Federal district
title for certain administrative divisions in various federations
The federal district is the area around the national capital in some federal countries that are organized as capital districts and territories.
A federal district is made so that no state in the country can claim to be more important than the others because the national capital is inside the state, or to stop one state trying to have control over the national capital.
Countries with a federal district include:
- United States, Washington is in the federal district of the District of Columbia
- Australia, Canberra is in the Australian Capital Territory
- Pakistan, Islamabad City is in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT)
Belgium is a federal country, but its capital (Brussels) is not a federal district, but is its own language region. To show that the French language and the Flemish language are equal, Brussels is a special bilingual (two-languages) region. Similarly, Vienna is the capital of Austria and is also one of the states of Austria.