The capitals of Africa
This is the continent that has relocated its capitals most since independence. Understanding why means learning half the list without effort.
An African capitals quiz nearly always fails at the same point: you answer with the best-known city, and that is exactly the one that lost the title. Lagos, Dar es Salaam, Abidjan, Yaoundé — each remains its country's economic hub, but none is still the political capital, or ever was.
The capitals built from scratch
After independence, several states built a new capital inland, away from the ports inherited from colonisation. The motive is almost always the same: rebalance the country and defuse regional rivalries.
Nigeria inaugurated Abuja in 1991, at the country's geographic centre, halfway between the Muslim north and the Christian south — Lagos, fifteen million people, has not been the capital for over thirty years. Tanzania officially transferred its seat to Dodoma, in the centre of the country, even though Dar es Salaam long remained the city of ministries. Côte d'Ivoire made Yamoussoukro, President Houphouët-Boigny's birth village, its official capital in 1983 — yet Abidjan still concentrates the activity and the embassies.
The South African case
South Africa has not one capital but three, a legacy of the 1910 compromise between the four founding colonies: Pretoria for the executive, Cape Town for the legislature, Bloemfontein for the judiciary. Quizzes — GeoG included — keep Pretoria, the seat of government.
Benin presents a similar ambiguity: Porto-Novo is the constitutional capital, Cotonou the actual seat of government.
The complete list
The 54 countries of Africa and their capital.
| Country | Capital |
|---|---|
| South Africa | Pretoria |
| Algeria | Algiers |
| Angola | Luanda |
| Benin | Porto-Novo |
| Botswana | Gaborone |
| Burkina Faso | Ouagadougou |
| Burundi | Gitega |
| Cameroon | Yaoundé |
| Comoros | Moroni |
| Republic of the Congo | Brazzaville |
| DR Congo | Kinshasa |
| Ivory Coast | Yamoussoukro |
| Djibouti | Djibouti |
| Egypt | Cairo |
| Eritrea | Asmara |
| Ethiopia | Addis Ababa |
| Gabon | Libreville |
| Gambia | Banjul |
| Ghana | Accra |
| Guinea | Conakry |
| Equatorial Guinea | Ciudad de la Paz |
| Guinea-Bissau | Bissau |
| Mauritius | Port Louis |
| Cape Verde | Praia |
| Kenya | Nairobi |
| Lesotho | Maseru |
| Liberia | Monrovia |
| Libya | Tripoli |
| Madagascar | Antananarivo |
| Malawi | Lilongwe |
| Mali | Bamako |
| Morocco | Rabat |
| Mauritania | Nouakchott |
| Mozambique | Maputo |
| Namibia | Windhoek |
| Niger | Niamey |
| Nigeria | Abuja |
| Uganda | Kampala |
| Central African Republic | Bangui |
| Rwanda | Kigali |
| São Tomé and Príncipe | São Tomé |
| Senegal | Dakar |
| Seychelles | Victoria |
| Sierra Leone | Freetown |
| Somalia | Mogadishu |
| Sudan | Khartoum |
| South Sudan | Juba |
| Eswatini | Mbabane |
| Tanzania | Dodoma |
| Chad | N'Djamena |
| Togo | Lomé |
| Tunisia | Tunis |
| Zambia | Lusaka |
| Zimbabwe | Harare |
Frequently asked
What is the capital of Nigeria?
How many capitals does South Africa have?
What is the capital of Côte d’Ivoire?
Do you remember these capitals?
GeoG's Capitals mode plays continent by continent: run Africa on its own, or all 195 countries of the world.
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