Page "Trantor" Paragraph 13

According to the original Foundation Trilogy ( 1951 ), Asimov states ( by way of the Encyclopedia Galactica ), "... the impossibility of proper administration ... under the uninspired leadership of the later Emperors was a considerable factor in the Fall.

" To support the needs and whims of the population, food from twenty agricultural worlds brought by ships in the tens of thousands, fleets greater than any navy ever constructed by the Empire.

" Its dependence upon the outer worlds for food and, indeed, for all necessities of life, made Trantor increasingly vulnerable to conquest by siege.

In the last millennium of the Empire, the monotonously numerous revolts made Emperor after Emperor conscious of this, and Imperial policy became little more than the protection of Trantor's delicate jugular vein ..." ( Encyclopedia Galactica )