Stop 1 · Australia
Sydney
With over 5 million people it dwarfs Canberra, the compromise capital planted inland in 1913 precisely because two rival cities both wanted the honour.
The country's largest city, but not its capital
Every stop is the biggest city in its country — and every one of them was passed over for the seat of government.
The five stops
Stop 2 · New Zealand
Auckland
It holds roughly a third of the country's population, yet lost the capital to Wellington in 1865 for being too far from the South Island.
Stop 3 · Morocco
Casablanca
Home to some 3.7 million people and the country's industrial heart, it still defers to Rabat, 90 km up the coast, where the king and parliament sit.
Stop 4 · Pakistan
Karachi
It was the capital until 1958, when the seat of government moved north — first to Rawalpindi, then to the purpose-built city of Islamabad.
Stop 5 · Switzerland
Zurich
The country's largest city and financial engine — but the federal government sits in Bern, chosen in 1848 as a modest, central compromise.
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