A capital or capital city is the municipality exercising primary status in a country, state, province, or

other administrative region, usually as its seat of government. A capital is typically a city that

physically encompasses the government's offices and meeting places; the status as capital is often
designated by its law or constitution. In some jurisdictions, including several countries, the different
branches of government are located in different settlements. In some cases, a distinction is made
between the official (constitutional) capital and the seat of government, which is in another place.
Capital cities that also serve as the prime economic, population, cultural, or intellectual centres of a
nation or an empire are sometimes referred to as primate cities. Examples
are Athens, Bangkok, Brussels, Copenhagen, Cairo, London, Mexico
City, Paris, Lima, Seoul and Tokyo.
News media often use the name of a capital city as an alternative name for the country of which it is
the capital or of the government that is seated there, as a form of metonymy. For example, "relations
between Washington and London" refer to "relations between the United States and the United
Kingdom".