Capitals

Aiken, South Carolina, former Sports Capital of the South
Albert, Virginia, “Hub of Transportation”
Amsterdam, Sex Capital of the World
Andorra, chewing-gum capital of the world
Annapolis, Maryland, sailing capital of the world
Arizona, golf course capital of the U.S.A.
Askov, Minnesota, rutabaga capital of the world
Atlanta, “the modern capital of human rights” (when competing to host the 1996 Olympic Games)
Austin, Texas, will be “fitness and clean energy capital of the world,” according to its mayor
Avery County, “Shrubbery Capital of North Carolina”
Baghdad, bank robbery capital of the world
Bama Yao Minority Autonomous County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, southern China, “capital of longevity”
Baotou, Inner Mongolia, global capital of rare earths
Baton Rouge, Gang Rape Capital of America
Belle Glade, Florida, AIDS capital of the U.S.A.
Birmingham, gun crime capital of England
Blackpool, divorce capital of Britain
Bogotá, Colombia, murder capital of the world
Bordeaux, “suicide capital of the world around the 1880s” (because downy mildew ruined the wine trade)
Boston, stolen car capital of the U.S.A.
Branson, Missouri, entertainment capital of the U.S.A.
Brighton, gay capital of Britain
Britain, “jail capital of Western Europe”
Britain, “the spy-camera capital of the world,” according to a newspaper columnist
Britain, fake Viagra capital of the European Union
Britain, landfill capital of Europe
Britain, monkey-killing capital of Europe
Britain, “cocaine capital of Europe” (according to the United Nations)
Britain, liver-disease capital of Europe
Buffalo, New York, “Armpit of the East”; unofficial)
Carver, Massachusetts, cranberry capital of the world
Castroville, California, “The Artichoke Capital of the World”
Catalonia, Spain’s capital of animal rights
China, death-penalty capital of the world
Colombia, kidnapping capital of the world
Colombia, world’s emerald capital
Colquitt, Georgia, peanut-butter-and-jelly capital of the U.S.A.
Commerce, Georgia, “Chicken Capital of the World”
Condom, France, “after years of ridicule by English-speaking visitors, has decided to stop fighting and capitalize on its name… [It built a museum of contraceptives, and its mayor] proclaimed his town condom capital of the world” (World Press Review, citing Der Spiegel of Hamburg, 1997). The ridicule itself was ridiculous, since the name of the 18th-century English doctor, Condom, who invented the device quite possibly derived from the French town.
The Congo, the “rape capital of the world
Corcoran, California, “The Raisin Capital of the World”
Cordell, Georgia, The Watermelon Capitol [sic] of the World”
Cushing, Oklahoma, “Pipeline Crossroads of the World”
Decatur, Illinois, soybean capital of the world
Del Rio, Texas, Wool and Mohair Capital of the World
Detroit, cell phone capital of the U.S.A.
Detroit, murder capital of the U.S.A.
Drumheller, Alberta, Canada’s dinosaur capital
East Palo Alto, murder capital of the U.S.A.
Edinburgh, festival capital of the world (or, “during the festival, cultural capital of the world”)
Edinburgh, world capital of literature
France, “the supposed cuisine capital of the world”
Franklin, North Carolina, gem capital of the world
Geneva, “the world’s humanitarian capital”
Genoa, gastronomic capital of Italy
Gilroy, California, Garlic Capital of the World
Glasgow, Britain’s murder capital
Glasgow, asylum capital of Britain
Grand Prairie, Alberta, Forestry Capital of Canada
Greenville, South Carolina, “Textile Center of the World” – “from the early 1900s to the 1950s”
Greenville, South Carolina, Pepto-Bismol capital of the U.S.
Greenville, South Carolina, a shop on Rutherford Road: Relining Capital of the World
Grenada, “the nutmeg capital of the world” (Noam Chomsky, mocking Reagan’s conquest of it in 1983)
Gretna Green, marriage capital of Britain
Griggsville, Illinois, “The Purple Martin Capital”
Guinea Bissau, “The new cocaine capital of Africa”
Gwent (county), burglary capital of Britain
