Capital Cities and Strategic Centers of an Alternate World?

Had the Union between Poland and Lithuania not happened, Warsaw, which was roughly halfway between the capitals of Krakow and Vilnius, would probably not have grown as big as it is today.
 
Stamford in Lincolnshire. I believe that scholars from Cambridge tried to form a university there. If that had succeeded then there would have been a third old university. (Camfordbridge instead of Oxbridge?) Stamford need not necessarily have become much larger but it would be more important.
 
I wonder if it would have been able to survive the next two thousand years of invasions. Looking at a map of the region, one would think that the Hindu Kush would be an impassable barrier, but steppe empires like the Yuezhi, Kushan, White Huns, and Timurids were able to conquer Gandhara and Punjab so many times.

Was there any particular mountain passes that were commonly used to cross from Central Asia into India? The Kushan Pass?

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I don't know enough about the mountain passes used.

But you make a good point that its location in Punjab would not be the best, though I can see the Kushan Empire, for instance making it the capital. Its location makes it great for trade, and it may merely be captured by conquerers like Delhi IOTL rather than destroyed.

Perhaps Alexander the Great lives a bit more to conquer Arabia before moving on to conquer some of India (where, unless Chandragupta Maurya rises, it should be possible, and such a POD may butterfly away "the Indian Alexander"), perhaps being able to go as far as Gujarat and Kashmir, and his son inherits the empire before it fizzes apart. With slightly larger Indian holdings, one general sets up his capital in Alexandria Bucephalous, of an empire centred around the Indus. Its status as a centre of trade should boost its wealth, and the fact that it's where the cultures of India and Greece exists means you'll see more than a few mathematicians achieve notability, which should boost the city's status. By the time foreign powers come knocking, they don't want to totally destroy this major city, merely choosing to conquer it.
 
Olinda in Northeastern Brazil was the capital of the captaincy of Pernambuco until the Iberian Union and the Dutch Invasion, when the Dutch burned the city down. Afterwards the set of apital of the captaincy passed to the neighbouring city, Recife. In a timeline where the Iberian Union or the Dutch Invasion don't happen, the city would probably be able to retain their importance as seat of the captaincy.
 
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