Capital planet of the Galactic Empire for roughly twelve thousand years, as told by Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. Destroyed approximately 300 F.E.

With a population of forty billion, all of Trantor's land surface, excepting only the Imperial Grounds, is covered by metal domes. Trantor is essentially a city on a planetary scale with the sole purpose of administering the Galactic Empire.

Twenty agricultural planets support the inhabitants of the mighty planet, and its people have burrowed so deeply into the planet's crust that its main source of energy is geothermal heat.

Trantor is composed of many unique sectors. The Imperial Sector surrounds the Imperial Grounds and is one of the wealthiest sectors on the planet. The Dahl Sector is known for its heat-energy capacity. The Mycogenian Sector is shrouded in secrecy, allows nearly no external contact, and exports the rarest and best food products in the Galaxy.

Trantor is also the center of learning in the Galaxy. It houses the great Galactic Library, as well as many distinguished universities. First among these is Streeling University, where Hari Seldon developed psychohistory.

In Asimov's original Galactic Empire and Foundation novels, Trantor was located at the exact center of the Galaxy. This example of central place theory1 taken to extremes was an important part of the mythical image Asimov was trying to construct, and figured prominently in the plot2.

The impossibility of Trantor being in this location was eventually pointed out to Asimov, who, when he began the commerical milking of his series with Foundation's Edge, moved Trantor to the galactic disk, just ouside the Core.

This seems like a shame to me.

1Who said Isaac Asimov wasn't a geographer?
2I'm tying to be careful here, OK?
The Fall Of Trantor

In 260FE, 12327 years after the Trantorian Confederation officialy became the Galactic Empire, the empire Trantor ruled had shrunk to a remnant of the core worlds. Under the Emperor Dagobert VIII civil war broke out. The rebel leader Gilmer led his troops through the remains of the world-city and sacked the former galactic capital. Many idealists fought to protect the Galactic Library before signing a peace treaty with Gilmer. After the Fall Trantor was reduced to a poor agricultural world. The world city was ruthlessly torn apart, everything usable being shipped off, mainly for use as raw materials. Many became rich out of the Fall. The Trantorians weren't included.

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