The capitals of Asia
This is the continent where capitals move most — in name as in location. A list learned ten years ago already contains errors.
Asia has 47 countries in the split used here, Turkey and Kazakhstan included — two states straddling two continents, filed on the side where most of their territory lies. It is also the most unstable continent for capitals: three of them have changed name or location within a generation.
The capitals that moved
Myanmar transferred its seat from Yangon to Naypyidaw in 2005, a city raised from nothing in the centre of the country, whose twenty-lane motorways remain almost empty. Kazakhstan moved its capital from Almaty northwards in 1997, then renamed the city three times: Akmola, Astana, Nur-Sultan in 2019, and Astana again in 2022. It is a formidable quiz trap, because the right answer depends on the year the quiz was written.
Sri Lanka has the longest capital name in the world: Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, a suburb of Colombo and seat of parliament since 1982. Colombo remains the commercial capital, and the answer everybody gives.
The three most common traps
Turkey: Ankara, not Istanbul. The move dates from 1923 and the founding of the Republic — Istanbul stayed the largest city, and by far the most visited.
India: New Delhi, a district inside the Delhi conurbation. Not Mumbai, and not Kolkata, which was nonetheless the capital of British India until 1911.
China: Beijing, not Shanghai — the latter is more populous and holds the finance, the former has held political power since the Ming.
The complete list
| Country | Capital |
|---|---|
| Afghanistan | Kabul |
| Saudi Arabia | Riyadh |
| Armenia | Yerevan |
| Azerbaijan | Baku |
| Bahrain | Manama |
| Bangladesh | Dhaka |
| Bhutan | Thimphu |
| Myanmar | Naypyidaw |
| Brunei | Bandar Seri Begawan |
| Cambodia | Phnom Penh |
| China | Beijing |
| North Korea | Pyongyang |
| South Korea | Seoul |
| United Arab Emirates | Abu Dhabi |
| Georgia | Tbilisi |
| India | New Delhi |
| Indonesia | Jakarta |
| Iraq | Baghdad |
| Iran | Tehran |
| Israel | Jerusalem |
| Japan | Tokyo |
| Jordan | Amman |
| Kazakhstan | Astana |
| Kyrgyzstan | Bishkek |
| Kuwait | Kuwait City |
| Laos | Vientiane |
| Lebanon | Beirut |
| Malaysia | Kuala Lumpur |
| Maldives | Malé |
| Mongolia | Ulan Bator |
| Nepal | Kathmandu |
| Oman | Muscat |
| Uzbekistan | Tashkent |
| Pakistan | Islamabad |
| Palestine | Ramallah |
| Philippines | Manila |
| Qatar | Doha |
| Singapore | Singapore |
| Sri Lanka | Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte |
| Syria | Damascus |
| Tajikistan | Dushanbe |
| Thailand | Bangkok |
| Timor-Leste | Dili |
| Turkmenistan | Ashgabat |
| Turkey | Ankara |
| Vietnam | Hanoi |
| Yemen | Sana'a |
Frequently asked
What is the capital of Kazakhstan?
Ankara or Istanbul?
Which capital has the longest name?
Do you remember these capitals?
GeoG's Capitals mode plays continent by continent: run Asia on its own, or all 195 countries of the world.
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