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The One Minute Geographer: Providence and the Primate City
Geographers talk about primate cities. It has nothing to do with Jane Goodall and her chimps. Primate in this sense simply means the primary or dominant city (or metropolitan area) for a state or country. As a rule of thumb, if at least 20% or so of a state’s population resides in one metropolitan area, it is considered a primate city.
Primate cities dominate their state’s or country’s politics, culture and economy and they are often the capital city. The Boston metropolitan area is a primate city for Massachusetts. Atlanta is for Georgia. Denver is for Colorado. And internationally, think London, Paris, Athens. You get the picture.
Primate cities tend to carry big sticks — they get their way with politics and state spending and road construction — and they get all the attention. Out-of-staters may come to think of the primate city as the state. Quick, think of something in Massachusetts that isn’t in Boston? In Rhode Island, Providence dominates and it’s tough to get anybody’s attention if you’re tucked away in Westerly in the southwestern tip of the state next to Connecticut.
