Africa capitals quiz
How many of the 54 capital cities of Africa do you know? Choose from four cities or type the answer yourself. The wrong options come from the same region, so you cannot rely on geography alone. Every country and capital is listed below for study.
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How the capitals quiz works
Each round draws countries at random from the 54 scored in this quiz. Wrong options are capitals of neighbouring countries in the same region where possible, then elsewhere in Africa. You earn one point per correct answer; your streak counts correct answers in a row.
In typed mode, capital letters, accents, spaces, hyphens and apostrophes are ignored, so bogota matches Bogotá and nukualofa matches Nuku‘alofa. Common English forms such as Kiev for Kyiv and Ulan Bator for Ulaanbaatar are accepted, and a single-letter slip in longer names is marked correct with a spelling reminder. Where a country has more than one capital, any of them counts.
Capitals with a story: 8 special cases
These are the answers most often disputed, outdated or split between cities in other quizzes and atlases.
Benin: Porto-Novo- Porto-Novo is the official capital. Cotonou, the largest city, is Benin’s economic hub and where most of government works.
Burundi: Gitega- Gitega replaced Bujumbura as the capital in 2019. Bujumbura, on Lake Tanganyika, remains the largest city.
Equatorial Guinea: Ciudad de la Paz- Under Decree-Law 1/2026, Ciudad de la Paz (formerly Oyala), a planned city in mainland Río Muni, replaced Malabo on Bioko island as the national capital. Many atlases and older quizzes still give Malabo.
Eswatini: Mbabane- Mbabane is the administrative capital of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland). Lobamba, nearby, is the royal and legislative capital, where parliament sits.
Ivory Coast: Yamoussoukro- Yamoussoukro has been the official capital since 1983, but Abidjan, the largest city, remains the economic capital and hosts most embassies and much of government business.
Nigeria: Abuja- Abuja, a planned city in the centre of the country, replaced Lagos as the capital in 1991. Lagos remains by far the largest city.
South Africa: Pretoria (administrative), Cape Town (legislative), Bloemfontein (judicial)- South Africa splits its capital functions between three cities: Pretoria (administrative), Cape Town (legislative) and Bloemfontein (judicial). Johannesburg, the largest city, is not one of them. The quiz shows Pretoria; any of the three is accepted when typing.
Tanzania: Dodoma- Dodoma is the official capital and seat of parliament. Dar es Salaam is the largest city and commercial centre, and many offices and embassies remain there.
Tricky ones to remember
Capitals that are not the largest city
The most common wrong answer is the country’s biggest or best-known city. These are well-known cases in Africa; the list is not exhaustive, and city size depends on where the boundary is drawn.
| Country | Capital | Larger city often guessed |
|---|---|---|
| Benin | Porto-Novo | Cotonou |
| Burundi | Gitega | Bujumbura |
| Equatorial Guinea | Ciudad de la Paz | Bata |
 Gambia | Banjul | Serekunda |
| Ivory Coast | Yamoussoukro | Abidjan |
 Morocco | Rabat | Casablanca |
| Nigeria | Abuja | Lagos |
| South Africa | Pretoria | Johannesburg |
| Tanzania | Dodoma | Dar es Salaam |
Countries with similar names
Similar country names make it easy to attach a capital to the wrong one.
- Niger → NiameyvsNigeria → Abuja
- Republic of the Congo → BrazzavillevsDemocratic Republic of the Congo → Kinshasa
- Guinea → ConakryvsGuinea-Bissau → Bissau
- Guinea → ConakryvsEquatorial Guinea → Ciudad de la Paz
- Sudan → KhartoumvsSouth Sudan → Juba
- Mali → BamakovsMalawi → Lilongwe
- Mauritania → NouakchottvsMauritius → Port Louis
- Zambia → LusakavsZimbabwe → Harare
Capitals named after their country
3 capitals share the country’s name, or their country is named after them: Djibouti (Djibouti), São Tomé (Sao Tome and Principe) and Tunis (Tunisia).
The two closest capitals
The closest pair of capitals in Africa is Kinshasa (the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and Brazzaville (the Republic of the Congo), about 7 km apart in a straight line. Distances use capital coordinates from Wikidata.
Study list: all 54 capitals of Africa
Grouped by region, the same groups the quiz uses for its wrong options. Capitals are shown exactly as recorded on each country profile.
Central Africa
| Country | Capital |
|---|---|
 Angola | Luanda |
 Cameroon | Yaounde |
 Central African Republic | Bangui |
 Chad | N'Djamena |
 Democratic Republic of the Congo | Kinshasa |
| Equatorial Guinea | Ciudad de la Paznote |
 Gabon | Libreville |
 Republic of the Congo | Brazzaville |
 Sao Tome and Principe | São Tomé |
East Africa
| Country | Capital |
|---|---|
| Burundi | Giteganote |
 Comoros | Moroni |
 Djibouti | Djibouti |
 Eritrea | Asmara |
 Ethiopia | Addis Ababa |
 Kenya | Nairobi |
 Madagascar | Antananarivo |
 Malawi | Lilongwe |
 Mauritius | Port Louis |
 Mozambique | Maputo |
 Rwanda | Kigali |
 Seychelles | Victoria |
 Somalia | Mogadishu |
 South Sudan | Juba |
| Tanzania | Dodomanote |
 Uganda | Kampala |
North Africa
Algeria
Egypt
Libya
Sudan
TunisiaSouthern Africa
| Country | Capital |
|---|---|
 Botswana | Gaborone |
| Eswatini | Mbabanenote |
 Lesotho | Maseru |
 Namibia | Windhoek |
| South Africa | Pretoria (administrative), Cape Town (legislative), Bloemfontein (judicial)note |
 Zambia | Lusaka |
 Zimbabwe | Harare |
West Africa
| Country | Capital |
|---|---|
| Benin | Porto-Novonote |
 Burkina Faso | Ouagadougou |
 Cape Verde | Praia |
| Gambia | Banjul |
 Ghana | Accra |
 Guinea | Conakry |
 Guinea-Bissau | Bissau |
| Ivory Coast | Yamoussoukronote |
 Liberia | Monrovia |
 Mali | Bamako |
 Mauritania | Nouakchott |
 Niger | Niamey |
| Nigeria | Abujanote |
 Senegal | Dakar |
 Sierra Leone | Freetown |
 Togo | Lomé |
Capitals: Countries.World country records. Coordinates for distances: Wikidata (CC0), accessed 2026-10-10. For coordinates and time zones of each capital, see capitals of Africa.