Capital cities that countries planned and built on purpose

Most capital cities grew over centuries, usually on a river or a harbour. A few, though, were deliberately drawn up on a drawing board and dropped onto a spot that had been savannah, bush or farmland. Six of these purpose-built capitals are worth a closer look, because each one hides a very concrete decision.

Brasília: out of the ground in 41 months

Until 1960 Brazil governed from Rio de Janeiro, right on the Atlantic coast. President Juscelino Kubitschek wanted to steer the country's development inland and had an entirely new capital built in the middle of the highlands. The planner Lúcio Costa laid out the ground plan, which from above looks a little like an aeroplane or a bird, and Oscar Niemeyer supplied the sweeping concrete government buildings.

The pace was breathtaking. The city stood in around 41 months, and Brasília was formally inaugurated on 21 April 1960. Today its central pilot plan is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Canberra: a compromise between two cities

When the Australian colonies joined into a federation in 1901, both Sydney and Melbourne wanted to be the capital. The answer was a place in between. In 1908 the choice fell on a stretch of land in the interior of New South Wales, far enough from both cities.

An international competition decided the design. In 1912 the architects Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin from Chicago won with a plan full of circles, axes and sight lines. On 12 March 1913 the foundation stone was laid and the name Canberra was formally announced.

Washington and Abuja: placed neutrally in the middle

The principle is older than Brasília. The United States fixed its capital by law as early as 1790 on a new site on the Potomac, roughly halfway between the north and the south of the young country. The French engineer Pierre Charles L'Enfant designed the grid of streets with its radiating avenues. Until the seat of government moved there from Philadelphia in 1800, Washington was little more than an idea on marshy ground.

Nigeria took a similar route in 1991. The overcrowded coastal city of Lagos handed the capital role to Abuja, which was planned on purpose in the geographic centre of the country. A central, neutral spot was meant to favour none of the big regions.

Six capitals off the drawing board

The pattern repeats around the world. These six cities were deliberately made into capitals or built for the job:

• Brasília: capital of Brazil since 1960, built in the highlands rather than by the sea.
• Canberra: laid out from 1913 as a compromise between Sydney and Melbourne.
• Washington, D.C.: fixed on the Potomac by an act of 1790, the seat of government from 1800.
• Abuja: replaced the crowded Lagos in 1991 and sits centrally in Nigeria.
• Astana: capital of Kazakhstan since 1997, moved up from the more southern Almaty.
• Naypyidaw: took over from Yangon as the capital of Myanmar in 2005.

Why countries move their capital

The reasons are strikingly similar. Often the old capital is too crowded or too far out on a coast, like Rio or Lagos. Sometimes a neutral spot is meant to settle an old question of location, as in Canberra or with Abuja, which was placed squarely in the middle of the country. And often the point is to open up the interior, which would otherwise be left behind.

The price is steep. In their first years, planned capitals often feel empty and cool, because the organic street life is missing. Washington took decades to become more than a building site by the river. Astana even holds a Guinness record for the most name changes of a capital in recent times: Aqmola, then Astana, Nur-Sultan from 2019, and Astana again since 2022.

In CountryRush exactly these capitals turn up, including the ones that are easy to mix up or simply forget. The Daily Trip serves a fresh round of countries, flags and capitals every day.