50 Fun Facts About African Capital Cities

Which purpose-built city at the geographic centre of Nigeria has been the national capital since 1991?

Abuja was built from scratch to take over from Lagos, which had become badly overcrowded. Its best-known landmark is Aso Rock, a 400-metre monolith.

Which South African city, nicknamed the Jacaranda City, is the executive capital and host to all foreign embassies?

Pretoria is only one of South Africa's three capitals: it houses the government departments, while the legislative and judicial capitals are two other cities.

Which city in the centre of Tanzania, whose name means 'it has sunk', is the country's official capital?

Dodoma was chosen to centralise the capital, yet Dar es Salaam on the coast remains Tanzania's largest city and commercial hub.

Which Moroccan city, home to the unfinished Hassan Tower, became the national capital at independence in 1956?

Rabat ranks behind Casablanca in size, but it is one of Morocco's four imperial cities and its medina is a World Heritage Site.

Which African capital, founded in 1822 for free Black Americans, was named in honour of a US president?

Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, was renamed in 1824 for James Monroe, the US president of the day; before that the settlement was called Christopolis.

Which city, founded as a rail depot on the Uganda Railway, is the capital and largest city of Kenya?

Nairobi takes its name from a Maasai phrase meaning 'place of cool waters', and the young railway town soon replaced the port of Mombasa as the capital.

Which city, whose name means 'new flower', is Ethiopia's capital and home of the African Union headquarters?

Addis Ababa stands more than 2,300 metres above sea level, which makes it the highest capital city in Africa.

Which city, known as Salisbury until it was renamed in 1982, is the capital of Zimbabwe?

Harare got its present name on the second anniversary of Zimbabwe's independence. It began in 1890 as a fort set up by the Pioneer Column.

Freetown, founded in 1792 as a settlement for freed slaves, is the capital of which West African country?

Sierra Leone's capital was settled by more than 1,100 former American slaves, who sailed there from Nova Scotia to escape harsh weather and discrimination.

Which Egyptian city, nicknamed 'the city of a thousand minarets', is the national capital and largest city?

Cairo gets its name from the Arabic al-Qāhirah, 'the Vanquisher', bestowed when the Fatimid dynasty made the city its capital.

Which city, called Léopoldville until 1966, is the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo?

Kinshasa began in 1881 as a trading post set up by the explorer Henry Morton Stanley, who named it after his employer, King Leopold II of the Belgians.

Which city, capital of the British Gold Coast from 1877, is now the capital of Ghana?

Accra grew out of settlements around three rival European forts: British Fort James, Dutch Fort Crêvecoeur and Danish Fort Christiansborg.

Which city, sitting at the westernmost point of mainland Africa, is the capital of Senegal?

Dakar became the capital of French West Africa in 1902, then briefly led the short-lived Mali Federation before becoming the capital of Senegal.

Which city, the birthplace of president Félix Houphouët-Boigny, became the legal capital of Côte d'Ivoire in 1983?

Yamoussoukro, in the country also known as Ivory Coast, holds the vast Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, while Abidjan keeps several political functions.

Which city, with ancient Carthage among its suburbs, is the capital of the country holding Africa's northernmost point?

Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, has at its core a Medina that is a World Heritage Site, with the modern Ville Nouvelle beginning beyond its Sea Gate to the east.

Which city, famed for its hillside Casbah, is the capital of the largest country in Africa by area?

Algiers, the capital of Algeria, has been a seat of power since 1516, first for an Ottoman regency, then for French colonial rulers and, since 1962, for the independent state.

Which city, originally built on seven hills close to Lake Victoria, is the capital of Uganda?

Kampala took over as capital from Entebbe at independence in 1962. Its name recalls the impala that roamed a royal hunting ground on one of its hills.

Which city, standing where the Blue Nile meets the White Nile, is the capital of Sudan?

Khartoum calls the meeting point of the two rivers al-Mogran, 'the Confluence'; the White Nile arrives from Lake Victoria and the Blue Nile from Lake Tana.

Tripoli, whose name comes from the Greek for 'three cities', is the capital of which North African country?

Libya's capital grew from Oea, the only one of the three ancient cities to survive antiquity; the other two were Sabratha and Leptis Magna.

Antananarivo, founded in the early 1600s by the Merina king Andrianjaka, is the capital of which country?

Madagascar's capital sits about 1,280 metres up in the centre of the island, making it the highest capital of any island country.

Mogadishu, an Indian Ocean port known locally as Hamar, is the capital of which country?

Somalia's capital was once the seat of the Sultanate of Mogadishu, a medieval trading power that dominated the region's gold trade.

Lusaka, which began as a water stop on a railway from the Copperbelt mines, is the capital of which country?

Zambia's capital takes its name from a Lenje chief called Lusaaka, and the colonial government moved there from Livingstone to be more central.

Luanda, founded by a Portuguese explorer in 1576, is the Atlantic seaport capital of which country?

Angola's capital and its metropolitan area make up the most populous Portuguese-speaking capital in the world, larger than any Lusophone city outside Brazil.

Which city, founded in 1907 as a German colonial outpost among rolling hills, is the capital of Rwanda?

Kigali was picked by the German resident Richard Kandt for its central location and views, but only became the capital at independence in 1962.

Which city, known as Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the capital of Mozambique?

Maputo sits on a large natural bay on the Indian Ocean; its old name honoured a navigator who explored the area in 1544.

