Why are American state capitals rarely the well known cities

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

Calafornia..............Sacramento

Illnois (sic)............Springfield

Florida..................Talahassee

Texas.................Austin ( I think)

this seems often to be the case . is there a political reason ? is it tradition ? is there a historical reason ?

 

[Perfection]

Why is the Australian Capital Canberra?

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

cause at the time Melbourne and Sydney were equally big and "important" so it was decided that the capital city of Australia when it became a nation instead of a collection of colonies should be built roughly equi-distant from the 2.

But outside of Canberra , the state capitals of the 6 states are also the biggest well known cities .Unlike the USA

 

[sophie]

cause at the time Melbourne and Sydney were equally big and "important" so it was decided that the capital city of Australia when it became a nation instead of a collection of colonies should be built roughly equi-distant from the 2.

There's your answer, basically.

Most capitals are where they are because it's more centrally located, and it's inland, away from the populous coastal cities.

 

[Patroklos]

Some were designed cities and to do so you needed a new location. Some were intentionally divorced from the powerful urban centers to appear fair to the less influential portions of the state. Some were made remote so that on one faction would have a natural infuluence. Some were centrally located so that more areas would have easier access.

All of these are reasons why our national capital was created the way it was.

 

[EnglishEdward]

Calafornia..............Sacramento

Illnois (sic)............Springfield

Florida..................Talahassee

Texas.................Austin ( I think)

this seems often to be the case . is there a political reason ? is it tradition ? is there a historical reason ?

Perhaps there is a contradiction between productive long term
viable business development and corrupt political lobbying.

 

[Tani Coyote]

Basically it comes down to centering it, or the fact that cities built to be government cities will do better. I imagine a city like D.C. is ten times as defensible as New York City or Los Angeles - fewer people, more inland, more room for bases to be built around it, etc. - and it was also built specifically for government purposes, while NYC's a commercial hub.

If we were more totalitarian, moving the center of government outside the larger cities would have a point to keep riots less deadly. Think Versailles and Paris.

 

[Bugfatty300]

Calafornia..............Sacramento

Illnois (sic)............Springfield

Florida..................Talahassee

Texas.................Austin ( I think)

this seems often to be the case . is there a political reason ? is it tradition ? is there a historical reason ?

Well those aren't exactly small or unknown cities. Big cities are often separate states themselves.

 

[gangleri2001]

I think it's because when most states were founded there were still no big cities in them.

 

[downtown]

A lot of state capitals are still their largest city...Columbus, Indianapolis, Phoenix, Denver, Atlanta...and yeah, Austin and Sacramento aren't exactly small cities.

 

[Bluemofia]

Also probably too much of a hassle to move them.

 

[amadeus]

When the state was founded, St. Paul was the largest city.

 

[Cutlass]

Sometimes the factors that make a city seem like a good choice for the capital just don't apply 100 or more years later.

 

[GenMarshall]

It always bugged me when people think New York City is New York's capital. When in reality it's actually Albany (Funfact, my paternal grandparents live within the Albany Metro Area).

At least people think Hartford is CT's capital. If they think New Haven or Bridgeport is the state capital, I'd go Brooklyn Rage!

 

[madviking]

Harrisburg = almost center of Penn.
Columbus = center of Ohio
Indianapolis = center of Indiana
Springfield = center of Illinois
St. Paul = center of Minnesota
Lansing = center of the LP of Michigan
Des Moines = center of Iowa
Jefferson City = center of Missouri
...

Map of US capitals, notice how they are usually pretty close to the geographic center:

Spoiler :

 

[ZeletDude]

In the center of the state. Also IIRC they chose Sacramento for California because at the time San Francisco was the most populated and powerful city and they wanted a different city to be the capital.

 

[amadeus]

St. Paul = center of Minnesota

Well, if you look at your own map, you see it's not really close to the center, and that wasn't even the reason it was picked. St. Paul was the largest settlement at the time. The geographic center would probably be closer to St. Cloud, but almost nobody lived there in 1858.

 

[mangxema]

A lot of state capitals are still their largest city...Columbus, Indianapolis, Phoenix, Denver, Atlanta...and yeah, Austin and Sacramento aren't exactly small cities.

Atlanta wasn't the capital until after the Civil War. Prior to that, it was in Milledgeville, which is a small, centrally located, town.

 

[Formaldehyde]

Most of the cases where the state capitol isn't the principal city in the state it is due to geography. For instance, in the case of Florida the two primary cities at the time were Pensacola and St Augustine. Tallahassee was selected because it is almost equidistant between them. Back then it could take days, or even weeks, to travel to the state capitol, so a central location was considered to be quite important.

 

[Earthling]

Mostly it's due to many state capitals being 100+ years old, some much much more of course, where the demographics/size of cities was very different. The biggest city today may not have been back then and wasn't made the capital (and it's not very common for state capitals to move in recent times)