Capital city
A capital city (or just capital) is the area of a ''country, province, region, or state'' regarded as enjoying primary status; although there are exceptions, a capital is almost always a city which physically encompasses the offices and meeting places of the seat of government and is usually fixed by law or by the constitution. An alternative term is political capital, but this phrase has a second meaning based on an alternate sense of the word ''capital''. The capital is frequently, but not necessarily, the largest city of its constituent area and also often a specialized city. The word ''capital'' is derived from the Latin ''caput'' meaning "head" and, in the United States, the related term ''capitol'' refers to the building where government business is chiefly conducted. The seats of government in major sub-state jurisdictions are often called "capitals", but this is typically the case only in countries with some degree of federalism, wherein major substate legal jurisdictions have elements of sovereignty. In unitary states, an "administrative centre" or other similar term is typically used for such locations besides the national capital city. For example, the seat of government in a state of the United States is usually called its "capital", but the main city in a region of the United Kingdom is usually not called such, even though in Ireland, a county's main town is usually called its "capital". On the other hand, these four subdivisions of the United Kingdom do have capital cities: Scotland – Edinburgh, Wales – Cardiff, Northern Ireland – Belfast, and England – London. Counties in England, Wales and Scotland have historic county towns, which are often not the largest settlement within the county and invariably no longer exercise political power, as the county is often only ceremonial, and administrative boundaries differ. In Canada, the ten provinces of ...WEITERE INFORMATIONEN