Think of the UK and you'll probably think of London. Picture France and you'll no doubt conjure up images of Paris and its iconic Eiffel Tower. To many, capital cities define a country.
想到英国，你可能会想到伦敦。想象一下法国，你一定会联想到巴黎和它的标志性建筑埃菲尔铁塔。对许多人来说，首都城市定义了一个国家。
They're often the seat of power, the economic and political hub and sometimes the home to royalty - along with millions of city dwellers. For a place with so much influence, it's important to get its location right.
他们通常是权力、经济和政治中心，有时还是皇室的家——还有数百万的城市居民。对于一个有如此大影响力的地方来说，正确定位是很重要的。
Sometimes we have to look into history to find the reasons why a capital city ended up where it did. The site of what is now London was by the river: easy to settle, easy for trading and easy to defend. However, it's not located in the country's centre and there's often criticism from far-flung corners of the nation that they are forgotten by the decision makers in the capital.
有时候，我们必须回顾历史，才能找到一个首都为什么会定位到今天这个地方。现在的伦敦坐落在河边：易于定居，易于贸易，易于防御。然而，它并不位于国家的地理中心，经常有来自偏远地区的意见，说他们被首都的决策者遗忘了。
Other countries have taken a different approach by establishing their capitals in the geographical centre so they can exert control and project unity, like Madrid in Spain for example.
其他国家采取了不同的做法，将首都设在地理中心，这样它们就可以施加控制，并团结一心，比如西班牙的马德里。
Occasionally, there have been reasons to relocate a capital. St Petersburg, founded by Peter the Great in 1703, was Russia's capital from 1712-1918, before the government changed it to Moscow. This was partly because Moscow was more central, and the government decided it was less likely to be invaded by another country.
有时，迁都是有原因的。圣彼得堡由彼得大帝于1703年建立，从1712年到1918年是俄罗斯的首都，后来政府将首都改为莫斯科。部分原因是莫斯科更接近中心，政府认为它不太可能被其他国家入侵。
And now in Indonesia there are plans to move its capital, Jakarta. Its new location is yet to be decided, but the reason for the move is that this megacity is sinking at one of the fastest rates in the world. It's been built on very swampy land and isn't helped by lots of groundwater being extracted to use for drinking water and washing. The city is overcrowded too and roads are often gridlocked.
现在在印度尼西亚，有迁都的计划。它的新位置尚未确定，但搬迁的原因是这个大都市正在以世界上最快的速度下沉。它建在非常潮湿的土地上，大量的地下水被提取出来用于饮用和洗涤，但这对于减缓下沉没有任何帮助。这个城市也很拥挤，道路经常堵塞。
Of course, if you can't move your capital city, why not construct a brand new one? Brazil moved its capital from coastal, crowded Rio de Janeiro to inland Brasilia in 1961 - the idea being to build a brand new capital "to bring progress to the interior of Brazil", as architect Oscar Niemeyer described it.
当然，如果你不能迁都，为什么不建一个新的呢？1961年，巴西将首都从沿海拥挤的里约热内卢搬到了内陆城市巴西利亚——正如建筑师奥斯卡·尼迈耶所描述的那样，这个想法是建立一个全新的首都，“为巴西内陆带来进步”。
And more recently, Nay Pyi Taw was built in 2005 as Myanmar's new capital. This remote city is four times the size of London and has huge roads, golf courses and a zoo – but few people.
最近，内比都于2005年建成，成为缅甸的新首都。这个偏远的城市是伦敦的四倍大，有宽阔的道路、高尔夫球场和动物园，但人口稀少。
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