# Did ANY artificial capital become a major commercial hub? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 27, 2000, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-artificial-capital-become-a-major-commercial-hub/38591 "2000-10-27T14:25:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2000, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-artificial-capital-become-a-major-commercial-hub/38591/21 "2000-10-27T20:00:49Z")
Indianapolis is the nation’s leading producer of industrial grade boredom. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2000, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-artificial-capital-become-a-major-commercial-hub/38591/22 "2000-10-27T22:08:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ishmintingas \* > \*\* > Washington’s location was no accident. There was bound to be a major city there, capital or no capital. \*\* Well, there was a major city there, or at least two minor ones…Alexandria and Georgetown, on opposite sides of the river. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2000, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-artificial-capital-become-a-major-commercial-hub/38591/23 "2000-10-27T22:11:07Z")
Another “manufactured” capital that became a major commercial hub was Alexandria (Egypt)…wasn’t it built as the capital of Macedonian Egypt? ---
**Author:** ![Mu\_Mu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Mu\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mu_Mu)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2000, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-artificial-capital-become-a-major-commercial-hub/38591/24 "2000-10-27T22:13:30Z")
DC, Brasilia, Canberra ---
**Author:** ![SuaSponte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SuaSponte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuaSponte)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2000, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-artificial-capital-become-a-major-commercial-hub/38591/25 "2000-10-27T22:40:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by scratch1300 \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by SuaSponte \* > > \*\*(BTW, Philadelphia is not a Fall Line city - it’s actually downriver of Trenton, which is near the Fall Line. Philadelphia is not directly on the ocean, but the Delaware River below Philly is deep enough for ocean-going vessels, so it serves as an ocean port). > > \*\* > > I’ve heard that Philadelphia _is_ an ocean port. When does the water _stop_ being sea and _start_ being river? Officially, IIRC, it’s a matter of how far up the tide reaches, and therefore Philadelphia is officially on the Atlantic. \*\* All I can say off the top of my head is that Philadelphia is on the Delaware River and is approximately 30 miles away from the head of the Delaware Bay. The Delaware River is freshwater as it passes Philly. I would analogize it to London, which is on the Thames but also is deep enough to serve as an ocean port. 'Course, I could be wrong. Sua ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2000, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-artificial-capital-become-a-major-commercial-hub/38591/26 "2000-10-27T23:02:14Z")
Tokeio??? (I know the spelling is wrong) ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2000, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-artificial-capital-become-a-major-commercial-hub/38591/27 "2000-10-27T23:30:27Z")
I don’t think Tokyo (this is what you meant, right) should count, as it was a huge commercial center before it was the capital (which was still in Kyoto), and they moved the capital there later (long story. . .). How about Berlin? That place was a little nothing-burg for ages. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2000, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-artificial-capital-become-a-major-commercial-hub/38591/28 "2000-10-29T00:57:08Z")
As someone who was involved in starting this discussion in another thread, I repeat here my comment that I see a difference between moving the capital to an _existing_ though so far less important town, and creating one from scratch. With the latter, you face a bigger challenge in creating some sort of real economy for the new city, other than services for government agencies (specially if it’s a free-market system and you can’t _command_ business to relocate). At least if a center of _some_ trade, industrial or agricultural activity exists, the move of the government there will give a big boost to that economic activity. jrd ---
**Author:** ![muffinman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@muffinman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muffinman)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2000, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-artificial-capital-become-a-major-commercial-hub/38591/29 "2000-10-29T06:26:22Z")
Tallahassee, FL, though not anything spectacular commercially, is an educational center. There are two universities (Florida State and Florida A & M) and two community colleges (Tallahassee Community -my school- and Keiser College). The whole economy here runs around consumer goods and state bureaucracy. I’d guess a good 60-70% of residents are state employed. THe rest (such as myself) work for consumer industries. It’s a really crummy place to build a city though. There’s no river until about 5 miles out of town on the west side, which was damned to form a hydro-electric plant and thus is not navigable. It’s a 30 mile drive to the coast, and nearest major point is 180? miles away in Tampa. The area around it is pretty devoid of urban centers. Jacksonville and Pensacola are the nearest cities (save for Albany, Thomasville, and Valdosta in Georgia, and Dothan in Alabama) and the only interstate is I-10. If we were at the I-10 – I-75 interchange (1.5 hours away), we’d be much more developed. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2000, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-artificial-capital-become-a-major-commercial-hub/38591/30 "2000-10-29T09:06:46Z")
