Do you know any cities built for the sole purpose of being a capital? (1 Viewer)

[Ahsoka]

St. Petersburg comes to mind but I know there’s many more

 

[alo]

kolkata is an example i can think of. prior to the arrival of the british, there used to be three villages in that area - sutanuti, govindapur, and kolikata, from where we get kolkata. it was the british (well technically the english east india company) who built the city of calcutta, and it remained their capital for quite a while until it was shifted to new delhi.

that said, being a capital wasn't kolkata's sole purpose, it also functioned as a port for the east india company (and later the british empire in india), much like mumbai (or well bombay). so maybe this isn't what you were looking for... but it still kinda fits, it wasn't always a capital, or even a city (unlike say delhi)

 

[dark_tranquility]

Chon Buri is a Thai province set on the country’s eastern Gulf of Thailand coast. South of the provincial capital, also called Chon Buri

 

[Willow]

Brasilia in Brazil

 

[Selfmate]

not built per se but Canberra the capital of Australia was created solely because the two largest cities - Sydney and Melbourne couldn't decide which of them got to be the capital city of Australia so they went half way lol

https://www.nca.gov.au/education/canberras-history/canberra-seat-government#

 

[lily]

Seoul, South Korea

First king of Joseon dynasty envisioned city center around Gyeongbokgung Palace

 

[RandAlThor]

Canberra and Washington dc pretty much fit that.

 

[mysteric]

ottawa was developped from a random spot into a city for that purpose

 

[Ahsoka]

ottawa was developped from a random spot into a city for that purpose

This doesn’t match what I know, I learned that it developed as a town called Bytown specifically because of its strategic placement next to the entry of the Rideau Canal, and was only named the capital city a few decades later. So more of a place that existed already and was adapted, more so than being built for the purpose of being a capital city.

 

[mysteric]

This doesn’t match what I know, I learned that it developed as a town called Bytown specifically because of its strategic placement next to the entry of the Rideau Canal, and was only named the capital city a few decades later. So more of a place that existed already and was adapted, more so than being built for the purpose of being a capital city.

ah, I just meant the development of it as a city city
it was strategically important, but iirc it was about as relevant as say kingston (maybe even less, considering it housed govt on some level prior + its prison) until the decision to make it capital (away from the americans, in between qc and on to appease the francos and anglos) was what led it to the development, or at least an acceleration, of it into an actual city from a town/city

 

[Ahsoka]

ah, I just meant the development of it as a city city
it was strategically important, but iirc it was about as relevant as say kingston (maybe even less, considering it housed govt on some level prior + its prison) until the decision to make it capital (away from the americans, in between qc and on to appease the francos and anglos) was what led it to the development, or at least an acceleration, of it into an actual city from a town/city

It was smaller, and still is, but the location was of strategic importance at the time (though also because of the politics of Toronto, Quebec City, and Montreal, I don’t deny that). And given that it was a town and city already prior to being named a capital city, I view it as an adaptation where more was added to Ottawa after being named a capital, rather than a settlement/city being built from the start specifically with the intention of making that city the capital. After all, when countries switch capitals, the new capital virtually always need things added to act as a seat of government, so taking a city and adding governmental aspects to it doesn’t seem like it fits under the same category.

 

[Ahsoka]

ah, I just meant the development of it as a city city
it was strategically important, but iirc it was about as relevant as say kingston (maybe even less, considering it housed govt on some level prior + its prison) until the decision to make it capital (away from the americans, in between qc and on to appease the francos and anglos) was what led it to the development, or at least an acceleration, of it into an actual city from a town/city

Actually I looked more deeply into St. Petersburg and it was a similar case. So I suppose my answer doesn’t count either in the end

Edit: Actually maybe not. Maybe I’m right, but it’s based on viewpoint I think

 

[dnb]

Brasilia in Brazil

Yes, Brasilia.

Indonesia's Nusantara is another one.