Asian Capitals Quiz

Capitals across Asia.

Capitals across Asia — the continent with the most recently relocated capitals, and the one where quizzes disagree with each other most often.

Asia's particular problem: the answer keeps changing

More capitals have moved in Asia in the last fifty years than anywhere else, and a lot of quizzes, textbooks and apps have not kept up. Knowing which answers are contested is worth as much here as knowing the capitals themselves.

Myanmar — Naypyidaw, not Yangon. Moved in 2005 to a purpose-built inland city. Yangon is still much larger and many sources still say Rangoon or Yangon.
Kazakhstan — the capital city has been renamed more than once, most recently back to Astana. Almaty, the largest city, was the capital until 1997 and is still a common wrong answer.
Sri Lanka — the official capital is Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, a suburb of Colombo. Colombo is the commercial capital and the answer most quizzes accept.
Indonesia — Jakarta is the capital, but Indonesia has legislated to move it to a new city, Nusantara, on Borneo. Jakarta remains the answer for now and this is an area where quizzes will diverge for years.
Malaysia — Kuala Lumpur is the capital, but the federal administrative centre is Putrajaya, which is where most government offices actually sit.

If a quiz marks you wrong on any of these, it is usually the quiz that is out of date rather than you.

The regional blocks

East Asia — China/Beijing, Japan/Tokyo, South Korea/Seoul, North Korea/Pyongyang, Mongolia/Ulaanbaatar, Taiwan/Taipei. Mostly familiar. Ulaanbaatar is the one people blank on.

Southeast Asia (11) — Thailand/Bangkok, Vietnam/Hanoi, Cambodia/Phnom Penh, Laos/Vientiane, Myanmar/Naypyidaw, Malaysia/Kuala Lumpur, Singapore/Singapore, Indonesia/Jakarta, Philippines/Manila, Brunei/Bandar Seri Begawan, Timor-Leste/Dili. Vietnam is Hanoi, not Ho Chi Minh City, which is larger — a very common miss.

South Asia (8) — India/New Delhi, Pakistan/Islamabad, Bangladesh/Dhaka, Nepal/Kathmandu, Bhutan/Thimphu, Sri Lanka/Colombo, Maldives/Malé, Afghanistan/Kabul. Pakistan is Islamabad, not Karachi or Lahore — a purpose-built capital from the 1960s. India is New Delhi, technically a district within the larger city of Delhi.

Central Asia (5) — Kazakhstan/Astana, Uzbekistan/Tashkent, Turkmenistan/Ashgabat, Kyrgyzstan/Bishkek, Tajikistan/Dushanbe. The block most people score zero on. All five capitals are unfamiliar and none resembles its country's name, so there is no shortcut — just repetition.

West Asia and the Middle East — Turkey/Ankara, Iran/Tehran, Iraq/Baghdad, Saudi Arabia/Riyadh, Syria/Damascus, Lebanon/Beirut, Jordan/Amman, Israel (contested), Palestine (contested), Yemen/Sana'a, Oman/Muscat, UAE/Abu Dhabi, Qatar/Doha, Kuwait/Kuwait City, Bahrain/Manama, Armenia/Yerevan, Georgia/Tbilisi, Azerbaijan/Baku, Cyprus/Nicosia.

Turkey is Ankara, not Istanbul — probably the single most-missed capital in the world. Istanbul is far larger and far more famous; Ankara became the capital in 1923. The UAE is Abu Dhabi, not Dubai. Same pattern: the famous city is not the capital.

The pattern worth internalising

Across Asia the same rule keeps applying: the most famous city is usually not the capital. Istanbul, Ho Chi Minh City, Karachi, Almaty, Yangon, Dubai, Mumbai — all larger or better known than their country's actual seat of government.

When you are unsure, the less famous answer is more often right. That single heuristic will earn you more points on this continent than any amount of individual memorisation.

Where to go next

Asian Flags covers the same countries, and the Central Asian block in particular benefits from being learned twice over from two directions.

Frequently asked questions

What is the capital of Turkey?

Ankara. Istanbul is much larger and far better known, and was the capital of the Ottoman Empire, but Ankara was made capital of the Turkish Republic in 1923. It is one of the most commonly missed capitals in the world.

What is the capital of Myanmar?

Naypyidaw. The government moved there from Yangon in 2005 to a purpose-built inland city. Yangon, formerly Rangoon, remains the largest city and is still given as the answer by many out-of-date sources.

Is Jakarta still the capital of Indonesia?

Yes, for now. Indonesia has legislated to move the capital to Nusantara, a new city on Borneo, because Jakarta is overcrowded and sinking. The transition is gradual, so Jakarta remains the expected quiz answer and sources will disagree for some years.

What is the capital of the UAE?

Abu Dhabi. Dubai is larger, far more internationally visible and the one most people name, but Abu Dhabi is the federal capital and the largest emirate.

Why do Asian capital quizzes disagree with each other?

Because several capitals have moved or been renamed recently — Myanmar in 2005, Kazakhstan's capital repeatedly, Indonesia's move in progress — and because some countries designate an official capital that is not the working seat of government, as with Sri Lanka and Malaysia.

Play Asian Capitals offline in the app

Asian Capitals Quiz and the rest of the arcade are in the free Geography Quiz Arcade app: Get it on Google Play · Download on the App Store.