Knowing world capitals is one of the most useful geography skills you can have. Whether you’re preparing for a quiz, playing geography games, or just want to impress your friends, this complete guide covers every capital city in the world with fascinating facts.
Why Learn World Capitals?
World capitals appear in news, trivia games, geography quizzes, and everyday conversation. When you hear “Nairobi” or “Kathmandu,” knowing it’s a capital city instantly tells you something about the region, the country, and the story behind the news.
But capitals are notoriously tricky. Many people assume the largest city is always the capital — but that’s often wrong. Australia’s capital is Canberra, not Sydney. Brazil’s capital is Brasília, not Rio de Janeiro. Canada’s capital is Ottawa, not Toronto. South Africa has three capitals. These surprises are what make capital cities so fascinating.
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World Capitals by Continent
Europe — 44 Countries and Capitals
Europe is home to some of the world’s most famous capital cities. Here are all European capitals with key facts:
Albania — Tirana
Tirana was only founded in 1614, making it one of Europe’s youngest capitals. The city has transformed dramatically since the fall of communism in 1991 and is now a vibrant, colorful city.
Andorra — Andorra la Vella
At 1,023 meters above sea level, Andorra la Vella is the highest capital city in Europe. This tiny principality between France and Spain has just 77,000 people.
Austria — Vienna
Vienna was the capital of the Habsburg Empire for over 600 years. It’s famous for classical music, coffee houses, and stunning Baroque architecture. Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert all lived and worked here.
Belarus — Minsk
Minsk was almost completely destroyed during World War II and rebuilt as a grand Soviet-style city with wide boulevards and imposing architecture. It’s one of the greenest capitals in Europe.
Belgium — Brussels
Brussels is the de facto capital of the European Union and home to NATO headquarters. The city is famous for chocolate, waffles, and the Atomium structure built for the 1958 World’s Fair.
Bosnia and Herzegovina — Sarajevo
Sarajevo was the site of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914, which triggered World War I. The city hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics and is known for its unique blend of Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian architecture.
Bulgaria — Sofia
Sofia is one of Europe’s oldest capitals, with 7,000 years of human settlement. The city sits at the foot of Vitosha Mountain and has been the capital of Bulgaria since 1879.
Croatia — Zagreb
Zagreb has a charming medieval old town and was the capital of the Socialist Republic of Croatia during the Yugoslav era. The city is famous for its Christmas market, rated among Europe’s best.
Cyprus — Nicosia
Nicosia is the last divided capital city in the world. The city is split between the Republic of Cyprus in the south and Turkish-administered Northern Cyprus, separated by a UN buffer zone.
Czech Republic — Prague
Prague’s historic center was never bombed during World War II, leaving intact one of Europe’s most complete medieval cities. The city receives over 8 million tourists annually and is famous for its gothic architecture and Czech beer.
Denmark — Copenhagen
Copenhagen is consistently ranked as one of the world’s most livable cities. It’s famous for its cycling culture — more than half of residents commute by bicycle. The city is also home to Tivoli Gardens, one of the world’s oldest amusement parks.
Estonia — Tallinn
Tallinn has one of the best-preserved medieval old towns in Northern Europe, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Estonia is famous for being one of the most digitally advanced countries in the world — you can vote, file taxes, and start a business entirely online.
Finland — Helsinki
Helsinki was purpose-built as Finland’s capital in 1812 when the country was part of the Russian Empire. The city sits on a peninsula surrounded by thousands of islands and is known for its design culture and saunas.
France — Paris
Paris has been a capital city for over 1,000 years and is the most visited city in the world, welcoming over 30 million tourists annually. The Eiffel Tower was built in 1889 as a temporary structure for the World’s Fair but became so beloved it was never demolished.
Germany — Berlin
Berlin was divided by the Berlin Wall from 1961 to 1989. After German reunification in 1990, it became the capital again. The city is home to over 170 museums and is famous for its vibrant arts and music scene.
Greece — Athens
Athens is considered the birthplace of democracy, philosophy, and the Olympic Games. The city has been continuously inhabited for over 3,000 years. The Parthenon on the Acropolis was built in 447 BC and remains one of the world’s most iconic structures.
Hungary — Budapest
Budapest was formed in 1873 by merging three cities: Buda, Óbuda, and Pest across the Danube River. The city has over 100 natural hot springs and thermal baths, earning it the nickname “City of Spas.”
Iceland — Reykjavik
Reykjavik is the northernmost capital of a sovereign state and is powered almost entirely by geothermal energy and hydroelectric power. The city is the best place in the world to see the Northern Lights.
Ireland — Dublin
Dublin is named from the Old Irish “Dubh Linn” meaning “black pool.” The city is famous for its literary heritage — James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Oscar Wilde, and W.B. Yeats all called Dublin home.
Italy — Rome
Rome is called the “Eternal City” and has been continuously inhabited for over 2,800 years. The city contains two UNESCO World Heritage Sites: the historic center and Vatican City, an independent state within Rome.
Kosovo — Pristina
Pristina became the capital of the world’s newest widely recognized country when Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. The city has a young population — the median age is just 29.
