Country to Capital Quiz

Given a country, name its capital.

Given a country, name its capital. The direction almost every general-knowledge quiz uses, and the one worth being good at.

Start here, not with the reverse

Country to Capital is the useful direction. Pub quizzes, exam papers and trivia apps almost always give you the country and ask for the city, because everyone recognises country names and not everyone recognises Vientiane.

Capital to Country is the harder direction and worth practising later. Do this one until it is reliable first.

The traps, which are most of the quiz

The single rule that decides more questions than any other: the capital is often not the largest city. Learn the exceptions and you have learned most of what a capitals quiz tests.

Turkey — Ankara, not Istanbul. Probably the most-missed capital in the world.
Australia — Canberra, not Sydney.
Canada — Ottawa, not Toronto.
Brazil — Brasília, not Rio de Janeiro.
United States — Washington, D.C., not New York.
Switzerland — Bern, not Zurich or Geneva.
Morocco — Rabat, not Casablanca.
Nigeria — Abuja, not Lagos.
Myanmar — Naypyidaw, not Yangon.
Vietnam — Hanoi, not Ho Chi Minh City.
Pakistan — Islamabad, not Karachi.
India — New Delhi, not Mumbai.
New Zealand — Wellington, not Auckland.
UAE — Abu Dhabi, not Dubai.
Tanzania — Dodoma, not Dar es Salaam.
Côte d'Ivoire — Yamoussoukro officially, Abidjan in practice.

Countries with more than one capital

Worth knowing because quizzes phrase these carefully:

South Africa — Pretoria (executive), Cape Town (legislative), Bloemfontein (judicial).
Bolivia — Sucre (constitutional), La Paz (seat of government).
Netherlands — Amsterdam (constitutional), The Hague (government).
Sri Lanka — Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte (official), Colombo (commercial).
Malaysia — Kuala Lumpur (capital), Putrajaya (administrative).

If a quiz marks you wrong on one of these it is often the quiz being simplistic rather than you being wrong.

Where capitals share the country's name

A free pattern covering a dozen answers: Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City, Luxembourg City, Guatemala City, Panama City, Mexico City, Kuwait City, Djibouti, Singapore, Tunis for Tunisia, Algiers for Algeria, Bissau for Guinea-Bissau, and Brasília echoing Brazil.

When a country is very small or very new, the capital is disproportionately likely to share its name.

How to practise

Region by region, and review only your misses. Shuffling all 197 countries every round scatters your gaps so you never actually clear one. The continent quizzes exist for exactly this reason.

Africa is the block worth the most — 54 countries, and most people start from around fifteen.

Frequently asked questions

What is the most commonly missed capital city?

Ankara. Istanbul is far larger and better known and was the Ottoman capital, but Ankara has been the capital of the Turkish Republic since 1923. Canberra, Bern, Ottawa and Brasília are missed for the same reason — the famous city is not the seat of government.

Which countries have more than one capital?

South Africa has three — Pretoria, Cape Town and Bloemfontein. Bolivia has Sucre and La Paz. The Netherlands, Sri Lanka and Malaysia each have a constitutional capital and a separate seat of government.

Should I learn countries or capitals first?

Countries. Capitals attach to countries, so learning the cities before you have a solid map means memorising names with nothing to anchor them to. Once you can name a continent's countries, its capitals go in far faster.

How many world capitals are there?

Around 195 to 197, roughly matching the number of sovereign states. It is not exact because several countries designate more than one capital and a few name a capital that is not where the government actually sits.

Play Country → Capital offline in the app

Country to Capital 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.