Why is a nation's capital city usually the largest?

[Vistulange]

continues to miss the point for the sake of some not particularly useful minor pedantry.

This is practically half of what any thread in NSG devolves into, Arch.

[San Lumen]

Yeah the agglomeration effects of government, bureaucracy, and the related industries (high finance, lobby groups, etc.) are what make capital cities pretty populous if not the most populous city in a country.

That’s likely one of the main reasons for it. Provincial capitals too

[Vetalia]

I think it's the other way around, most of the capital cities were the most prominent ones in the era leading up to the formation of the modern nation-state so they were sort of a natural choice. On the other hand, in countries with purpose-built capitals (e.g. Washington DC, Brasilia, Abuja) they are not the largest.

[San Lumen]

I think it's the other way around, most of the capital cities were the most prominent ones in the era leading up to the formation of the modern nation-state so they were sort of a natural choice. On the other hand, in countries with purpose-built capitals (e.g. Washington DC, Brasilia, Abuja) they are not the largest.

That makes sense. In some countries like Brazil and Nigeria the largest city was the capital before they were moved.

[Shanghai industrial complex]

There’s more to the world than America

It's shocking that the world isn't all about America and America alone.

For instance, Turkey's capital is not Istanbul, though there are a lot of people who think it is. It's Ankara, Turkey's second largest city and decidedly a far more boring one. In this case, the reason for Ankara being the capital and not Istanbul is because Istanbul was the seat of the collaborationist imperial government during the War of Independence, and Ankara was the small backwater but secure settlement the national movement had set up shop in. After the war was over, the decision to keep Ankara as the capital was consciously made to mark the departure from the ancien régime.

What?I knew it for the first time.

[Valentine Z]

Oh, man. Now I have the chance to explain about the clustershag that is my home country - Burma.

In the most ironic twist of sense, I don't know much about it unfortunately! But, here are a few fun facts about Naypyithaw.

To this day, there are speculations on why we moved the capital to NPT (I'll call this shorthand) from Yangon. Some say that it's because Yangon was getting crowded and they need a new land with new city for a fresh beginning. Some say it was actually numerology based, like they moved down to the second. Just say well, time to move! There's also the theory that it's to thwart invasions since Yangon is relatively nearer to the ocean.

I like the theory that it's because it's a city for bureaucrats, not made by civil engineers. See, the roads are wide as hell, and you are going to need a car to go just about anywhere. Apart from residential areas, shops and especially civil buildings are at least a mile away from each other. At least.

Imagine if a riot or a protest broke out, which happens a bit frequently here. Not really riots, more of protests and demonstrations, but it happens. Now imagine that you want to do some peaceful protest, and you need to travel to the White House. You're NOT going to walk thousands of meters, and there's no point blaring your loudspeakers and shouting out statements when it's just 10+ lanes of empty roads.

They most very likely moved to NPT because the city is perfect and spaced out. No one to bother.

In short, NPT, the new capital is small both in land area and population.

Naypyithaw (or Naypyidaw, depending on what the Romanisation is going for): 7.054 km² with a paltry 900,000+ people.

Yangon: 576 km² with 4.84 million people.

So yeah, we used to have the largest place as our capital, but you know how bureaucracy is like! Yangon is still the capital in my heart, dammit.

[Cetacea]

It’s not, top of my head largest cities that aren’t Capital of the nation


Shanghai
New York
Sydney
Auckland
Karachi
Istanbul

[The Archregimancy]

continues to miss the point for the sake of some not particularly useful minor pedantry.

This is practically half of what any thread in NSG devolves into, Arch.

No doubt; but some examples - like this one - are more unnecessarily egregious than others.

[-Astoria-]

Gee, why doesn't that apply to
Australia
Belize
Brazil
Burundi
Cameroon
Canada
People's Republic of China
Côte d'Ivoire
Ecuador
Equatorial Guinea
Gambia
Federated States of Micronesia
Morocco
Myanmar
New Zealand
Nigeria
Pakistan
Palau
Switzerland
Tanzania
Trinidad and Tobago
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
United States of America
Vietnam
to name just a few.

Traffic & overpopulation, probably (for most of the countries).

[The Archregimancy]

It’s not, top of my head largest cities that aren’t Capital of the nation


Shanghai
New York
Sydney
Auckland
Karachi
Istanbul

That some countries don't have their largest city as a capital doesn't undermine the OP's point that the capital that the capital city is usually the largest city.

In fact, it's fairly easy to prove the point.

It's a little tricky to calculate the precise total number of sovereign independent states as the status of some (like Kosovo) is disputed and the status of others (like Niue) isn't wholly clear.

However, the UN has 193 member states, which at least gives us a basic starting point.