Latvia — Riga
Riga is the largest city in the Baltic states and is famous for its Art Nouveau architecture — about a third of all buildings in the city center are in this style, considered the finest collection in Europe.
Liechtenstein — Vaduz
Vaduz is the capital of the world’s sixth smallest country. Liechtenstein is also the only country in the world entirely surrounded by landlocked countries — both Austria and Switzerland are landlocked.
Lithuania — Vilnius
Vilnius has one of the largest surviving medieval old towns in Europe. The city declared itself the “Republic of Užupis” in 1997 — an artistic and bohemian neighborhood that playfully declared independence on April Fool’s Day.
Luxembourg — Luxembourg City
Luxembourg City is home to major European Union institutions including the European Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors. The country consistently ranks as one of the wealthiest in the world per capita.
Malta — Valletta
Valletta is the smallest EU capital by area — just 0.8 square kilometers — but is packed with Baroque palaces, gardens, and churches. It was designated a European Capital of Culture in 2018.
Moldova — Chișinău
Chișinău is known for its wide tree-lined boulevards and Soviet-era architecture. Moldova is often considered one of Europe’s least-visited countries, making its capital a true hidden gem for adventurous travelers.
Monaco — Monaco
Monaco is both a city and a country — a city-state. It’s the second smallest country in the world and the most densely populated. Monaco has no income tax, which has made it a haven for the ultra-wealthy.
Montenegro — Podgorica
Podgorica was known as Titograd during the Yugoslav era, named after communist leader Josip Broz Tito. The city sits at the confluence of two rivers and is surrounded by mountains.
Netherlands — Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the capital but not the seat of government — the Dutch parliament and government meet in The Hague. Amsterdam has over 100 kilometers of canals, 1,500 bridges, and more bicycles than people.
North Macedonia — Skopje
Skopje was almost completely destroyed by a massive earthquake in 1963. The city was rebuilt with international assistance and has since been dramatically transformed with new statues, monuments, and buildings in a project called “Skopje 2014.”
Norway — Oslo
Oslo is one of the world’s most expensive cities. The city was known as Christiania until 1925. Norway is famous for the Nobel Peace Prize, which is awarded in Oslo (all other Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden).
Poland — Warsaw
Warsaw was 85% destroyed during World War II. The city was painstakingly rebuilt brick by brick using historical records, paintings, and photographs. Warsaw’s Old Town is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Portugal — Lisbon
Lisbon is the oldest capital city in Western Europe, predating Rome, Paris, and London by centuries. The city is famous for its yellow trams, fado music, and pastéis de nata custard tarts.
Romania — Bucharest
Bucharest’s Palace of the Parliament is the world’s heaviest building and the second largest administrative building after the Pentagon. Construction began in 1984 under dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu and used 700,000 tonnes of steel and bronze.
Russia — Moscow
Moscow is Europe’s largest city with over 12 million people. The Kremlin is the largest active fortress in Europe and has been the seat of Russian government for centuries. Moscow’s metro system is famous for its ornate stations, many decorated with mosaics, chandeliers, and socialist realist art.
San Marino — San Marino
San Marino claims to be the world’s oldest republic, founded in 301 AD. Like Monaco, it’s both a city and a country. The entire country sits on a single mountain — Mount Titano — and is completely surrounded by Italy.
Serbia — Belgrade
Belgrade means “White City” in Serbian and is one of Europe’s oldest cities, continuously inhabited for over 7,000 years. The city sits at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers.
Slovakia — Bratislava
Bratislava is the only capital city in the world that borders two countries: Austria and Hungary. The city can be reached from Vienna in just one hour by boat along the Danube.
Slovenia — Ljubljana
Ljubljana is one of Europe’s greenest capitals — the city center is car-free and criss-crossed with cycling paths. The city’s name is believed to derive from the Slavic word meaning “beloved.”
Spain — Madrid
Madrid is the highest capital city in the European Union at 650 meters above sea level. The city is home to the Prado Museum, one of the world’s greatest art museums, containing works by Velázquez, Goya, and El Greco.
Sweden — Stockholm
Stockholm is built on 14 islands where Lake Mälaren meets the Baltic Sea. The Nobel Prize ceremony takes place in Stockholm’s City Hall every December. The city is also the birthplace of ABBA, IKEA, Spotify, and Minecraft.
Switzerland — Bern
Bern is the de facto capital of Switzerland but is officially called the “Federal City” — Switzerland has no official capital written into law. The city is famous for its medieval old town with over 6 kilometers of arcaded walkways.
Ukraine — Kyiv
Kyiv is one of the oldest cities in Eastern Europe, founded in the 5th century AD. The city is known as the “mother of Russian cities” in Orthodox Christianity and was the center of the powerful Kievan Rus state.
United Kingdom — London
London has been continuously occupied for over 2,000 years, founded by the Romans as Londinium in 43 AD. The city is home to the world’s oldest underground railway system — the London Underground, known as the Tube, opened in 1863.
Vatican City — Vatican City
Vatican City is the world’s smallest country by both area and population. It contains St. Peter’s Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, and the world’s largest collection of Renaissance art. The Pope is both the head of state and head of government.
