More than a dozen Brazilian provinces and states have already had their capitals transferred from one city to another – or that simply had their name changed. These exchanges took place from the middle of the 19th century until the period of the military government (1964-1985) and were provoked by the most diverse reasons: from the construction of new capitals planned for this purpose – as is the case of Belo Horizonte (MG) – to the simple name change to honor famous politicians – as happened with João Pessoa (PB). In the table below, assembled with the help of historian Fabiana Lopes da Cunha, from the São Paulo State University (Unesp), you can see all the times the capitals of our states and provinces changed location or name.
State/province – Alagoas
Old capital – Alagoas
It was renamed – Maceió
Year – 1839
State/province – Amazonas
Ancient capital – Barra do Rio Negro
It was renamed – Manaus
Year – 1856
State/province – Paraíba
Old capital – Paraíba
It was renamed – João Pessoa
Year – 1930
State/province – Sergipe
Ancient capital – São Cristóvão
It was renamed – Aracaju
Year – 1855
CITY CHANGE
State/province – Ceará
Old capital – Aquiraz
New capital – Fortaleza
Year – 1810
State/province – Goiás
Ancient capital – Goiás
New capital – Goiania
Year – 1937
State/province – Mato Grosso
Old capital – Vila Bela
New capital – Cuiabá
Year – 1835
State/province – Minas Gerais
Old capital – Ouro Preto
New capital – Belo Horizonte
Year – 1893
State/province – Pernambuco
Ancient capital – Olinda
New capital – Recife
Year – 1827
State/province – Piauí
Old capital – Oeiras
New capital – Teresina
Year – 1852
State/province – Rio de Janeiro
Old capital – Niterói
New capital – Rio de Janeiro
Year – 1975