Meanwhile, only 36 fully recognised nations have a capital city that isn't the country's largest city. Here's a handy list (though that the list also contains at least one minor disputable error; by metropolitan area, as opposed to strict city boundary, Quito is larger than Guayaquil). 36 is 18.5% of 193; even if we quibble around the margins of the figures of 36 and 193, the OP's assumption that 'a nation's capital city is usually the largest' is therefore clearly correct.

In keeping with other posts in this thread, it's also worth noting that of that 36, at least 15 used to have their largest city as their capital until moving it for political reasons (whether to a compromise location or to a more central location), and several others have their capital in their country's largest metropolitan area but administrative divisions stop that capital from officially being the largest city (Manila and Quezon City come under both categories; exceptionally, Quezon City is an artificial 20th-century capital city that outgrew the historical capital, but was then replaced in turn by the original historical capital city, though both are now part of the same metropolitan area).

So the number of countries that don't have their capital in their largest city, and - counting only the later post-medieval period onwards - have never had their capital in their largest city and/or within the country's largest metropolitan area (ie, Mumbai is larger than New Delhi, but the Delhi metropolitan area is more populous than the Mumbai metropolitan area) since the country's formation as a single colony or independent state, is actually quite small.

Definitions can be tricky, but at a pinch the only clear and undisputed examples I can come up with Belgium, Canada (though Toronto was the capital of the pre-confederation Province of Canada until 1858; and Montreal - at one point larger than Toronto - had also previously served as the province's capital), Cameroon, China [PRC], Equatorial Guinea, Micronesia, San Marino, South Africa (which has three capitals, none of them the largest city), the UAE, and Vietnam (though Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon had previously been the capital of South Vietnam). Note that while Sydney is, at least currently, larger than Melbourne, Victoria's capital was (I believe) the larger city when it was serving as the new country's capital immediately following Federation.

So quibbling over individual examples aside, San Lumen's basic contention is accurate, and all of the various people engaging in a bit of rhetorical chest-thumping because they can think of some exceptions (Of Zigarozia in particular seems to have just copied out the Wikipedia list in alphabetical order without questioning the individual examples) are missing the point that 'usually' is not remotely the same as 'always'.

[Mathuvan Union]

It’s not, top of my head largest cities that aren’t Capital of the nation


Shanghai
New York
Sydney
Auckland
Karachi
Istanbul

That’s incorrect; the actual boundaries of Sydney give it a population of roughly 13,000. The suburbs lift it up the other 5,000,000

[Ghost Land]

It’s not, top of my head largest cities that aren’t Capital of the nation


Shanghai
New York
Sydney
Auckland
Karachi
Istanbul

That’s incorrect; the actual boundaries of Sydney give it a population of roughly 13,000. The suburbs lift it up the other 5,000,000

According to Wikipedia, 208,374 as of the 2016 census.

Adelaide, meanwhile, has 22,063 people in its city proper; Melbourne has 178,955; Perth has 21,797; and Brisbane has over 1.1 million, making it the largest city proper in Australia.

[Esternial]

Isn't being (historically) big usually the reason a city becomes a capital?

At the very least I assume the reasons for a city being big are the same as to why it's a capital. Economic, cultural, strategic, etc.

[Mathuvan Union]

That’s incorrect; the actual boundaries of Sydney give it a population of roughly 13,000. The suburbs lift it up the other 5,000,000

According to Wikipedia, 208,374 as of the 2016 census.

Adelaide, meanwhile, has 22,063 people in its city proper; Melbourne has 178,955; Perth has 21,797; and Brisbane has over 1.1 million, making it the largest city proper in Australia.

Metropolitan area was my reference. Goddamned Brisbane, hate that place.

[Baloo Kingdom]

I'd say it would be because of the concentration of opportunity in one area. Similar to nations, U.S. States' Capitals normally are the largest city, with the except of New York and a few others.

Actually as far as states go, in most states the capital is not the largest city.

I count only 16 of the 50 states having their largest city as the capital: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of ... population

Since most US states formed after the industrial revolution started, and were deliberately placed in the center and inland, proximity to government was no longer the primary cause of opportunity.

Interesting, I never knew that

[Anderr]

I was thinking about this lately and wondering what the reason for it is. I know there are exceptions but in many counties the seat of government is the largest city. You can find this often in administrative division capitals too.

Is there something about it being the capital that makes people gravitate to it? I can see the appeal of wanting to be near the seat of government as it would likely have more opportunity than other cities. Most capital cites are centrally located and easily assessable by road, train or air which makes perfect sense for a seat of government. It doesn't explain though why it's more often than not the biggest city. Your thoughts?