Asia — 48 Countries and Capitals
Asia is the world’s largest continent and home to the most diverse collection of capital cities — from ultramodern megalopolises to ancient historic centers.
Afghanistan — Kabul
Kabul has been inhabited for at least 3,500 years and sits at 1,800 meters altitude in a high mountain valley. The city has been conquered by Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, and Tamerlane throughout its long history.
Armenia — Yerevan
Yerevan is one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities, founded in 782 BC — older than Rome. The city has a pink hue from the rose-colored volcanic stone (tuff) used in many buildings.
Azerbaijan — Baku
Baku sits on the Caspian Sea and has a unique blend of medieval old city walls and ultramodern architecture. The Flame Towers — three skyscrapers shaped like flames — have become the symbol of modern Azerbaijan.
Bahrain — Manama
Manama is one of the Gulf’s most cosmopolitan cities and has been an important trading center for thousands of years. Bahrain was the first Gulf state to discover oil in 1932.
Bangladesh — Dhaka
Dhaka is one of the most densely populated cities in the world with over 44,000 people per square kilometer. The city is the global center of the garment industry — Bangladesh is the world’s second largest clothing exporter.
Bhutan — Thimphu
Thimphu is one of the few world capitals without a single traffic light — police officers direct traffic at the main intersections. Bhutan measures success not by GDP but by “Gross National Happiness.”
Brunei — Bandar Seri Begawan
The capital of one of the world’s wealthiest nations per capita, Bandar Seri Begawan features the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque — one of the most beautiful in Asia — rising from an artificial lagoon.
Cambodia — Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh was abandoned for four years during the Khmer Rouge regime (1975-79) when all cities were forcibly evacuated. The city has since recovered and is now a rapidly developing regional hub.
China — Beijing
Beijing has been China’s capital for most of the last 800 years. The city contains the Forbidden City — the world’s largest palace complex — and Tiananmen Square, the world’s largest public square.
Cyprus — Nicosia
Already covered in Europe — Cyprus is transcontinental, with its capital recognized as both European and Middle Eastern.
Georgia — Tbilisi
Tbilisi means “warm place” in Georgian, named after the natural hot springs discovered in the 5th century. The city has a unique old town with wooden balconied houses overhanging narrow cobblestone streets.
India — New Delhi
New Delhi was built by the British as a new capital in 1911, replacing Calcutta (now Kolkata). The city is distinct from Delhi — New Delhi is a district within the larger metropolis of Delhi, which has over 30 million people.
Indonesia — Jakarta
Jakarta is sinking so fast — up to 25 centimeters per year in some areas — due to excessive groundwater extraction that Indonesia has decided to move its capital to an entirely new city called Nusantara on the island of Borneo.
Iran — Tehran
Tehran became Iran’s capital in 1796 under the Qajar dynasty. The city sits at the foot of the Alborz mountain range, and on clear days, residents can see the peak of Mount Damavand — the highest volcano in Asia.
Iraq — Baghdad
Baghdad was founded in 762 AD by the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mansur and quickly became the world’s largest city — a center of Islamic learning, culture, and commerce during the Golden Age of Islam.
Israel — Jerusalem
Jerusalem is considered holy by three major religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The city contains the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Dome of the Rock — all within walking distance of each other.
Japan — Tokyo
Tokyo is the world’s most populous metropolitan area with over 37 million people. The city became Japan’s capital in 1869 when Emperor Meiji moved there from Kyoto. It was previously called Edo.
Jordan — Amman
Amman is built on 19 hills and has been continuously inhabited for over 8,500 years. The city has a remarkably well-preserved Roman amphitheater in its downtown area that still hosts performances today.
Kazakhstan — Astana
Kazakhstan has renamed its capital three times — from Akmola to Astana to Nur-Sultan and back to Astana. The city was purpose-built as the capital in 1997 and features futuristic architecture designed by renowned architects including Norman Foster.
Kuwait — Kuwait City
Kuwait City is one of the wealthiest cities in the world per capita due to the country’s vast oil reserves. The Kuwait Towers — three water towers built in 1979 — have become the symbol of the modern city.
Kyrgyzstan — Bishkek
Bishkek is surrounded by the Tian Shan mountain range and is one of the greenest capital cities in Central Asia, with numerous parks and tree-lined boulevards. The city was founded as a Russian fortress in 1825.
Laos — Vientiane
Vientiane is the smallest capital city in Southeast Asia and is known for its relaxed, slow-paced atmosphere — a stark contrast to other Southeast Asian capitals. The city’s name means “City of Sandalwood” in Lao.
Lebanon — Beirut
Beirut has been rebuilt so many times after civil wars, Israeli invasions, and a massive port explosion in 2020 that it has earned the nickname “the Phoenix of the Middle East.” The city was once known as the “Paris of the Middle East.”
Malaysia — Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur means “muddy confluence” in Malay, named after the muddy meeting point of the Klang and Gombak rivers where the city was founded by tin miners in 1857. The Petronas Towers were the world’s tallest buildings from 1998 to 2004.
Maldives — Malé
Malé is one of the world’s most densely populated cities, with over 200,000 people living on an island of just 5.8 square kilometers. The Maldives faces an existential threat from rising sea levels — most of the country is less than a meter above sea level.
