[tarikjn]

Yes I meant to reply to you. I think we are confounding flourishing cities and capitals. I was more talking specifically about the later. Most ancient and especially modern capitals (D.C., Canberra, Ottawa etc.) are built inland, but the land mass offer less protection than it did in ancient times, not so much because of bombers actually (land offers ground air defense), but missiles, which were rendered effective at the end of WWII (V-2). Nonetheless it is still a preferred configuration for capitals for the same factors. Coastal cities are just more vulnerable in times of war.