I might venture to say that being a major metropolitan area is a DISADVANTAGE for a capital. Capitals have lots of government workers and lots of dull government building. State capitals have a lot more middle class state workers than most cities, and need to accomodate them. ---
**Author:** ![poohpah\_chalupa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/91b2a8/32.png) [@poohpah\_chalupa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/poohpah_chalupa)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2000, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-artificial-capital-become-a-major-commercial-hub/38591/31 "2000-10-29T13:55:05Z")
Boise, Idaho The **center** of the cultural universe ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2000, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-artificial-capital-become-a-major-commercial-hub/38591/32 "2000-10-29T14:21:51Z")
The greater Washington area (especially the Dulles Corridor and other parts of Fairfax County, Virginia, as well as parts of Montgomery and Prince George’s County, Maryland) has recently blossomed into a hi-tech IT mecca, the biggest in the country outside Silicon Valley. ---
**Author:** ![quasar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@quasar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quasar)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2000, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-artificial-capital-become-a-major-commercial-hub/38591/33 "2000-10-29T17:40:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by scratch1300 \* > \*\*[prophecy]Belmopan, Belize will be the Paris of the 21st century[/prophecy]. \*\* Wanna back up that prophecy with sound reasons/facts? I am just curious, you know. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2000, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-artificial-capital-become-a-major-commercial-hub/38591/34 "2000-10-30T03:15:52Z")
The sources I have read say Brasilia was made the capital of Brazil because Brazil wanted to open up the Amazon and by locating a capital there SOMETHING would have to develop. Brazil was independent since the Napoleonic era, so I believe, so I hardly think they would’ve waited like 100 years to move the capital. Atlanta was an important city BEFORE it was the capital. Sherman burned it and it wasn’t the capital then. It was a railroad center. THE BRITISH moved India’s capital from Calcutta to Delhi to relieve overcrowding and then to a new city NEW DELHi when (old) Delhi became to crowded. Pakistan buildt Islamabad for a similar reason (remember they also moved their capital from Karachi to Rawlapindi(sp?). But they also founded Islamabad to let India know there intention to Kashmir. (Locate the nation’s capital near a disputed area sends a strong message) Argentina was going to move its capital but funding (like when Alaksa was going to move its capital to Willow) seemed to stop this. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2000, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-artificial-capital-become-a-major-commercial-hub/38591/35 "2000-10-30T04:07:23Z")
The general trend in the modern world is to site capitals in otherwise undesirable locations. State office buildings sit on land that don’t generate tax revenues, so it’s against the state’s interest to take good locations out of the commercial sector’s hands. ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2000, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-artificial-capital-become-a-major-commercial-hub/38591/36 "2000-10-30T08:09:07Z")
Well, I did a fair amount of growing up in Montana, and the capital, Helena, is pretty small. It does have the distinction of being one of few cities wherin the cheif emloyer is the State. A majority of the folks that live in Helena, work for the state of Montana, either directly or through sub-contracting (janitors, etc.) Also, Sacramento is the capital of California. We’re so lame our own Supreme Court doesn’t even live here, it spends it’s time in LA. Sacramento is forever cursed to be considered a “backwater country-hick town” by wanna-be global youth. When I tell them that Sacramento is the other end of the spectrum, I usually get the typical response along the lines of “Well, _I_ only do my shopping in The City (San Francisco).” I hate that. ---
**Author:** ![curwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@curwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curwin)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2000, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-artificial-capital-become-a-major-commercial-hub/38591/37 "2000-10-30T09:27:20Z")
How about Jerusalem, my capital? It was pretty much a nothing town until King David established it as the capital. ---
**Author:** ![quasar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@quasar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quasar)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2000, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-artificial-capital-become-a-major-commercial-hub/38591/38 "2000-10-30T18:37:43Z")
NYC is the baseball capital of the world. Isn’t that reason enough to make it the capital of New York? 😃 Seriously, why is Albany the capital instead of New York City? It just doesn’t add up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-artificial-capital-become-a-major-commercial-hub/38591.md?page=1)