Hafar al-Batin, Saudi Arabia, sheep-grading capital of the Gulf region (Christian Science Monitor)
Half Moon Bay, California, pumpkin capital of the world
Hampstead Heath, London, gay cruising capital of the world
Harris County, Texas, death penalty capital of the U.S.A.; Execution Capital of America; capital of capital punishment
Hartford, Connecticut, Insurance Capital of the World
Hawaii, “arguably the rainbow capital of the world” (according to Fred Schaaf)
Hawaii, extinction capital of the world
High Point, North Carolina, furniture capital of the world
Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, Dairy Capital of China (so declared by the China Dairy Industry Association and the Dairy Association of China in 2005)
Holtville, California, carrot capital of the world
Honiton, antiques capital of southwest England
Houston, Texas, light pollution capital of the world
Huntsville, Alabama, execution capital of the U.S.A.
Isle of Man, [Motorbike] Racing Capital of the World
Kandahar, suicide-bombing capital of Afghanistan
Kerala, cashew capital of India
Kiwani, Illinois, hog capital of the world
Laganas, on the island of Zakynthos, Greece, “new pub-crawl capital of the Mediterranean” (after Faliraki on Rhodes)
Lake Placid, Florida, “Caladium Capital of the World”
Las Vegas, entertainment capital of the world
Liverpool, the capital for gay weddings
“Liverpool will [in 2008] officially be declared the European Capital of Culture. But… the city could soon acquire another, unwanted, title: Britain’s capital of debt”
London, “defamation capital for world’s celebrities” (headline) or “defamation capital of the world” (article), i.e. they bring legal cases against journalists
London, cocaine capital of the world
London “styles itself the youth capital of the world”
Los Angeles, American’s traffic capital
Los Angeles, bank-robbery capital of America
Los Angeles, entertainment capital of the U.S.A.
Los Angeles, mural capital of the world
Loudonville, Ohio, Canoeing Capital of the World
Lyme Regis, Dorset, the fossil capital
Macau, world’s gambling capital
Maine, wooden-boat-building capital of the world
Martirio, barbecue capital of Texas (fictitious? in a novel called Vernon God Little)
Massachusetts, stolen car capital of the world
Matera, Italy, and Plovdiv, Bulgaria, capitals of European culture for 2019 (so designated by UNESCO in 2014)
Medellín, Colombia, murder capital of the western world
Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, sickness capital of the United Kingdom
Miami, Florida, “Entertainment Capital of the World”
Minneapolis, human rights capital of the world
Moscow, Idaho, dry pea and lentil capital of America
Mostar, Bosnia, stolen-car capital of Europe
New York, illicit-drug-use capital of North America
New Delhi, rape capital of India
New Mexico will be “Waste Disposal Capital of the United States,” according to Rep. Harold Runnels, supporting plans to dump radioactive wastes there
New York, illicit-drug-use capital of North America
New Delhi, rape capital of India
New York, Capital of Capitalism
New York, financial capital of the U.S.A.
Niagara Falls, the Honeymoon Capital
Nigeria, World oil pollution capital
North Dakota, aurora capital of the world
Norway, Maine, mineral capital of the world
Nottingham, gun crime capital of Britain
Omaha, tanning capital of the world
Orangeburg, South Carolina, Chitlin Capital of the World
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, motor scooter capital of Africa
Oudtshoorn, South Africa, ostrich capital of the world
The Pacific Northwest, capital of the simplicity (or frugality) movement
Pacifica, Fog Capital of California
“Palo Alto and Davis [California] vie for the title of bicycling capital of the United States” (Marcia Lowe, The Bicycle: Vehicle for a Small Planet)
Parkfield, California, Earthquake Capital of the World
Parma, Italy, prosciutto capital
Pauley’s Island, South Carolina, Flounder Capital of the World
Petaluma, California, “Chicken Capital of California”; formerly)
