RareList

African capitals

All 57 capitals in Africa, from the ones everyone names first to the ones few people think of, with each capital’s country and region.

All 57 African capitals

Sorted by search interest, most familiar first. The last column is average monthly US Google searches.

Showing all 57. Tap a name to copy it.

African capitals, with definition, region, rarity tier and monthly searches
NameWhat it isRegion
Capital of Djibouti, in Eastern Africa. Eastern Africa Plankton est.
Capital of Egypt, in Northern Africa. Northern Africa Too Clever 91K
The legislative capital of South Africa, in Southern Africa. Southern Africa Too Clever 91K
Capital of Kenya, in Eastern Africa. Eastern Africa Too Clever 74K
Capital of Somalia, in Eastern Africa. Eastern Africa Too Clever 61K
Capital of Ethiopia, in Eastern Africa. Eastern Africa Too Clever 50K
Capital of Uganda, in Eastern Africa. Eastern Africa Too Clever 50K
Capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Middle Africa. Middle Africa Too Clever 41K
Capital of Ghana, in Western Africa. Western Africa Too Clever 41K
Capital of Libya, in Northern Africa. Northern Africa Too Clever 41K
Capital of Algeria, in Northern Africa. Northern Africa Too Clever 33K
Capital of Senegal, in Western Africa. Western Africa Too Clever 33K
The executive capital of South Africa, in Southern Africa. Southern Africa Too Clever 33K
Capital of Nigeria, in Western Africa. Western Africa Too Clever 27K
Capital of Sudan, in Northern Africa. Northern Africa Too Clever 22K
Capital of Tunisia, in Northern Africa. Northern Africa Too Clever 22K
Capital of Angola, in Middle Africa. Middle Africa Too Clever 18K
Capital of Morocco, in Northern Africa. Northern Africa Too Clever 18K
Capital of Madagascar, in Eastern Africa. Eastern Africa Too Clever 15K
Capital of Rwanda, in Eastern Africa. Eastern Africa Too Clever 15K
Capital of São Tomé and Príncipe, in Middle Africa. Middle Africa Too Clever 15K
Capital of Burkina Faso, in Western Africa. Western Africa Too Clever 12K
Capital of Eritrea, in Eastern Africa. Eastern Africa Too Clever 12K
Capital of Mali, in Western Africa. Western Africa Too Clever 12K
Capital of Zambia, in Eastern Africa. Eastern Africa Too Clever 12K
Seat of government of Benin, in Western Africa. It is not the official capital. Western Africa Schooler 9.9K
Capital of Botswana, in Southern Africa. Southern Africa Schooler 9.9K
Capital of Liberia, in Western Africa. Western Africa Schooler est.
Capital of Mauritius, in Eastern Africa. Eastern Africa Schooler 9.9K
Capital of Mozambique, in Eastern Africa. Eastern Africa Schooler 9.9K
Capital of Namibia, in Southern Africa. Southern Africa Schooler 9.9K
Capital of the Republic of the Congo, in Middle Africa. Middle Africa Schooler 9.9K
Capital of Sierra Leone, in Western Africa. Western Africa Schooler 9.9K
Capital of South Sudan, in Eastern Africa. Eastern Africa Schooler 9.9K
Capital of Togo, in Western Africa. Western Africa Schooler 9.9K
Capital of Zimbabwe, in Eastern Africa. Eastern Africa Schooler 9.9K
Capital of the Central African Republic, in Middle Africa. Middle Africa Schooler 6.6K
Capital of Chad, in Middle Africa. Middle Africa Schooler 6.6K
Capital of Guinea, in Western Africa. Western Africa Schooler 6.6K
Capital of Mauritania, in Western Africa. Western Africa Schooler 6.6K
The judicial capital of South Africa, in Southern Africa. Southern Africa Schooler 6.6K
Capital of Gabon, in Middle Africa. Middle Africa Schooler 5.4K
Capital of the Gambia, in Western Africa. Western Africa Schooler 5.4K
Capital of Niger, in Western Africa. Western Africa Schooler 5.4K
The administrative capital of Eswatini, in Southern Africa. Southern Africa Schooler 4.4K
The official capital of Ivory Coast, in Western Africa. Western Africa Schooler 4.4K
Capital of Malawi, in Eastern Africa. Eastern Africa Schooler 4.4K
The official capital of Benin, in Western Africa. Western Africa Schooler 3.6K
Capital of Cameroon, in Middle Africa. Middle Africa Schooler 3.6K
Capital of Guinea-Bissau, in Western Africa. Western Africa Schooler 3.6K
Capital of Lesotho, in Southern Africa. Southern Africa Schooler 3.6K
Capital of Cape Verde, in Western Africa. Western Africa Schooler est.
Capital of Tanzania, in Eastern Africa. Eastern Africa Schooler 2.9K
Capital of the Seychelles, in Eastern Africa. Eastern Africa Schooler est.
Capital of Burundi, in Eastern Africa. Eastern Africa Schooler 1.9K
Capital of the Comoros, in Eastern Africa. Eastern Africa Schooler est.
The royal and legislative capital of Eswatini, in Southern Africa. Southern Africa Rare 480

Questions about African capitals

How many capitals are in Africa?

RareList lists 57 capitals for 53 countries in Africa. South Africa, Benin and Eswatini have more than one capital city, and each is listed with its role.

What are the best-known capitals in Africa?

The most searched in the US are Cairo, Cape Town, Nairobi, Mogadishu and Addis Ababa.

Which capital in Africa is the least searched?

Lobamba, with about 480 US searches a month. The royal and legislative capital of Eswatini, in Southern Africa.

Which capitals in Africa are named after their country?

Djibouti (Djibouti).

Capitals are listed for the 193 UN member states and the State of Palestine, except where we cannot state one: Israel and Palestine (the capital is disputed), Equatorial Guinea (a move from Malabo could not be confirmed) and Nauru (no official capital). Vatican City is a city-state and is left out. Where a country splits its capital functions, each city is listed with its role. Capitals come from the open mledoze/countries dataset, checked by hand.

Searches marked “est.” are estimates: for a capital whose name mostly means something else, such as Victoria or Georgetown, we count searches for the city plus its country; for Singapore, Monaco, Luxembourg and Djibouti the city and the country share one name, so the figure is the country’s.