Just to add a pinch of pepper to an already hot sauce... Dik Winter wrote:

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I am NOT proposing to change the Theory rules, but I wonder: population count, popularity, media exposure all change, a capital hardly or not. A capital is or should be known to everybody. Haven't we all had some kind of geography lessons, years or decades ago?

Oh, come on. How many people in the Netherlands know the official name of its capital? How many people not of Dutch origin know what the real capital is?

I knew for years that the capital of the Netherlands was The Hague. However, while discussing the issue with a colleague of mine that happens to be Dutch, he says "not at all, the capital _is_ Amsterdam"; and when we told him that the capital is where the government seats, he agrees the government seats in The Hague but disagrees that this is the definition of capital... Then he adds the most populated city is now Rotterdam. :-) One thing is for sure, the advantage with highly centralized country like France, we do not have this kind of problems. Whether it is good or bad, I shan't answer. Btw, don't misunderstood me, I believe Europe/Amsterdam is very good, because this is the first choice of most people (my colleague included). So I am not advocating any change here. Antoine