Pinehurst, North Carolina, “Golfing Capitol”
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, automobile accident capital of the world
Port Royal, Jamaica, smuggling capital of the Caribbean in the 17th century
Porton Down, butterfly capital of Britain
Pumpkin Center, California, “The Pumpkin Capital of the World”
Rachel, Nevada, Close Encounters capital of the U.S.A.
Rafah, the smuggling capital of Gaza
Rayne, Louisiana, Frog Capital of the World
Recife, murder capital of Brazil (2009)
Red Bay, Labrador, Whaling Capital of the World, 1550-1600
Riga, stag [party] capital of Europe (2008)
Rothsay, Minnesota, “Prairie Chicken Capital of the World”
Russia, computer virus capital of the world
Salcombe, Devon, second-home capital of Britain
San Pedro do Corval, near Reguengos de Monsaraz, Portugal, Capital Ibérica da Olaria
Scotland, suicide capital of the United Kingdom
Sebastopol, California, “The Apple Capital”
Shediac, New Brunswick, the world’s lobster capital
The South Hams, Devonshire, holiday home capital of Britain
South Africa, “the world’s crime capital”
South Africa, rape capital of the world
South Korea, the world’s plastic-surgery capital
Southern Arizona, Astronomy Capital of the World
Stevens Point, Wisconsin, world’s trivia capital (that is, a “trivia” quiz contest is held there)
Sumner County, Kansas, wheat capital of the world
Sunset, Louisiana, cock-fighting capital of the U.S.A.
Swansea, car-theft capital of Britain
Tegucigalpa, Honduras, world’s murder capital
Te Puke, New Zealand, Kiwifruit Capital of the World
Theodosia Area, Missouri, Record Bass Capitol of America
Trossingen, Germany, Harmonica Capital of the World
Tucson, Arizona, Astronomy Capital of the World
Tucson, Arizona, skin cancer capital of the world
Tulsa, Oklahoma, Oil Capital of the World
United Kingdom, “one of the war criminal capitals of the world”
United States, severe-storm capital of the world
United States, the junk-food capital of the world
Utah, fraud capital of America (because Mormon businesspeople are so receptive to schemes for making money)
Verdun, France, sugared-almond capital of the world
Waitaha Valley, Wet Weather Capital of New Zealand
Washington, D.C., “the acknowledged global capital of espionage”
Washington, D.C., “Crime capital” (or “murder capital”) “of the United States”
Waynesville, North Carolina, “Ramps Capital of the World”; ramps are strong wild onions)
Wellington, New Zealand, Bungy Jumping Capitol [so spelt in an American newspaper] of the World
Wilmington, North Carolina, turpentine capital of the world
Winnipeg, arson capital of Canada
Worthington, Minnesota, The Turkey Capital
Ybor City, part of Tampa, is the “Nightlife Capital of Florida’s West Coast” and the former Cigar Capital of the World
Yellowknife, Northwest Territory of Canada, aurora capital of the world
Yellowstone, snowmobile capital of the world

 

3 thoughts on “Capitals”

  1. I have briefly resided near Crystal City Texas, the self proclaimed spinach capital of the world. In the 1930s a statue of Popeye the sailor was erected in the town square to commemorate their production of the nutritious crop. The title however is hotly contested by Alma, Arkansas.

  2. I noticed that a few of your entries were not entitled “capital of …” so if we don’t have to stick to the term “capital” then I nominate my home town of Ashland, Virginia, which modestly claims COTU status (Center of the Universe):

    http://preservationvirginia.blogspot.com/2013/04/lights-camera-action.html

    scroll down to the bottom of the page to see a typical town banner.

    If I understand the prevailing, accepted theories of cosmology and relativity correctly, then strictly speaking every place can claim to be the Center of the Universe.

    1. That’s great! Or rather, to use an old exclamation, “Capital!” And it appears the Ashland Theater is “the center of the Center of the Universe”.

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