Mongolia — Ulaanbaatar
Ulaanbaatar is the world’s coldest capital city, with average annual temperatures below freezing. The name means “Red Hero” in Mongolian. About 45% of Mongolia’s entire population lives in the capital.
Myanmar — Naypyidaw
Myanmar moved its capital from Yangon to the purpose-built Naypyidaw in 2006 under mysterious circumstances — the military government gave little explanation. The city has 20-lane highways that are almost completely empty.
Nepal — Kathmandu
Kathmandu Valley contains seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites and sits at 1,400 meters altitude. The city is the gateway to the Himalayas and the starting point for expeditions to Mount Everest.
North Korea — Pyongyang
Pyongyang is one of the most isolated capitals in the world. Access is severely restricted for foreigners. The city features massive monuments, wide empty boulevards, and the Ryugyong Hotel — a 330-meter pyramid-shaped skyscraper that has been under construction since 1987.
Oman — Muscat
Muscat is one of the oldest ports in the Arab world and served as a major trading hub between Arabia, Africa, and Asia for centuries. The city is known for its cleanliness and order — it’s consistently ranked as one of the most livable cities in the Middle East.
Pakistan — Islamabad
Islamabad is a planned city, built from scratch as Pakistan’s capital in the 1960s to replace Karachi. The city was designed by Greek architect Konstantinos Apostolou Doxiadis and is known for its wide boulevards and modern layout.
Palestine — Ramallah
Ramallah serves as the administrative capital of the Palestinian Authority. The status of Jerusalem is disputed — both Israel and Palestine claim it as their capital.
Philippines — Manila
Manila is one of the most densely populated cities in the world, with over 70,000 people per square kilometer in some districts. The city was almost completely destroyed during World War II in the Battle of Manila in 1945.
Qatar — Doha
Doha transformed from a small fishing village into a global city in just a few decades, fueled by natural gas wealth. The city hosted the 2022 FIFA World Cup — the first time the tournament was held in the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia — Riyadh
Riyadh means “gardens” in Arabic — the city was once an oasis settlement in the heart of the Arabian Peninsula. Today it’s a sprawling modern metropolis of over 7 million people, transformed by oil wealth.
Singapore — Singapore
Singapore is a city-state — the city IS the country. It’s the only city-state in Southeast Asia. Singapore became independent in 1965 when it was expelled from Malaysia and has since transformed into one of the world’s wealthiest nations.
South Korea — Seoul
Seoul means “capital city” in Korean — making it the only capital city whose name simply means “capital.” The city was almost completely destroyed during the Korean War (1950-53) and has been rebuilt into one of the world’s most technologically advanced cities.
Sri Lanka — Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte
Sri Lanka technically has two capitals: Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte (the official legislative capital) and Colombo (the commercial capital and largest city). Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is a suburb of Colombo.
Syria — Damascus
Damascus is often cited as the world’s oldest continuously inhabited capital city, with evidence of human settlement dating back 11,000 years. The city’s old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Taiwan — Taipei
Taipei is the capital of Taiwan, though Taiwan’s official name is the Republic of China, which claims to be the legitimate government of all of China. Taipei 101 was the world’s tallest building from 2004 to 2010.
Tajikistan — Dushanbe
Dushanbe means “Monday” in Tajik — the city grew from a small Monday market village. It sits in a valley surrounded by mountains and was known as Stalinabad during the Soviet era.
Thailand — Bangkok
Bangkok’s full ceremonial name — Krung Thep Maha Nakhon — is actually an abbreviation of the world’s longest city name, which has 168 characters in full. Thai people call the city “Krung Thep” meaning “City of Angels.”
Timor-Leste — Dili
Dili is the capital of one of the world’s youngest countries — Timor-Leste gained independence from Indonesia in 2002. The city is located on the northern coast of the island of Timor and has a beautiful waterfront.
Turkey — Ankara
Ankara replaced Istanbul as Turkey’s capital in 1923 when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk founded the modern Turkish Republic. He chose Ankara for its central location in Anatolia, away from the coast and more defensible.
Turkmenistan — Ashgabat
Ashgabat holds a Guinness World Record for the highest density of white marble buildings — the entire city center is clad in white marble. The country’s authoritarian government has also built some of the world’s most bizarre monuments.
United Arab Emirates — Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi is the capital of the UAE but Dubai is the more famous city. Abu Dhabi controls about 90% of the UAE’s oil reserves and is home to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque — one of the world’s largest mosques.
Uzbekistan — Tashkent
Tashkent is the largest city in Central Asia and was a major stop on the ancient Silk Road trade route connecting China and Europe. A devastating earthquake in 1966 destroyed much of the old city.
Vietnam — Hanoi
Hanoi has been the capital of Vietnam since 1010 AD, making it one of Asia’s oldest capitals. The name means “city inside rivers” — the city is surrounded by the Red River and its tributaries.
Yemen — Sanaa
Sanaa is one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities with over 2,500 years of history. The old city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site famous for its distinctive tower houses built from rammed earth and burnt brick.
Africa — 54 Countries and Capitals
Africa has the most countries of any continent and a remarkable diversity of capital cities.
