BlO—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 11,1984 WASHINGTON - What’s the capital of Mauritania? Bolivia? Bangladesh? South Africa? Suriname? The Netherlands? Think carefully. For more than 160 of the world’s countries, there is only one right answer. Only in a handful of places are two answers correct. Bolivia, for example. La Paz, 12,000 feet up in the Andes, is its better-known capital city, the highest in the world. But it is often not the five-letter capital of Bolivia that creators of crossword puzzles are seeking. That’s Sucre, the country’s legal capital and seat of the Supreme Court. On world maps, a star, the cartographer’s symbol for capital, appears beside the names of both cities. La Paz, which is more ac cessible, overtook Sucre as the commercial and financial center after Bolivia achieved in dependence, and it has been the country’s de facto capital since the late 19th century. But as the original capital, Sucre has maintained its status. “It’s rooted in the foundation of Bolivia. For historical and patriotic reasons, Sucre will keep its position,” a government official explained. Not Two, But Three South Africa has not just two capitals, but three. Pretoria, in the north, is the executive, ad ministrative capital. Cape Town, at the southern tip, is the legislative capital. Bloemfontein, in between, is the judicial capital. For six months each year, the prime minister, the ministers of all government departments, and a host of other officials in Pretoria pack up and move more than 1,000 miles south while Parliament is in session in Cape Town. The South African government had to build a I . BLACK 2. REP 3 . Yellow 4-. BLUE 5. BROWN UJIU RO6BRS ms ONE OFftMER/CftSGPBBT HUMOR- I STS. ft PBU6HTFUL ftCTOR fttioft tfhentbp huthor. HE UJROTE NBIHS COMMENTS WHICH H/BRB SYNDIC ft TBO To MORBTHftNSSQ Pft/L YNBUJS. PftPBRS. ROGERS (MBS ft NoTBP PHILOSOPHER tISING HOMEY mT/C/SHfS UJH/LB performing rope tricks BCR ftUP/BNCBS. One capital is not village there to house the civil servants. Split capitals cause headaches for representatives of foreign governments as well. “Picture the difficulties if the capital of the United States were in Washington for six months and in Des Moines, lowa, for six months,” said Jerry Rose, administrative counselor of the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, who oversees the annual migration of its staff to Cape Town. “We have to maintain com pletely outfitted residences in each city for the ambassador, deputy chief of mission, and the political officer. It’s the only dual American embassy that I know of, and it’s expensive,” he said. Capital Compromise South Africa has had all three capitals since 1910. The two former Boer republics and the principal British colony each had wanted its capital chosen capital of the new union. The compromise: Keep all three, each with a specific func tion. In neighboring Swaziland, the situation is somewhat similar. Mountainous Mbabane was the capital-city choice of the former British colonial administrators because it was free of the malaria prevalent at lower altitudes. When Swaziland gained in dependence in 1968, Mbabane continued as capital. But traditional Swazis consider Lobamba - the home of the Queen Mother and royal family, the seat of Parliament, and the site of national festivals - the country’s capital. When Parliament meets, government officials in Mbabane travel down the mountain to Lobamba, just 10 miles away. Dual capitals have sometimes been the means of settling disputes when rival cities or territories 6 . PEACH 7 . PK GREY 8. LT. BROWN 9. LT. BLUE 10. LT.6REEN enough have developed into nations. When Libya was created in 1952, Tripoli and Benghazi were designated co capitals. The seat of government switched back and forth between the two cities every two years until Tripoli eventually emerged as the sole capital. Tales of two capitals get more complicated in Europe and the Middle East. When asked the capital of the Netherlands, any number of people, including a few at the U.S. State Department, respond: The Hague. It seems logical enough - the Queen lives there, the parliament meets there, and all national government of fices and embassies are based there. But Amsterdam is the only of ficial capital of the country. “No, everything’s done at The Hague,” a Dutch Embassy staff member in Washington said. “Come to think of it, I’m not sure why Amsterdam should be the capital.” About 40 miles apart, the two cities trace their origins to the 13th century. The Hauge-’s Gravenhage in Dutch - was originally a hunting lodge for the counts of Holland, in the 16th century, to settle power struggles among the lords of rival cities. The Hague - not officially a city - was selected as the seat of government. But by the 17th century the port of Amsterdam, home of the prosperous Dutch East India Company, was the most powerful city and capital of Holland. Who decides where a captial should be? Countries usually choose their own. But Israel’s choice, Jerusalem, is not recognized by the United Nations, the United States, or numerous other Western powers. The em bassies of all countries except in some of world's notions In Name Only Costa Rica and El Salvador are located in Tel Aviv. Some, including the U.S. Em bassy, have been there from the beginning, since the state of Israel was created in 1948 and the provisional capital was Tel Aviv. The U.N. plan for the partition of Palestine, made moot by war between Arabs and Jews in 1948, treated Jerusalem as an in ternational zone. Insteady, Jerusalem wound up a Keeping Cool Whewl It’ hotter. Y heat with But how cool? A cat spot and more it si body he; A bird heat by wings It like a do Pigs a their coo the mud Eleph, many ki< hot day in a poo _ \ S*> £=» f A^ ;n divided city, with Israel claiming West Jerusalem. In late 1949, the Israeli capital was moved there. But because of possible diplomatic objections, the prime minister and foreign minister continued to operate from Tel Aviv. In 1953, all ministries were moved. After the Six-day War of 1967, victorious Israel unilaterally drew the municipal boundaries of a new Jerusalem, Israel’s “eternal and (Turn to Page Bll) color eyes blue i o L
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