Topeka is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County, which is named after the Shawnee Indians. It is the third most populated city (after Wichita and Kansas City Kansas) in the state with a population of 122,377 as of the 2000 census. The Topeka Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Shawnee, Jackson, Jefferson, Osage, and Wabaunsee counties, has an estimated population of 226,268 in the year 2003.

Three ships of the US Navy have been named USS Topeka in honor of the city.

The name "Topeka" comes from a Kansas tribal name meaning "a good place to dig potatoes". Potatoes in this case referring to the prairie potato. A perennial herb (Psoralea esculenta) in the pea family, native to prairies and plains in central North America, and having a tuberous, starchy root that was an important food for many Native Americans.

Topeka, laid out in 1854, was one of the Free-State towns founded by Eastern antislavery men immediately after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. In 1857, Topeka was chartered as a city.

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