Algeria — Algiers
Algiers is built on steep hills overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The city’s Casbah — a historic fortified district — is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the finest examples of Islamic urban planning.
Angola — Luanda
Luanda was briefly considered one of the world’s most expensive cities for expatriates during Angola’s oil boom. The city was founded by Portuguese settlers in 1575 and served as a major hub of the transatlantic slave trade.
Benin — Porto-Novo
Porto-Novo is the official capital of Benin but Cotonou is the largest city and seat of government — one of Africa’s unusual dual-city administrative arrangements.
Botswana — Gaborone
Gaborone is one of Africa’s fastest-growing cities. When Botswana became independent in 1966, the capital had fewer than 4,000 people — today it has over 230,000.
Burkina Faso — Ouagadougou
Ouagadougou — often shortened to “Ouaga” — is one of Africa’s most difficult capital city names to spell. The name comes from the Mooré language and roughly translates to “you are welcome here at home with us.”
Burundi — Gitega
Burundi moved its capital from Bujumbura to Gitega in 2019, making it one of the most recent capital city changes in the world. Gitega sits in the geographical center of the country.
Cameroon — Yaoundé
Yaoundé serves as the political capital of Cameroon while Douala is the economic capital and largest city. The city sits on a plateau at 750 meters above sea level and has a pleasant climate.
Cape Verde — Praia
Praia is the capital of this Atlantic island nation off the coast of West Africa. The archipelago was uninhabited when Portuguese explorers arrived in 1456, making Cape Verde one of the few countries with no indigenous population.
Central African Republic — Bangui
Bangui sits on the Ubangi River that forms the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. The city’s name means “rapids” in the local Sango language, referring to the rapids on the river near the city.
Chad — N’Djamena
N’Djamena was known as Fort-Lamy during the French colonial period. The city sits at the confluence of the Chari and Logone rivers and is one of Africa’s hottest capitals.
Comoros — Moroni
Moroni is the capital of the Comoros archipelago in the Indian Ocean. The city is dominated by the old Friday Mosque with its distinctive Arab-style minaret and the active Karthala volcano visible in the background.
Democratic Republic of Congo — Kinshasa
Kinshasa is Africa’s third largest city and one of the fastest growing in the world. It faces Brazzaville — the capital of the Republic of Congo — across the Congo River, making them the world’s closest pair of capital cities.
Republic of Congo — Brazzaville
Brazzaville is named after French explorer Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza who founded the city in 1880. It faces Kinshasa across the Congo River — the two capitals are so close you can see each other’s skylines.
Djibouti — Djibouti City
Djibouti City is home to more than 70% of the entire country’s population. The city hosts military bases from multiple countries including the United States, France, China, and Japan — all within a few kilometers of each other.
Egypt — Cairo
Cairo is the largest city in Africa and the Arab world with over 20 million people in its metropolitan area. The city’s Arabic name is “Al-Qahira” meaning “The Victorious.” The Pyramids of Giza are located in the Cairo suburb of Giza.
Equatorial Guinea — Malabo
Malabo is built on the island of Bioko, separated from the African mainland. Equatorial Guinea is the only country in Africa where Spanish is an official language.
Eritrea — Asmara
Asmara is famous for its remarkable collection of modernist Italian colonial architecture from the 1930s — the city has been called “Africa’s secret modernist city” and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Ethiopia — Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa means “New Flower” in Amharic. The city is home to the African Union headquarters and serves as the diplomatic capital of Africa. At 2,355 meters, it’s one of the highest capital cities in the world.
Gabon — Libreville
Libreville means “Free Town” in French — the city was founded in 1849 as a settlement for freed slaves, similar to Freetown in Sierra Leone and Monrovia in Liberia.
Gambia — Banjul
Banjul is the smallest capital city in mainland Africa by population. The Gambia is the smallest country on the African mainland — a narrow strip of land along the Gambia River almost completely surrounded by Senegal.
Ghana — Accra
Accra became an important trading port in the 17th century when European powers built forts and castles along Ghana’s coast. The city is one of Africa’s fastest growing and is known as a hub for tech startups — “Silicon Accra.”
Guinea — Conakry
Conakry is built on the Kaloum Peninsula jutting into the Atlantic Ocean. Guinea has some of the world’s largest bauxite reserves — the mineral used to make aluminum.
Guinea-Bissau — Bissau
Bissau is one of Africa’s smaller capitals and serves as the political and economic center of one of the world’s poorest countries. The city was founded by the Portuguese as a trading post in 1687.
Ivory Coast — Yamoussoukro
Ivory Coast has an unusual capital situation — Yamoussoukro is the official capital but Abidjan is the economic capital and largest city. Yamoussoukro is home to the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace — the world’s largest church by volume, bigger even than St. Peter’s in Rome.
Kenya — Nairobi
Nairobi is known as the “Silicon Savannah” and hosts the African headquarters of many major technology companies. The city is unique for having a national park with lions and giraffes within its city limits.
Lesotho — Maseru
Maseru is the capital of Lesotho, a country entirely surrounded by South Africa. Lesotho is one of only three countries in the world that are completely surrounded by a single country (the others are Vatican City and San Marino, both surrounded by Italy).
