Quote:
Originally Posted by dave8721
in 1824 Florida's largest cities were St. Augustine and Pensacola. Tallahassee is roughly in the middle of those 2. Obviously if anyone located a capital in Florida now it would go in Orlando.
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Generally speaking, rival business communities will always jockey for power. This decreases the likelihood that a large city, at the time of choice, ends up being the capital when there is more than one large city from which to choose. This is why we often end up with capitals placed some distance between whatever major population centers exist at that time rather than in one of the cities themselves. Of course, geology, geography, access to transportation routes, natural resources, economic potential, and defensibility will inform the choice of the specific location.
p.s. I doubt if Florida ever moved its capital that Orlando would be chosen. Lakeland or Gainesville might be more appropriate. That being said, I think Florida would be wise to do exactly what it is going to do and leave their capital where it is at—Hurricane Ian is showing us why: the entirety of Peninsular Florida (including inland) suffers from such intractable geological and geography problems that moving a capital would never be worth it.