US, Australia, Pakistan: Countries that constructed their capital city out of nothing

Be it to settle disputes between rival cities, or on the basis of astrological advice, countries have often had to construct capital cities out of nothing, literally.

Indonesia is moving its capital from Jakarta, a traffic-clogged megalopolis that is one of the world’s fastest-sinking cities, to a forest on the island of Borneo. In doing this, it will spend over $30 billion, and the relocation is expected to start from 2024. The plan was originally mooted 70 years ago, and the logic was to escape Java island’s earthquake risk as also to have the political capital nearer the centre of the archipelago and away from the politically dominant island. But while relocating a capital city, or even constructing a capital city from scratch, sounds like a daunting prospect, it’s been done several times before, with varying degrees of success. Here are a few prominent examples.

Washington DC
After the United States of America got independence from Britain in 1783, it needed a capital city, one that would be federally governed, to ensure no one state could exert undue infl uence on the country. And so, in 1790, Congress passed the Residence Act, which approved the creation of the national capital on the Potomac River. The location was named after President George Washington, and was built on land donated by the states of Maryland and Virginia. In November 1800, President John Adams moved into the White House.



Canberra
Australians in the late 19th century just couldn’t decide which city should be their seat of government: Sydney or Melbourne. So they decided on the classic trick of denying capital status to both cities, and constructed Canberra right in between the two. In addition to a new city, Australia also created a new state: Federal Capital Territory. But while the seat of government exists in Canberra, citizens couldn’t be convinced to live there. The city still only has a population of 400,000, less than one-tenth of the number of people in Sydney and Melbourne.

Ankara
Istanbul, one of the most important trading ports of the world throughout history, was the capital of Turkey until 1920. But after the Ottoman empire was defeated in World War I, Istanbul was occupied by the victorious Entente powers, and Turkish leader Mustafa Ataturk moved his government deeper inside Turkey. For this purpose, he chose Ankara, a town with just 35,000 inhabitants but located at the geographical centre of the country and at an altitude of almost 1,000 sq.ft. above sea level. Today, the Entente powers have moved out, but Ankara remains the seat of government. Istanbul, however, is still the commercial capital of Turkey.



Islamabad
Newly-independent Pakistan had chosen Karachi as its capital in 1947. However, a decade later, President Ayub Khan chose to move the capital nearly 1,500 kilometres to the north, to the new city of Islamabad. Though reasons for the change weren’t specified, it’s believed Ayub wanted to remain close to Rawalpindi, where the military headquarters are located. Today, Islamabad’s citizens are the country’s most prominent and well-heeled, and the province is more affl uent and elite than any other region of the country.

Naypyidaw
In the mid-2000s, Myanmar was about to emerge from decades of being behind the ‘bamboo curtain’. The then ruler Than Shwe ordered all government offices be moved, nearly overnight, from the ancient city of Yangon to a spanking new capital in Naypyidaw. It’s said that he chose the site on the basis of advice given to him by his astrologer. Today’s Naypyidaw boasts of broad boulevards and even has a replica of Yangon’s famous Pagoda. However, one key ingredient is still missing: People. For a city six times the land area of New York, there are fewer than 100,000 citizens in Naypyidaw.



Brasilia
In 1960, Brazil started moving its capital from the congested Rio de Janeiro, which had played an overarching role in the country’s development since Portuguese times, to Brasilia, a city it carved out in the Amazon forest. One of the rare success stories in this list, Brasilia was designed by renowned architect Oscar Niemeyer, and boasts of a large-scale modernist look. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987.