Can you name the current world capitals by former capitals? by envelopeshat

Can you name the current world capitals by former capitals?

created by envelopeshat

Enter a Current capital city: in the box below
Correctly named cities will show up below
Answers do not have to be guessed in order
Former capitals may include capitals under colonial administrations, previous governments or antecedent countries occupying the same area.
This quiz has not been verified by Sporcle

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Former Capital(s)	Current Capital	Country
Anuradapura, Kandy, Colombo		Sri Lanka
Memphis, Thebes		Egypt
Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)		Vietnam
Hebron		Israel
Artaxata, Ani		Armenia
Lagos		Nigeria
Rio de Janiero		Brazil
Istanbul (Constantinople)		Turkey
Krakow		Poland
Yangon		Myanmar (Burma)
Diriyah		Saudi Arabia
Cetinje		Montenegro
Quezon City, Bagiuo		Philippines
Chiang Mai (Lanna), Ayutthaya		Thailand (Siam)
Aden		Yemen

Former Capital(s)	Current Capital	Country
Karachi, Rawalpindi		Pakistan
Belize City		Belize
Calcutta (Kolkata)		India
Bolama, Madina do Boe		Guinea-Bissau
Anyang, Chang'an (Xi'an), Hangzhou, Kaifeng, Luoyang, Nanjing		China
Almaty		Kazakhstan
Kyoto		Japan
Punakha		Bhutan
Saint Petersburg		Russia
Axum		Ethiopia
Comayagua		Honduras
Spanish Town		Jamaica
Dar es Salaam		Tanzania
Abidjan		Cote d'Ivoire
Susa, Anshan, Persepolis, Antioch, Ctesiphon, Ghazni, Isfahan		Iran

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Current Capitals by Former Capitals Quiz

by envelopeshat

Created Sep 14, 2010 in Geography
Game Plays 1,796

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	groug:	Sep 14th, 2010 at 07:48 GMT	6 points
	I know it's official Sporcle policy to pretend Ngerulmud doesn't exist (THIS SITE IS CLEARLY IN THE POCKET OF MELEKEOK FANS), but that would be a good one (It's the capital of Palau, and it changed from Koror).

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	gowhere:	Sep 14th, 2010 at 12:39 GMT	2 points
	From what I can find it is not clear whether Palau itself is clear where it's capital is. The minister's offices are In Ngerulmud, Melekeok, and Koror. The Capital building itself is between Ngerulmud and Melekeok. It's the same with two other 'capitals' listed here. The capital of Tanzania is just as arguably Dar es Salaam as Dodoma given that most of the Ministries are still located in Dar Es Salaam. The same goes for Colombo, Sri Lanka. Virtually all of the important government offices, including that of the Prime Minister and President remain in Colombo.

	envelopeshat:	Sep 14th, 2010 at 13:21 GMT	2 points
	Dodoma and Kotte both house their respective legislatures and are officially named as the administrative capitals by their governments. You're right that there's a certain amount of subjectivity here.

	EasyTarget:	Sep 14th, 2010 at 14:01 GMT	3 points
	You could add the USA with the former capitals being New York and Philadelphia although I guess the percentage missed would be pretty low.

	Endasil:	Sep 14th, 2010 at 15:25 GMT	4 points
	I find it so convenient that I can rearrange the letters of "Kyoto" to spell "Tokyo".

	johnlk:	Sep 14th, 2010 at 15:43 GMT	2 points
	You could add Turin and Florence for Italy.

	johnlk:	Sep 14th, 2010 at 15:45 GMT	1 point
	Hebron, really? Tel Aviv also fits. If you must go with some place ancient, Samaria is more associated with Israel; Hebron was David's capital when he was just king of Judah.

	mcbain:	Sep 14th, 2010 at 19:08 GMT	1 point
	Please accept "Sana".

	jonnyboy180:	Sep 14th, 2010 at 19:35 GMT	1 point
	what mcbain said, plus "sanaa"

	Pit_trout:	Sep 14th, 2010 at 19:39 GMT	2 points
	@Endasil: and if you don't mind throwing away an "i", you can also get "Riyadh" from "Diriyah"!

	wazzabi:	Sep 14th, 2010 at 19:51 GMT	-2 points
	I'm pretty sure Tel Aviv is Israel's capital. Jerusalem is claimed by both the Palestinians and Israelis, and is not recognised by the UN as Israel's capital. Which is why most European embassies are in Tel Aviv.

