 the

.

Because of the Twenty-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.

Venezuela

The Capital District has the capital of Venezuela, Caracas.

See also