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Columbus is the capital of Ohio and the largest city, but it wasn't so long ago that Cleveland was larger. It was most likely the central location that led to Columbus being the capital.
Houston was the fiorst Capital of Texas. But the second president insisted on a more centralized capital geographically. The first president was more strategical, he wanted a capital less prone to attack from Mexico, so he was in favor of the Capital in Houston (and besides, that city was named after him )
I'm pretty sure the first capital of Texas was Nacogdoches.
NC and SC - both Raleigh and Columbia are planned capitals, designed to be in the interior (move the capitals away from the coast), due to a suspicion that the plantation aristocracies in coastal regions (especially in SC - NC was the far less developed of the two until around 1900) would exert an ever-worsening corrupting influence upon state politics.
Quebec City is smaller than Montreal
Victoria is smaller than Vancouver
Edmonton is smaller than Calgary
Fredricton is smaller than St John and Moncton
Regina is smaller than Saskatoon
So, No. In Canada the capitals do not tend to be the largest cities. Half of the provinces have their capital as the largest city and half do not.
I can't speak for everywhere but Boston is the largest city and the capital of Massachusetts because it has always been the capital. Although Salem was founded first in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Boston was founded a few years later and has always been the center of Massachusetts.
In states where the capital is the largest city this city seems to fully embody the image of the state more than when the largest and capital and different.
I wouldn't say it really fully embodies the state.....but despite exceptions like Atlanta and Denver.....oftentimes when the capital si the largest city is it also the single important city in the state.......like Jackson, Mississippi; Little Rock, Arkansas ; Indianapolis, Indiana ; Charleston, West Virginia; Salt Lake City, Utah;
Annapolis is technically considered a suburb of Baltimore and a lot of state agencies are located in Baltimore, not Annapolis only the state legislature meets in Annapolis. Lansing is very close to Detroit, and Olympia is very close to Seattle.
Tallahassee, Pierre, Jefferson City, Carson City, Salem, Harrisburg, and Montepelier are examples of cities that are not at all important other than being a state capitol.
Sometimes a state got its capital back when that city was the largest city in the state or when it was expected to become the largest city in the state but it didn't. For example, Topeka, Kansas. When Topeka was chosen as the state capital of Kansas, it was one of the largest cities in the state. But years later Topeka was surpassed in population by Wichita, a city that had not even existed when Topeka was chosen as the state capital. The state founders had no idea when they chose Topeka that decades later another city that didn't even exist at that time would grow to be larger. They chose Topeka because to them, at that time, it seemed like Topeka WOULD become the largest city in the state. It's only in hindsight that we can look back and see that it didn't.
The same is true with some other western states. Carson City, the capital of Nevada, is a smaller city now, but back when Nevada became a state, Carson City was larger than Reno or Las Vegas.
But I guess Carson City does share a metro area with Reno, the second largest city. Yes Las Vegas didn't really exist until the 20th century and the construction of Hoover Dam.
Just as everyone is saying, this is due to most states wanting a central location within the state. That's why cities like Springfield, IL and Austin, TX are chosen over Chicago or Houston.
Also I would like to point out that the two countries you mentioned, Australia and Canada, are two great examples of countries whose capital is NOT the largest city as Canberra and Ottawa are far smaller than Sydney or Toronto.
Two reasons. First, the capital is usually at the center of a given state. Secondly, you have to consider what the population of a state and its cities were like at the time the capital was chosen. Take Florida for instance. Tallahassee was once at the center of the state's population and was a much more important city than it is today. Keep in mind at the time, South Florida was sparsely populated.
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