Liberia — Monrovia
Monrovia is named after James Monroe, the fifth President of the United States. Liberia was founded in 1822 by freed American slaves, which is why its capital is named after an American president.
Libya — Tripoli
Tripoli is one of the oldest cities in the world, founded by Phoenicians around the 7th century BC. The city’s name comes from the Greek “Tripolis” meaning “three cities” — it was originally three separate Phoenician settlements.
Madagascar — Antananarivo
Antananarivo — often called “Tana” — means “City of the Thousand” in Malagasy, referring to the thousand soldiers who once guarded the city. Madagascar is home to species found nowhere else on Earth, including 90% of the world’s chameleon species.
Malawi — Lilongwe
Lilongwe became Malawi’s capital in 1975, replacing the colonial capital of Zomba. The city is divided into an old town with traditional markets and a new town with government buildings.
Mali — Bamako
Bamako sits on the Niger River and is one of Africa’s fastest growing cities. The city was an important center of the Mali Empire in the 13th to 16th centuries when Timbuktu — now in Mali — was a global center of Islamic scholarship.
Mauritania — Nouakchott
Nouakchott was little more than a village when Mauritania became independent in 1960 and chose it as the capital. The city has since grown to over a million people but struggles with encroaching desert sands.
Mauritius — Port Louis
Port Louis is one of Africa’s major financial centers. Mauritius was uninhabited when Dutch sailors arrived in 1598 — the island was home to the dodo bird, which was hunted to extinction by 1681.
Morocco — Rabat
Rabat was founded in the 12th century as a fortified monastery. Casablanca is larger and more famous internationally, but Rabat has been the capital since 1912 when Morocco became a French protectorate.
Mozambique — Maputo
Maputo was known as Lourenço Marques during Portuguese colonial rule and was renamed after independence in 1975. The city has a beautiful waterfront and is known for its Art Deco architecture.
Namibia — Windhoek
Windhoek means “windy corner” in Afrikaans. The city is one of Africa’s cleanest and most organized capitals and sits at 1,700 meters above sea level in the center of the country.
Niger — Niamey
Niamey sits on the banks of the Niger River and is the largest city in one of the world’s largest countries by area. Niger is also one of the world’s largest producers of uranium.
Nigeria — Abuja
Abuja replaced Lagos as Nigeria’s capital in 1991. The city was purpose-built in the geographic center of the country to provide a neutral location acceptable to Nigeria’s many ethnic groups.
Rwanda — Kigali
Kigali is often cited as one of Africa’s cleanest and most organized cities. The country has made remarkable progress since the 1994 genocide that killed an estimated 800,000 people in just 100 days.
São Tomé and Príncipe — São Tomé
São Tomé is the capital of the world’s second smallest African country. The island nation straddles the equator in the Gulf of Guinea and was uninhabited before Portuguese colonization in the 15th century.
Senegal — Dakar
Dakar is the westernmost point of the African continent. The city was the colonial capital of French West Africa and served as a major cultural and intellectual hub. The famous Dakar Rally began here before moving to South America.
Sierra Leone — Freetown
Freetown was founded in 1792 as a home for freed slaves — hence the name. The city is built on a peninsula with beautiful beaches and has a natural deep-water harbor, one of the largest in the world.
Somalia — Mogadishu
Mogadishu is one of the oldest cities in Sub-Saharan Africa, founded by Arab traders in the 10th century. The city was known as the “Pearl of the Indian Ocean” before decades of civil war devastated it.
South Africa — Pretoria
South Africa uniquely has three capitals: Pretoria (executive), Cape Town (legislative), and Bloemfontein (judicial). This unusual arrangement was a compromise reached during the unification of South Africa in 1910.
South Sudan — Juba
Juba is the capital of the world’s newest country — South Sudan became independent from Sudan in 2011. The city sits on the White Nile River and has grown rapidly since independence.
Sudan — Khartoum
Khartoum sits at the confluence of the Blue Nile and White Nile rivers. The name means “elephant trunk” in Arabic, referring to the shape of the land at the confluence. The city faces Omdurman — Sudan’s largest city — across the Nile.
Swaziland/Eswatini — Mbabane
Mbabane is the administrative capital of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland). The country changed its name in 2018 — King Mswati III renamed it to mark 50 years of independence and to avoid confusion with Switzerland.
Tanzania — Dodoma
Tanzania has an unusual capital situation: Dodoma is the official capital but Dar es Salaam remains the largest city and economic center. The capital was moved to Dodoma in 1974 to decentralize power away from the coast.
Togo — Lomé
Lomé is the only capital city in Africa that borders another country — it sits right on the border with Ghana. The city is known for its grand market, the largest in West Africa.
Tunisia — Tunis
Tunis is built near the ruins of ancient Carthage, the city that challenged Rome for dominance of the Mediterranean. The ruins of Carthage are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site just a short distance from the modern city center.
Uganda — Kampala
Kampala is built on seven hills, similar to Rome and Istanbul. The name comes from the Luganda word for “impala” — the land was originally a hunting ground for impala antelopes kept by the Buganda king.
