Capital cities are mirrors that reflect a country’s identity. Sometimes, people know a country’s capital city more than the country itself. For example, we once stumbled upon some foreigners who knew Kuala Lumpur but didn’t know it was Malaysia’s capital city. Some even thought Kuala Lumpur was a country! Funnily, we didn’t get to be mad at them. We were at least thankful they knew the city’s existence, KLCC and Tun Dr Mahathir.
However, how far do we know about some capital city names in the world? Can we get every country right? It’s not impossible, but it takes a lot of research to learn every name, especially since we have 195 countries as of 2023.
Furthermore, some countries are famous for the wrong city! When we thought the country’s capital city was that, it isn’t!
Do you want to know some of them?
These capital cities aren’t what we associate a country with (initially)
A tweet shared by Mag (@magmalaya) said, “Oh, Turkey’s capital city is Ankara. All this while, I thought it was Istanbul. Goodness.”
Lah, ibukota Turki ni Ankara; selama ni aku ingatkan Istanbul. Barai.
— Mag (@magmalaya) January 17, 2023
When we saw this tweet, we were pleasantly surprised. Honestly, in our long years of living, we legit thought Istanbul was Turkey’s capital city. We’ve been deceived!
A little bit about Ankara: it’s the second largest city after Istanbul. Similar to Istanbul, this metropolitan city is rich with modern civilisation, tall buildings, five-star hotels and elite shopping centres. Yet, Ankara also houses historical and cultural museums, parks and sites.
Picture: TripAdvisor
Brazil
Next is Brazil. What will be your answer if we ask, what’s the capital city of Brazil? (We won’t be surprised if your answer is Rio de Janeiro.)
Did you know? It’s Brasilia!
Picture: CEPAL
But there’s a lot more to know about Brazil’s capital cities.
Historically, there are three capital cities listed. During the early Portuguese colonial capital, Brazil’s capital city is Salvador de Bahia. Next, Rio de Janeiro became the capital city during the 19th century. Then, in 1960, it changed to Brasilia, a symbol of the Latin American superpower.
Australia
Another example is Australia. We collectively agree that Australia’s capital city is Melbourne. But no! It’s Canberra!
Picture: Dreamstime
Canberra is a part of the Australian Capital Territory. This fraction of the diverse country combines culture and nature. It’s like the best of both worlds!
Now, we no longer will mistake these countries’ capital cities for others! Today we learned!
Sources: Twitter Mag (magmalaya), Turkiye Sustainable, ABQ International, Australia.com