Which city, beside the rapids that divide the upper and middle Niger valleys, is the capital of Mali?

Bamako is surrounded on all sides by the Koulikoro Region but belongs to none of Mali's regions: it is run as a separate capital district.

Which city, founded by German explorers as a trading base for rubber and ivory, is the capital of Cameroon?

Yaoundé was chosen as the colonial capital under French rule in 1922, although the port of Douala remained the bigger and more important city.

Which city, named after an Italian-born French explorer, is the capital of the Republic of the Congo?

Brazzaville served as the capital of Free France during World War II, and it looks across the Congo River at the capital of its far larger neighbour.

Which city, built at a hot spring and refounded by a German army major in 1890, is the capital of Namibia?

Windhoek was first settled in 1840 by Jonker Afrikaner, captain of the Orlam, who built a stone church there for his community.

Gaborone, a city planned in the 1960s and named after a Tlokwa chief, is the capital of which country?

Botswana picked the site because it belonged to no single indigenous group and was close to fresh water; the capital moved there from Mafeking in 1965.

Which city, named after a river, replaced Zomba as the capital of Malawi in 1975?

Lilongwe was singled out in 1965 by Malawi's first president, Hastings Kamuzu Banda, as a growth point for the north and centre of the country.

Libreville, settled in 1849 by slaves freed from a captured Brazilian ship, is the capital of which country?

Gabon's capital has a name that is simply French for 'Freetown', and its freed settlers went on to elect a former slave named Mountier as mayor.

Ouagadougou, host of the pan-African film festival FESPACO, is the capital of which West African country?

Burkina Faso's capital was the heart of the Mossi kingdom of Wagadugu, and in 1919 the French made it the capital of their Upper Volta territory.

Asmara, a World Heritage Site for its Italian modernist architecture, is the capital of which country?

Eritrea's capital modernised so fast under Italian rule that it was nicknamed Piccola Roma, 'Little Rome'; at 2,325 metres it is Africa's second-highest capital.

N'Djamena, known as Fort-Lamy until 1973, stands on the Chari River as the capital of which country?

Chad's capital was first named after the French army officer Amédée-François Lamy; its present name comes from an Arabic term meaning 'place of rest'.

Lomé, a port whose city limits run right up to the border with Ghana, is the capital of which country?

Togo's capital was founded by Ewe traders who wanted to unload goods out of reach of British customs officers, and it became the capital of Togoland in 1897.

Banjul, known as Bathurst until 1973, sits on St Mary's Island at a river mouth and is the capital of which country?

The Gambia's capital may take its name from 'bang julo', a Mandinka word for the rope fibre that people once gathered on the island.

Which city on the left bank of the Niger River replaced Zinder as the capital of Niger in 1926?

Niamey first replaced Zinder as the territorial capital from 1903 to 1911, lost the role, and won it back for good in 1926.

Which city, first settled on tiny Tombo Island before spreading along the Kaloum Peninsula, is the capital of Guinea?

Conakry was essentially founded after Britain ceded the island to France in 1887, and it became the capital of French Guinea in 1904.

Which city on the White Nile became a national capital in 2011, when South Sudan gained independence?

Juba had served since 2005 as the seat of the Autonomous Government of Southern Sudan, set up under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

Nouakchott, a small coastal fishing village until building began in 1958, is the capital of which country?

Mauritania had no capital city as independence approached, so one was built from scratch; it has since grown into one of the largest cities in the Sahara.

Which country on the Gulf of Tadjoura has a capital that began as a French port in 1888?

Djibouti City was founded on land leased from local sultans, and it went on to serve as the capital of the French territory that became the modern republic.

Which African country was governed for decades from Malabo on Bioko island?

Equatorial Guinea made the planned inland city of Ciudad de la Paz, 'City of Peace', its capital in January 2026, ending Malabo's run since independence in 1968.

Bangui, founded in 1889 as a French outpost beside rapids on the Ubangi River, is the capital of which country?

The Central African Republic's capital is named after its river, whose own name comes from a Bobangi word for the rapids beside the settlement.

Which country made Gitega, its old royal seat, the political capital in 2019 and kept Bujumbura as economic capital?

Burundi's kings ruled from Gitega until the monarchy was abolished in 1966; the city lies in the centre of the country, about 62 kilometres east of Bujumbura.

Which city is the official capital of Benin and home of its legislature, while the government sits in Cotonou?

Porto-Novo grew up as a port for the transatlantic slave trade run by the Portuguese, whose name for it simply means 'New Port'.

Which capital on the Geba River estuary was founded in 1687 as a Portuguese trading post?

Bissau, the capital of Guinea-Bissau, became a Portuguese captaincy-general after French traders moved in; by 1696 it had a fort, a church and a hospital.

Which African capital shares its name with its island, the leading centre of Portuguese sugar production in the 1500s?

São Tomé, the capital of São Tomé and Príncipe, has a name that is Portuguese for 'Saint Thomas'; its island led the sugar trade until Brazil overtook it by 1600.

Which city on Ngazidja, the largest island of the Comoros, is the national capital and seat of government?

Moroni means 'at the river' in the local Shingazidja language; the town took over as capital from Dzaoudzi, on Mayotte, after a decision made in 1958.

Praia, a port on Santiago island whose plateau site protected it from pirates, is the capital of which country?

Cape Verde's capital gained a large advantage over the older city of Ribeira Grande, which privateers including Sir Francis Drake had attacked.