Do all countries have a single capital?

Most do, but some have multiple capitals with different functions. South Africa, for instance, has Pretoria (executive), Cape Town (legislative), and Bloemfontein (judicial). This tool lists the most commonly cited or constitutionally primary capital and notes notable exceptions where relevant.

Where do the coordinates point?

The latitude and longitude are approximate centre points of the capital city, suitable for mapping or distance estimates. They are not exact addresses of any government building and are rounded to a few decimal places.

Is the capital always the largest city?

No. Many countries have a capital that is not their largest city. Examples include Washington, D.C. (not New York), Canberra (not Sydney), Brasília (not São Paulo), and Ankara (not Istanbul). The capital is defined by where the seat of government sits, not by population.

Why does the ISO code matter here?

The ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code is the standard two-letter identifier for each country (US, GB, FR). Including it lets you cross-reference the capital with other datasets such as currency, dialing codes, or domain TLDs that key on the same code.

How current is this data?

Capitals change rarely but they do change — countries occasionally relocate their seat of government. This is a curated reference; for the latest official designation, consult the country's government or the UN.

World Capital Cities Lookup

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A country’s capital is the city that houses its seat of government. This lookup lets you search the capital of countries worldwide, along with the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code, the continent, and approximate coordinates for mapping.

How it works

The tool stores each country with its primary capital city, ISO code, continent, and the latitude/longitude of the capital’s approximate centre. Searching matches both the country name and the capital name, so typing “Tokyo” finds Japan and typing “Japan” finds Tokyo. The continent filter narrows the list to a single region.

Some countries have more than one capital with separate governmental functions (South Africa is the classic example), and many capitals are not the largest city in their country. The data reflects the constitutionally primary or most commonly cited capital.

Tips and examples

Capital ≠ largest city: Washington D.C., Canberra, Brasília, Ankara, Ottawa.
Multiple capitals: South Africa (Pretoria / Cape Town / Bloemfontein).
Coordinates are approximate city centres for mapping and distance estimates, rounded to a few decimals.
Cross-reference the ISO code with currency, dialing-code, or TLD datasets that key on the same identifier.