42 Times People Asked The Internet A Strange Question And Got An Answer That Was Even More Interesting

8. Why Did Atlanta Overtake Savannah When Savannah Had A Century Head Start And The Better Location For Ocean Trade?

I was looking at Georgia on a map and got stuck on Atlanta. Savannah was founded in 1733 and already had a major Atlantic port and established trade long before Atlanta existed. Atlanta started in the 1840s as a railroad junction far inland, with no navigable river or ocean nearby. Yet Atlanta eventually became the much larger regional city, while Savannah remained a much smaller port city. What made the gap between these two cities grow so dramatically? whatisakafka: Railroads EDIT: To be more specific, Atlanta was well situated to build railroads avoiding the mountains moosetherobot: Actually there was a lot of disease in Savannah in the 1700s and 1800s that Atlanta didn't have. Savannah was afflicted by several waves of yellow fever, and its more well-to-do citizens would actually escape Savannah during the summer and go to Altlanta or elsewhere where the air was a bit cooler, a bit less muggy, and they had better chances of staying alive. The poor stayed to work and take their chances.