Open an older quiz book at Equatorial Guinea and the answer will be Malabo, on Bioko Island in the Gulf of Guinea. That stopped being right in January 2026, when a presidential decree made Ciudad de la Paz, a planned city on the mainland, the country's capital. Capitals do move, and this half of Africa has two recent moves: Burundi in 2019 and Equatorial Guinea in 2026.
Africa has 54 countries that are members of the United Nations. Part 1 covered the 22 in the UN's Northern Africa and Western Africa regions. This deck covers the other 32: the UN's Middle Africa, Eastern Africa and Southern Africa regions. Together the two decks go round the whole continent without repeating a card.
Central Africa
Nine countries, from Chad in the Sahara down to Angola:
- N'Djamena (Chad), where the Chari and Logone rivers meet. Chad is landlocked.
- Yaoundé (Cameroon), not Douala, the bigger port city.
- Bangui (Central African Republic), on the Ubangi River.
- Libreville (Gabon), on the Atlantic coast.
- Ciudad de la Paz (Equatorial Guinea), capital since January 2026. The city began as a project called Oyala, and the decree gave ministries a year to move there.
- São Tomé (São Tomé and Príncipe), an island country whose capital shares its name.
- Brazzaville (Republic of the Congo) and Kinshasa (DR Congo), which face each other across the Congo River. They are among the closest pairs of capital cities in the world.
- Luanda (Angola), on the Atlantic coast.
East Africa and the Horn
The UN's Eastern Africa region is the biggest, with 18 countries:
- The Horn: Asmara (Eritrea), Djibouti (Djibouti, another country and capital with the same name), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia, home of the African Union's headquarters) and Mogadishu (Somalia).
- The Great Lakes and north of them: Kampala (Uganda), Nairobi (Kenya), Kigali (Rwanda), Gitega (Burundi) and Juba (South Sudan, which became independent in 2011, Africa's newest country).
- Further south: Dodoma (Tanzania), Lusaka (Zambia), Harare (Zimbabwe, called Salisbury until 1982), Lilongwe (Malawi) and Maputo (Mozambique, called Lourenço Marques until 1976).
- The Indian Ocean islands: Antananarivo (Madagascar), Moroni (Comoros), Port Louis (Mauritius) and Victoria (Seychelles). Seychelles is Africa's smallest country by area.
Southern Africa
Five countries: Windhoek (Namibia), Gaborone (Botswana), Maseru (Lesotho), Mbabane (Eswatini) and South Africa's three capitals. Lesotho is entirely surrounded by South Africa. Eswatini changed its name from Swaziland in 2018.
Capitals with a catch
- South Africa has three. Pretoria is the executive capital, Cape Town the legislative capital where Parliament sits, and Bloemfontein the judicial capital. Johannesburg, the largest city, is none of them.
- Tanzania moved inland. Dodoma is the official capital and Parliament meets there, but Dar es Salaam is still the largest city and the main port.
- Burundi switched in 2019. Gitega became the political capital; Bujumbura remains the economic capital and the largest city.
- Eswatini splits the job. Mbabane is the administrative capital, while Lobamba is the royal and legislative capital.
- Somaliland is disputed. It declared independence from Somalia in 1991 and runs its own government. Somalia regards it as part of Somalia, and very few countries recognise it as a state. It isn't on the cards.
Easy ones to mix up
- The two Congos. Brazzaville for the Republic of the Congo, Kinshasa for the DR Congo.
- Yaoundé and Douala. Capital first, biggest city second.
- Dodoma and Dar es Salaam. Same pattern, Tanzania's version.
- Lilongwe and Lusaka. Both start with "L"; Lilongwe is Malawi, Lusaka is Zambia.
- Equatorial Guinea and the two Guineas. Guinea and Guinea-Bissau are in part 1.
Frequently asked questions
What is the capital of South Africa?
South Africa has three: Pretoria (executive), Cape Town (legislative) and Bloemfontein (judicial).
Is Dar es Salaam the capital of Tanzania?
No. Dodoma is the official capital, though Dar es Salaam is the largest city.
What is the capital of Equatorial Guinea now?
Ciudad de la Paz, since a decree in January 2026. Malabo was the capital before that.
What is the newest country in Africa?
South Sudan, independent since 2011, with Juba as its capital.
Try it
Cover the answers and say each capital before you flip, then go round the Indian Ocean islands from Madagascar to Seychelles. Where in the world are two capitals close enough to see each other across a river?