Seeking American Non-Capitals Trivia Quiz

The Windy City, resting on the edge of Lake Michigan, Chicago is one of America's largest cities and certainly the largest in the midwest. While the capital of Illinois is Springfield and is more centrally located in the state, Chicago is in the perfect spot to take advantage of the Great Lakes and the waterways that take them to the Atlantic Ocean. Aside from being a massive tourist destination and commerce hub, Chicago is home to one of the world's busiest airports.

Along the Pacific Coast in the southwest corner of the country, San Diego is found on the California border where the states meet Mexico at Tijuana. After Los Angeles, the San Diego area is the largest in the state, making the region one of the most heavily populated in the country. Known for its generally fair weather, its coastal hills, and its protected bay, some of San Diego's landmark buildings, its Gaslamp District, and even its massive zoo are very much inspired by Hispanic culture.

Though Austin is the capital of Texas it's Houston, sitting near the edge of Galveston Bay, that has the largest population in the state. After the destruction of nearby Galveston (brought on by a massive hurricane in 1900), Houston took in most of the local industry, growing to become an international leader in both healthcare and space aeronautics. Because of its massive spread of industries over the 20th and 21st century, it grew to become one of the nation's most diverse cities as well.

Considered 'The Big Easy', New Orleans is the largest city in the State of Louisiana and it occupies a unique pocket in the American South taking in French/Creole influences, typical Southern hospitality, and notable dashes of culture from the Caribbean to the south.

The city's location on the Gulf of Mexico has always made it prone to flooding and poor weather conditions, and despite the obvious noteworthiness of the city's distinct architecture and heritage, it's always been at risk of being lost to its own environmental circumstances.

Found at the northeastern tip of Lake Erie where the Niagara River flows north towards Lake Ontario and creates the U.S.-Canada border, the city of Buffalo, New York sits. An important border crossing between the most populated part of Canada (the Golden Horseshoe) and the U.S., it was a critical industrial city when the St. Lawrence seaway was more integral to trade.

In more modern times, it's the largest city of Western New York.

The largest city in the Pacific Northwest, Seattle is a short drive from the Canada-U.S. border in the state of Washington (the capital of which is Olympia, further to the southwest). Sitting on a bay in the Puget Sound, Seattle is surrounded by the Olympic Mountains and spreads out around Lake Washington as it expands eastward.

Historically, Seattle has been a key shipping hub for the U.S. due to its convenient position on the Pacific Coast. What started as a logging city quickly became a hub for culture and technology as time went on.

Dallas, in the modern era, is much bigger than just itself as, along with Fort Worth and Arlington in its greater area, it makes up one of the largest U.S. population centers. Found in the north of Texas, it's the largest city in the U.S. that doesn't have direct access to any major body of water. And visiting it, it's not hard to see why it doesn't much matter; the region is known for its ranch lands and for being so central in the country.

It's home to one of the world's busiest airports and, yes, comes with some mean barbecue.

While Santa Fe is the capital of New Mexico, Albuquerque is the city you might make a wrong turn at. It's a city with a fascinating history having not only been a site for Native American tribes, but a capital for colonists from New Spain, expanding their empire north of what is now Mexico. Today, it's the largest city in the state and it straddles the Rio Grande as it flows south from the Colorado Rockies.

At its highest point, Albuquerque is more than two miles above sea level.

Motor City, U.S.A. (or Motown), Detroit is along the Canada-U.S. border on the edge of the Detroit River, cutting from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie. Interestingly, it's further north than Windsor, Ontario, which sits on the south bank of the river. Although at one point one of the foremost cities for American industry, Detroit's urban quality declined due to shifting ideals over the decades, in turn forcing the city into bankruptcy (which it exited in 2014) and allowing it to lose two thirds of its residents. Nonetheless, Detroit saw slow revitalization in the 21st century making it the most populated city in Michigan.

Resting on the Patapsco River as it flows into Chesapeake Bay, Baltimore benefited from its spot on the water, becoming an important agricultural port in the city's early days and allowing it to grow with the country, becoming a pivotal battleground and sit for political change in the centuries to follow.

Its proximity to Washington D.C. has long made it a key city for industry (at one time manufacturing, but over time, medical), but it has also faced many years of bad reputation due to high crime rates.