Quote:
Originally Posted by Dúgorin
Any thoughts?
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Capitals are on the edge of the land not because it's a country or a province, but because it could mean that the location is logical for trade/control/etc. They have a strategical location. Sometimes it means making them closer to a river or the sea to have a port and have control over transportation, those leaving/entering/going past the city, collecting taxes from merchants, and so on and so forth. Though it's not necessarily near water, it's just usually in the center of things, wherever the center is. There's a reason they say that all roads lead to Rome.
(Mark here that of the cities you mentioned, Dol Amroth is a sea port and Pelargir a river port, Minas Ithil stands at a crossroad, and Isengard is at a point that "divides" east, west, and south. Tharbad could be a possibility because it's the only ford in the area and controls pasage across the river, not because it's on the edge)
However, I've heard of capitals that were deliberately put more inland for defensive purposes (eg I heard one of the reason's for Canada's illogical choice of capital - Ottawa (at that time just a small town) over larger cities like Montreal - was to reduce the damage of a possible attack from the States, due to it being less accessible and a bit farther from the border).