European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 22, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Magazine National geographic workmen refurbish the Marble Terrace outside the Capitol Complex in Brasilia capital City of Brazil the nation moved a teat of government to the newly created atty deep in Brasil a Interior from Rio de Janeiro not Long after construction began in 1957. Now Argentine Plena to follow suit with Viedma a Small City in lightly populated Patagonia As capital to replace Bueno  ver the next a years if everything goes according to plan Argentina will begin 1o move its capital from Buenos Aires to the virtually unknown City of Viedma. Then in history is any guide a number of things will happen the/8 will to significant Cost overruns and lengthy delays in construction. Government officials foreign embassies cultural institutions and Ordinary citizens will resist the move protesting thai the new capital is Loo far away from anything that makes life Worth living. The government will move anyway and critic s will Ihen complain thai the new capital the result of careful planning is too sterile and artificial. After so or f do years everyone will accept Viedma As the capital and Point to in with Pride As a National Symbol. No one will remember wha All the fuss was about. Nations create new capitals for Many reasons Independence As in the Case of the United states Compromise which is Why Australia s capital is Canberra not Sydney or Melbourne a desire to open vacant land Lor settlement As Brazil did in building Brasilia a Leader s wish to modernize his nation which to Why Peter the great built st. Petersburg now Leningrad and even the need to avoid hurricanes the reason British Honduras now Belize built Belmopan. Argentine president Raul Alfonsin startled his nation april 15.1986, with a speech designating Viedma and its sister City across the Rio negro Carmen de Pala Gones As the new capital. To tier combined population is about 50.000, far from he 10 7 million a third of the nation s population who live in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area. It was t the idea of moving the capital that was so startling such a move had been considered since the 19th Century and there is general agreement Hal Buenos Aires plays tar Loo dominant a role in Argentine life. Bui few expected Alfonsin to choose a site in Patagonia which has a Lourah of the nation s my but Only 3 percent of its population. Nor did anyone of pct him to announce that he anticipated such Speed action that the neat Argentine president could to inaugurated in Viedma 495 Miles South of Buenos Aires in 19s9 Argelino legislator have supported Ai Onsum out moving seat of government not always a capital idea by Boris Weintraub National geographic no one is entirely certain How a debt racked nation will come up with the estimated $2 billion it will Cost to establish a new Federal District that May have half a million residents by 1995. Mario Del Carril press spokesman for the Argentine embassy in Washington urges that the Cost be looked upon As the Price for developing the patagonian Frontier not just As the expense of building a now capita. But he admits that a 1989 inauguration Dale in Viedma is elastic and would be symbolic in any event. Alfonsin s speech encouraged argentines to look Lor guidance to West Germany s selection of the sleepy University town of Bonn As a capital rather than to neighbouring Brazil s establishment of the new Central capital City of Brasilia like Argentina Brazil had Long talked of budding an Inland capital. The country s first Constitution adopted alter Independence in 1822. Called for one but Rio de Janeiro remained the capital until Juscelino Kubitschek. Campaigning for the presidency in 1956, pledged to build the new City a plan was developed for a Sile 578 Rojes Northwest of Rio. Construction began m 1957. And by the Lime Kubitschek s successor was inaugurated in Brasilia in 1960, its population was 100,000 construction continued even through the years of tuesday september 22, 1987 military Rule that followed. Despite protests about the sterility of the Cental oily and the emergence of slum like satellite cities the Federal District has continued to grow. The population is now estimated at 1.6 million and is s iffy rising. In the new United states the founding fathers fought bitterly about where the capital should be the Lisl Congress almost chose Germantown. Pa., and a Massachusetts congressman spoke words dial have been echoed by Many who have come to Washington . "11 is the opinion of All the Eastern states Hal Iho climate of the Potomac is not Only unhealthy but destructive to Northern cons dilutions. Vast numbers of Eastern adventurers have gone to the Southern Stales and All have found their Graves  weather played a More important Rote in establishing a new capital Lor the Central american nation of Belize. Alter Hurricane Hallie destroyed three quarters of the old capital of Belize oly in 1961, killing More than 260 people British Honduras built the new City of Belmopan 40 Miles Inland. The government moved in 1970, and Belmopan today has about 5,000 residents. British authorities also were responsible for building new Delhi and making it the capital of their Indian Empire choosing a site that had been Home to eight previous capitals Over 3,000 years. True to form Iho site was chosen in 1911, but not until 1929 did it replace Calcutta As the seat of government. Canberra whose isolated site 153 Miles from Sydney was selected in 1912 wags called it the world s Best lighted sheep station took 15 years to become Australia s capital. A permanent Home Lor ils parliament is Only now being built. Capital creation is a serious act. The pakistani commission that in 1960 chose the site Tor what became Islamabad used typically High flown language to explain itself the capital of a country is not merely another City in is a Leader among cities it is a Symbol or our Hopes in is a Mirror of our Desues it is the heart and soul of the  ii that s the Case some nations have divided  and souls Bolivia for example has an Adorni msgr or to capital at la a and a separate Legal and judicial capital at Sucre. And South Africa goes it one hotter it has a legislative capital at Cape town an administrative capital at Pretoria and a judicial capital at Bloemfontein the stars and stripes Pago 13