Currently unimportant cities which used to be capital/important cities

[brachy-pride]

Aachen in Germanay, now unimportant, used to be the Chalemagne´s capital.

Ravenna in Italy, now unimportant, was Capital of the Western Roman Empire in the V century, Capital of the Ostrogoth kingdom, and capital of the Byzantines in Italy.

Braga in Portugal, now unimportant, used to be the capital of the Suebic kingdom in Galicia and Northern Portugal.

Toledo, in Spain, former capital of the Visigoths, before the islamic conquest.
It was very important during the muslim period, it had the school of translators which introduced many greek classics to the rest of europe.
Declined after the reconquista.


Can you think of more examples?

Post them here!

I guess there are many examples from east asia , but I dont know much about their history.


ps: I know important-unimportant is relative, but you get the point.

 

[Mongoloid Cow]

Sparta and Corinth in Greece (although admittedly the ancient cities were abandoned / destroyed and later rebuilt)

 

[jonatas]

Toledo, in Spain, former capital of the Visigoths, before the islamic conquest.
It was very important during the muslim period, it had the school of translators which introduced many greek classics to the rest of europe.
Declined after the reconquista.

Hmm, well if you're going to bring up Toledo, I think Cordoba should be mentioned as a far greater example of the same thing, since it was probably the richest and most opulent city in Europe during the Cordoba Caliphate, before centralized Islamic power in the Iberian peninsula broke up into petty taifa-states.

 

[blindside]

Lucknow in India is one I can think off.

 

[Dr. Yoshi]

Salinas, California: The capital of the 2-week California Republic, now the garlic capital of the US.

Avignon, France: Where the second Pope lived during the Great Schism.

Timbuktu: The great trading center of the Mali Empire, a state so wealthy that it deflated the price of gold all across the Eastern Hemisphere when Mansa Musa went on his pilgrimage.

Oak Ridge, Tennessee: Where all the research was conducted for the Manhattan Project.

 

[Wotan]

Paris, France. A great city before petty protectionism and the European Union "Common Agricultural Policy" strangled Europe.

 

[Kyriakos]

-Thessalonike was more important in the past, at least as far as capital status goes. It was capital of Macedonia, post alexander the great's death. Also capital of the roman tetrarchy. It became capital another two times, briefly, first in the "empire of Thessalonike", formed by the despotate of Epiros after the conquest of Thessalonike, in the 13th century, and then during ww1, for diplomatic reasons.
-Constantinople also ofcourse used to be capital, to the byzantine and ottoman empires.
-Knossos (minoan palace city) today is in ruins, near Heraclion, in Crete.
-Rodos (Rhodes) was capital of the knights hospitaler.
-Thebes has been levelled by phillip II, and modern thebes has nothing from the ancient times. It was important after its victory over Sparta.
-Corfu (Kerkyra) was capital of the ionian republic, for iirc 7 years, after being a french protectorate and before becomming a brittish protectorate.
-Adrianople was once capital of the ottoman empire, and before that an important byzantine city, although less important than Constantinople and Thessalonike.

 

[Mongoloid Cow]

I don't think Constantinople counts as a currently unimportant city which used to be a capital/important city

Other cities include: Merv (Turkmenistan), Hamadan (Iran), Latakya (Syria/Lebanon), Herat (Afghanistan), Urgenj (Uzbekistan), Dunhuang (China), Turfan (China), Kashgar (Kashi; China), and Khamil (Hami; China).

 

[DBear]

Samarkand--former capital of Tamarlane's empire, now just another city in one of the former Soviet republics--Uzbekistan.

 

[blindside]

Samarkand--former capital of Tamarlane's empire, now just another city in one of the former Soviet republics--Uzbekistan.

Add Bokhara/Bukkhara (however you spell it) to that list.

How about Adrianolple. Some fifteen battles/sieges in and around it but its hardly a major city now (its known as Edirne now).

 

[Mongoloid Cow]

Samarqand and Bukhara aren't as fallen as many of the others I mentioned, but yeah they're not in good shape nowadays. Varwnos already mentioned Edirne.

I suppose I better add to this list in this post, so: Brandenburg (Germany), Luxembourg (Luxembourg), and Gneizno (Poland).

 

[Kyriakos]

Yes i didnt say that Constantinople is now unimportant, but it is just not a capital
Pristina iirc was capital of Serbia for a while, and it might become capital of a new country (Kossovo) in the future, infact currently this is a UN issue.
I am surprised that no one mentioned Venice yet
Although if the thread is just about cities which once were clearly great and now are clearly insignificant then most of my examples are not really good.

 

[Dann]

There's a ton of them here in China. Some are now still doing well as tourist destinations. (Hangzhou, Xian etc.) Some are regional centers. (Nanjing, Chengdu etc.) Some have become just ordinary cities. (Kaifeng, Zhengzhou etc.) And there are those who have disappeared, and are now just archaeological sites. (Qin's Xianyang, Niya etc.)

 

[Dann]

Other cities include: ....Dunhuang (China), Turfan (China), Kashgar (Kashi; China), and Khamil (Hami; China).

These are all along the Silk Road, right?

 

[silver 2039]

Fatwar Sikri former Mughal capital of Akbar
Hampi capital of the Vijaynagar Empire
Patna capital of Gupta, Maurya, and Bengal

 

[Mongoloid Cow]

These are all along the Silk Road, right?

Yep.

And to legitimise this post...

Bamiyan (Afghanistan), Ammonium (Siwah Oasis; Egypt) and Tema (Saudi Arabia).

 

[Kyriakos]

There is also Trapezous (Trebizond). It once was very important, and capital of the empire of Trebizond (1204-1464 iirc).
Also Ikonion/Iconium/Konya was capital of the sultanate of Iconium.
Antioch was capital (i think) of the seleucid empire (or was the capital at Seleucia? possibly it had capitals in different cities at times).

 

[MCdread]

Cartagena in southern Spain was the New Carthage of the II Punic War. Not so significant today. Merida in the spanish province of Extremadura was the capital of Lusitania and the most important city in the region in the roman and early muslim times.
Naples was capital of Kingdom of Naples and later Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and in the XVIII century it was one of the largest cities in the world. Nowadays it's still somewhat important, but really just another big italian city.
Kyoto was of course the Imperial capital of Japan. Nowadays is a bit lost among all those huge and vibrant japanese metropolis.
Novgorod would be another one.
Lübeck was the unofficial capital of the Hanseatic League, and today it is not much important in Germany. It's not even the most important city in her länder.
Antioch was once comparable only to Rome or Alexandria in the western hemisphere. Not anymore.
Most of the italian northern towns in the middle ages and Renaissance. I wouldn't say Venice, Genoa or Florence aren't important anymore, but Venice and Genoa used to have empires in the mediterranean and the genoese were the bankers of the spanish monarchy and their wars and conquests in the XVI century.

 

[storealex]

Roskilde in Denmark used to be the Capital from which the Viking Kings ruled. It was later moved to Copenhagen, and Roskilde is small city today.

 

[~Corsair#01~]

Quite a few towns in Northern Ireland became important during the war (WW2), and then went back to being insignificant after. Londonderry, for example.

Lepcis Magna used to be one of the richest cities in Africa, although I suppose that doesn't count since it doesn't even exist any more...