	Josh:	Sep 14th, 2010 at 21:13 GMT	1 point
	You could add Helsinki and Turku for Finland :)

	envelopeshat:	Sep 15th, 2010 at 00:36 GMT	1 point
	Hebron was the administrative capital under British administration when the area was a League of Nations mandate (1920-1948). Granted the mandate of Palestine didn't have the same borders as modern Israel, but it was the political antecedent of Israel. I'll think about the additions, don't wanna make it too long. :) I thought Sana was accepted. In fact, I thought I tested that - but I will make the change, thanks!

	rivkid:	Sep 15th, 2010 at 02:02 GMT	2 points
	Great quiz!

	bagua8:	Sep 15th, 2010 at 03:38 GMT	3 points
	I don't think I'm ever going to be able to spell Myanmar's new capital

	wazzabi:	Sep 15th, 2010 at 11:10 GMT	-3 points
	You have yet to answer why you insist Jerusalem is Israel's capital, when Tel Aviv should be. Not even the US has its embassy in Jerusalem. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11096293

	gowhere:	Sep 16th, 2010 at 21:24 GMT	3 points
	@wazzabi: The location of the US Embassy is completely irrelevant. The Comorian embassy to the United States is in New York. Does that make New York the capital of the US. The US embassy for Sri Lanka is in Colombo not Kotte, for Tanzania is in Dar es Salaam not Dodoma, for Cote D'Ivoire is in Abidjan not Yamoussoukro. The real question is what does the country say is the capital (and is there anything other than a declaration) which backs that up. At least, in the case of Dodoma and Kotte, it is the location of the legislature. I don't know where the Knesset sits or where the main Israeli ministries are located. These are facts rather than decisions based on geopolitical motivations.

	ligluryjr:	Sep 17th, 2010 at 10:47 GMT	3 points
	@gowhere: Knesset and most Israeli ministries are in Jerusalem. In general, I think that what the country declares is its capital should be defined as the capital, geopolitical issues notwithstanding. This means Dodoma, Kotte and also Jerusalem.

	wazzabi:	Sep 17th, 2010 at 11:18 GMT	-2 points
	@gowhere: The countries who keep their embassies in Tel Aviv (which is all of them) do so because they continue to insist that Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel, which is why the Israelis get quite upset about it. That is why I stated the issue of embassies. And surely, if as you claim, a country's capital is what it says it is, then the Palestinian Authority should be included with Jerusalem as their capital, as they claim it aswell. Your logic of a nations own to "claim" is silly at best. Morocco "claims" Western Sahara, China "claims" Tibet, Turkey "claims" Northern Cyprus. It doesn't actually make them theirs under international law.

	envelopeshat:	Sep 17th, 2010 at 23:56 GMT	3 points
	wazzabi, international law is a pretty fuzzy subject, given that there is no real legal system above the national level. there are treaties and international organizations like the UN, but there's no final word. the subjects of western sahara, tibet and northern cyprus are not really analogous to the question of jerusalem because while israel's claim to jerusalem is not universally recognized, the israeli government effectively functions from the city. i have the sense you may have a political ax to grind and i understand that the design of my quiz has political implications, but it was not meant that way. in any case, the legislature and the prime minister of israel are both officially housed in jerusalem, making this a more clear case than either dodoma or kotte.

	gummi:	Sep 18th, 2010 at 00:36 GMT	3 points
	how about restricting the guessing to one choice at a time? remove the chance for random correct answers when it gets down to entering any capital you can think of.

	Mayan:	Sep 20th, 2010 at 13:27 GMT	2 points
	Nice one. I suggest adding Bonn and Berlin.

	gowhere:	Sep 20th, 2010 at 18:10 GMT	2 points
	@ligluryjr: It isn't geopolitical issues that make me question Dodoma and Kotte, it is the fact that most traditional activities which define a capital do not take place in these cities. Suppose France declared Lyon the capital and moved the Assemblee Nationale there, but the President, prime minister and all the other offices of government remained in Paris. Which of the two cities is really the capital of the country? It isn't so clear. Based on your information, both the declared and functioning capital of Israel is Jerusalem.

	World_B_Free:	Oct 8th, 2010 at 12:42 GMT	1 point
	Challenging quiz! Suggest adding Melbourne/Canberra (Melbourne was Australia's capital at Federation in 1901, until Canberra was designated in 1908 and parliament opened there in 1927).

	Ulkomaalainen:	Aug 18th, 2011 at 16:15 GMT	1 point
	This may sound silly, but maybe you could accept Sri Jayawardenepura for Kotte? Maybe I'm the only one who typed it in (and I got Kotte later), but it is in the official name. Quite geeky, but I am interested in Sri Lanka (and Bhutan) since I discovered as a kid that they have dragons in their flags :) (Typing Naypiydaw was too much for me though, was trying a few things similar but nothing correct.)