Zambia — Lusaka
Lusaka is one of Africa’s fastest growing cities. Zambia is one of the world’s largest copper producers and Lusaka serves as the hub of the country’s copper trade.
Zimbabwe — Harare
Harare was known as Salisbury during British colonial rule and was renamed after independence in 1980. The city is named after Chief Neharawa, a local chief who lived near the site before colonial settlement.
North America — 23 Countries and Capitals
Antigua and Barbuda — Saint John’s
Saint John’s is built around one of the Caribbean’s finest natural harbors. Antigua has 365 beaches — one for every day of the year, according to local legend.
Bahamas — Nassau
Nassau is built on New Providence island and is home to about 70% of the Bahamas’ entire population. The city was a notorious pirate haven in the early 18th century.
Barbados — Bridgetown
Bridgetown is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its historic garrison and well-preserved colonial architecture. Barbados was the first Caribbean island settled by the English in 1627.
Belize — Belmopan
Belmopan replaced Belize City as the capital in 1970 after Hurricane Hattie devastated the coast in 1961. It is one of the world’s newest capital cities and one of the smallest by population.
Canada — Ottawa
Ottawa was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1857 as a compromise between the rival cities of Toronto and Montreal. The city is bilingual in English and French and is home to the world’s largest naturally frozen skating rink — the Rideau Canal.
Costa Rica — San José
San José sits in a high valley in the Central Valley at 1,170 meters above sea level. Costa Rica is famous for abolishing its military in 1948 — it’s one of the few countries in the world with no standing army.
Cuba — Havana
Havana is famous for its well-preserved Spanish colonial architecture and classic American cars from the 1950s — a time capsule frozen in place by the US embargo. The city’s Malecón seafront boulevard is one of the longest in the world.
Dominica — Roseau
Roseau is one of the smallest capitals in the Western Hemisphere. Dominica — not to be confused with the Dominican Republic — is known as the “Nature Isle of the Caribbean” for its lush rainforests.
Dominican Republic — Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo is the oldest continuously inhabited European city in the Americas, founded by Bartholomew Columbus (Christopher’s brother) in 1498. The city’s colonial zone is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
El Salvador — San Salvador
San Salvador has been destroyed by earthquakes multiple times — in 1756, 1854, and 1986. The city sits in the Valley of the Hammocks, named for its constant seismic activity.
Grenada — Saint George’s
Saint George’s is often considered the most beautiful capital in the Caribbean, with its colorful Georgian buildings, horseshoe-shaped harbor, and hillside setting.
Guatemala — Guatemala City
Guatemala City is Central America’s largest city and is built on a plateau surrounded by volcanoes. It replaced Antigua Guatemala as the capital in 1776 after that city was devastated by earthquakes.
Haiti — Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince was devastated by a catastrophic earthquake in January 2010 that killed over 200,000 people and left 1.5 million homeless. The city has been struggling to rebuild ever since.
Honduras — Tegucigalpa
Tegucigalpa has one of the world’s most dangerous airports — Toncontín International — where planes must navigate between mountains and make a sharp turn just before landing.
Jamaica — Kingston
Kingston is the birthplace of reggae music and the Rastafari movement. Bob Marley was born in Jamaica and the Bob Marley Museum in Kingston is one of the most visited attractions in the Caribbean.
Mexico — Mexico City
Mexico City is built on the ruins of Tenochtitlan, the ancient Aztec capital, which was constructed on an island in a lake. The lake was drained by Spanish conquistadors, and the city has been slowly sinking ever since — up to 9 meters in some areas over the past century.
Nicaragua — Managua
Managua became Nicaragua’s capital in 1852 as a compromise between the rival cities of León and Granada. The city was devastated by an earthquake in 1972 that killed over 10,000 people.
Panama — Panama City
Panama City is the only capital city in the world with a rainforest within its city limits. The Panama Canal — which connects the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans — runs through the country just outside the city.
Saint Kitts and Nevis — Basseterre
Basseterre is the capital of the smallest country in the Western Hemisphere. Saint Kitts and Nevis has just 54,000 people and 269 square kilometers.
Saint Lucia — Castries
Castries has one of the finest natural harbors in the Eastern Caribbean. Saint Lucia has produced two Nobel Prize winners — economist W. Arthur Lewis and poet Derek Walcott — the highest per capita Nobel Prize count of any country.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines — Kingstown
Kingstown is famous for its botanical gardens, established in 1765 — the oldest in the Western Hemisphere. A breadfruit tree descended from plants brought by Captain William Bligh of the Bounty still grows there.
Trinidad and Tobago — Port of Spain
Port of Spain hosts one of the world’s most famous carnivals — the Trinidad Carnival — held annually before Lent. The country is the birthplace of steelpan (steel drum) music and the limbo dance.
United States — Washington D.C.
Washington D.C. (District of Columbia) was purpose-built as the US capital and is not part of any state. The city was designed by French engineer Pierre Charles L’Enfant with a grid layout and diagonal avenues. It hosts the White House, Capitol Building, and Supreme Court.
South America — 12 Countries and Capitals
Argentina — Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is nicknamed the “Paris of South America” for its European-style architecture and café culture. The city is the birthplace of tango — the passionate dance that became a global phenomenon.
