With the establishment of the Federal Republic in 1949, the eleven states that had belonged to the British and American Zones of Occupation became federal states [Bundesländer] in a government system with a decidedly federal structure, the capital of which was established in the Rhineland city of Bonn. Berlin retained its special status. West Berlin remained under the control of the Western Allies (the United States, Great Britain, and France), but over the course of time it was increasingly treated as a federal state. Berlin sent representatives to the Bundestag and the Bundesrat, although they did not have the right to vote in these chambers.