I'd like to see statistics. I mean, you could be right, after all, New York City is the capital of New York State, Miami is the capital of Florida, Houston is the capital of Texas, Los Angeles is the capital of California, Seattle the capital of Washington State, Portland of Oregon, Chicago of Illinois, Cincinnati of Ohio, Philadelphia of Pennsylvania, just to name a few.

Houston is NOT the capital of Texas

[Novus America]

I'd like to see statistics. I mean, you could be right, after all, New York City is the capital of New York State, Miami is the capital of Florida, Houston is the capital of Texas, Los Angeles is the capital of California, Seattle the capital of Washington State, Portland of Oregon, Chicago of Illinois, Cincinnati of Ohio, Philadelphia of Pennsylvania, just to name a few.

Houston is NOT the capital of Texas

She was being sarcastic. None of those are the capitals of the state is the point.

Admittedly some of those are mid the largest cities. Cincinnati and Miami are not the capitals, but are not the largest cities in their states either (although they are the largest metro areas).

[Anderr]

Maybe in older civilizations these places were the epicenter of their countries civilizations....ie one of the only REAL CITIES!, THE ONLY cities which facilitated government, trade, culture, and craft. They were the gateway, or historical posterchild for their civilization.... Otherwise I think you might find a correlation to how new or rapidly developing a country is and it's capital

[Vistulange]

Isn't being (historically) big usually the reason a city becomes a capital?

At the very least I assume the reasons for a city being big are the same as to why it's a capital. Economic, cultural, strategic, etc.

Not necessarily. I mean, it turns into a bit of a chicken-or-egg question, but I'd say that being a capital makes a city large, as opposed to otherwise. A city being big isn't a particularly good reason to have it as a capital, really, why would you want more people? Security could be more of a consideration. Capital cities necessarily generate large populations in a modern state because of the sheer size of the bureaucracy necessary to run such a state.

Often, it's just historical path dependency. If a city in a formerly feudal state has been the seat of power of a ruling house of a few centuries, the idea of that city being the capital simply ossifies in peoples' perceptions, and when the transition to a modern state occurs, that seat of power just remains as a capital city, with pre-existing infrastructure for government already being there helping out. Don't fix what's not broken.

[Ghost Land]

According to Wikipedia, 208,374 as of the 2016 census.

Adelaide, meanwhile, has 22,063 people in its city proper; Melbourne has 178,955; Perth has 21,797; and Brisbane has over 1.1 million, making it the largest city proper in Australia.

Metropolitan area was my reference. Goddamned Brisbane, hate that place.

My post may have been a little unclear; the city proper of Sydney is what has only 208,374 people, while the entire metropolitan area is indeed over 5.3 million according to the Australian government.

What do you have against Brisbane, though?

[The Blaatschapen]

continues to miss the point for the sake of some not particularly useful minor pedantry.

This is practically half of what any thread in NSG devolves into, Arch.

The other half is puns.

[Punished UMN]

They were often once the center of a growing state, making them centers of trade, making them wealthy, causing people to flock to them. Basically, because old capitals of the world are typically historically important compared to the rest of the country.

[Punished UMN]

Gee, why doesn't that apply to
Australia
Belize
Brazil
Burundi
Cameroon
Canada
People's Republic of China
Côte d'Ivoire
Ecuador
Equatorial Guinea
Gambia
Federated States of Micronesia
Morocco
Myanmar
New Zealand
Nigeria
Pakistan
Palau
Switzerland
Tanzania
Trinidad and Tobago
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
United States of America
Vietnam
to name just a few.

In many of these countries, the capital was either specifically chosen for its location (Turkey, where until 1918, Konstantiyye/Istanbul was the capital and largest city, Brazil, and the United States), was historically the largest city (China), has historical status granted by once being the largest city (Italy), or the largest city was once capital of the country (Vietnam).

Those are just a few instances I can think of, but I hope that answers some of your question.

[Post War America]

It’s not, top of my head largest cities that aren’t Capital of the nation


Shanghai
New York
Sydney
Auckland
Karachi
Istanbul

Conversely, and this is just off the top of my head.

Stockholm
Madrid
London
Kabul
Nairobi
Havana
Buenos Aires
Santiago
Pyongyang
Prague
Budapest
Vienna
Mexico City
Rome

[Punished UMN]

It’s not, top of my head largest cities that aren’t Capital of the nation


Shanghai
New York
Sydney
Auckland
Karachi
Istanbul

Conversely, and this is just off the top of my head.

Stockholm
Madrid
London
Kabul
Nairobi
Havana
Buenos Aires
Santiago
Pyongyang
Prague
Budapest
Vienna
Mexico City
Rome

Rome is not the largest city in Italy, ftr, but it's generally true the largest city is the capital of the country.