Bolivia — Sucre
Bolivia has two capitals — Sucre (constitutional capital) and La Paz (seat of government). La Paz, at 3,640 meters above sea level, is the world’s highest seat of government. Sucre is where Bolivia’s declaration of independence was signed in 1825.
Brazil — Brasília
Brasília was purpose-built as Brazil’s capital and inaugurated on April 21, 1960 — designed from scratch in just 41 months. The entire city was a UNESCO World Heritage Site by 1987 — one of the fastest times a city has achieved this recognition.
Chile — Santiago
Santiago sits in a valley surrounded by the Andes mountains to the east and the Chilean Coast Range to the west. On clear days, residents can see the snow-capped peaks of the Andes from the city streets.
Colombia — Bogotá
Bogotá sits at 2,640 meters above sea level — one of the highest capital cities in the world. The city is home to the Gold Museum (Museo del Oro), which has the world’s largest collection of pre-Columbian gold artifacts.
Ecuador — Quito
Quito is the second highest official capital city in the world at 2,850 meters. The city was the first to be declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978 (along with Kraków, Poland). Quito sits just 25 kilometers from the equator.
Guyana — Georgetown
Georgetown is built below sea level — the city is protected from flooding by a system of dikes and canals built during Dutch colonial rule. Guyana is the only English-speaking country in South America.
Paraguay — Asunción
Asunción is one of South America’s oldest cities, founded in 1537. The city’s name means “Assumption” in Spanish, referring to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Paraguay is one of two landlocked countries in South America.
Peru — Lima
Lima is home to over 10 million people — one-third of Peru’s entire population — and sits on a coastal desert that receives almost no rainfall. The city’s cuisine is world-renowned — Lima is often called the “food capital of South America.”
Suriname — Paramaribo
Paramaribo’s historic inner city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its unique blend of Dutch colonial architecture and local building traditions. Suriname is the smallest country in South America and is the only Dutch-speaking country outside Europe.
Uruguay — Montevideo
Montevideo is home to over half of Uruguay’s entire population. Uruguay was the first country in the world to legalize marijuana for recreational use (in 2013) and one of the first to legalize same-sex marriage in Latin America.
Venezuela — Caracas
Caracas is the birthplace of Simón Bolívar, the revolutionary leader who liberated much of South America from Spanish colonial rule. The city sits in a valley at 900 meters elevation, giving it one of the most pleasant climates of any South American capital.
Oceania — 14 Countries and Capitals
Australia — Canberra
Canberra was purpose-built as Australia’s capital after Sydney and Melbourne couldn’t agree on which city should be the capital. The name comes from an Aboriginal word meaning “meeting place.” The city was designed by American architects Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin after they won an international design competition in 1911.
Fiji — Suva
Suva is the largest city in the South Pacific outside of Australia and New Zealand. Fiji consists of over 330 islands, of which about 110 are permanently inhabited.
Kiribati — South Tarawa
South Tarawa is one of the most densely populated places on Earth. Kiribati (pronounced “Kiribas”) is the first country to experience sunrise each day and faces an existential threat from rising sea levels — most of the country is less than 2 meters above sea level.
Marshall Islands — Majuro
Majuro is a thin coral atoll — in some places less than 100 meters wide — that serves as the capital of a nation spread across 29 atolls in the Pacific Ocean.
Micronesia — Palikir
Palikir is one of the world’s smallest and least-known capitals. The Federated States of Micronesia consists of over 600 islands spread across the western Pacific Ocean.
Nauru — Yaren
Nauru has no official capital — Yaren is the largest settlement and functions as the de facto capital. Nauru is the world’s smallest island nation and the third smallest country by area.
New Zealand — Wellington
Wellington is the southernmost capital city in the world. The city is extremely windy — it’s known as the “Windy City” — due to the Cook Strait that channels strong winds between the North and South Islands.
Palau — Ngerulmud
Ngerulmud became Palau’s capital in 2006, replacing Koror. It is the least populous capital city in the world, with fewer than 400 people living there.
Papua New Guinea — Port Moresby
Port Moresby is the capital of one of the world’s most linguistically diverse countries — Papua New Guinea has over 800 languages, more than any other country on Earth.
Samoa — Apia
Apia is one of the southernmost capital cities in the world. Samoa is famous for being one of the first places on Earth to see the New Year each day, as it sits just west of the International Date Line.
Solomon Islands — Honiara
Honiara was built on the site of fierce World War II battles on Guadalcanal island. The waters around the island are still littered with sunken warships from the conflict.
Tonga — Nukuʻalofa
Nukuʻalofa is the capital of the last Polynesian monarchy — Tonga is a constitutional monarchy and the only Pacific nation never fully colonized by a European power.
Tuvalu — Funafuti
Funafuti is the capital of one of the world’s smallest and lowest-lying nations. Tuvalu is so threatened by rising sea levels that the country has negotiated with New Zealand to accept all its citizens if the islands become uninhabitable.
Vanuatu — Port Vila
Port Vila is consistently ranked as one of the happiest places on Earth in the Happy Planet Index. Vanuatu consists of 80 islands and is one of the most linguistically diverse countries per capita in the world.
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