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Free World Capitals quiz: 181 trivia questions and answers — countries & capital cities. Easy to hard, with explained answers. No sign-up.
Start this quiz →🖨️ Printable version (20 questions + answers)
From Paris to Canberra, by way of Brasilia and Ankara, this quiz explores the world's capital cities: sometimes surprising historical choices, cities built from scratch, and constitutional quirks. A fun way to travel through the world's political geography.
This quiz currently has 181 questions, ranging from easy to hard, available in French, English and Spanish when the Spanish translation is available.
Warm up before the quiz with these 20 trivia questions and their explained answers: click a question to reveal the answer.
Answer: Paris. Paris has been the capital without interruption since Hugh Capet in 987. Its metropolitan area alone holds nearly a fifth of the country's population.
Answer: King Edward Point. Rather than a town, it is a station where a few scientists and government officers live, on a bay full of seals and penguins. It lies next to Grytviken, a former whaling station where explorer Ernest Shackleton is buried.
Answer: Tórshavn. With some 14,000 inhabitants, Tórshavn is one of the smallest capitals in the world. On the Tinganes peninsula, in the heart of town, the Løgting, one of the oldest parliamentary assemblies still in existence, already met in the Middle Ages. The Faroes are self-governing within the Kingdom of Denmark.
Answer: Mamoudzou. Mamoudzou replaced Dzaoudzi, on the small island of Petite-Terre, as the administrative centre in 1977. A barge links the two islands in about fifteen minutes: the airport is on Petite-Terre. Moroni, meanwhile, is the capital of the neighbouring Union of the Comoros.
Answer: Malé. More than 200,000 people are packed into Malé, capital of the Maldives, so much that the city had to reclaim land from the sea and build an artificial island, Hulhumalé. Since 2018 a bridge has linked it to the airport island.
Answer: Gitega. Former residence of Burundi's kings, Gitega, in the centre of the country, was chosen to bring power closer to the heart of the territory. Bujumbura, on Lake Tanganyika, remains the largest city and the economic capital.
Answer: Guatemala City. After Antigua was destroyed, the capital was rebuilt in 1776 in a nearby valley. Antigua, with its ruined baroque churches, is now a UNESCO site, while Guatemala City has become the largest urban area in Central America.
Answer: Gaborone. Until then, the Bechuanaland Protectorate was oddly run from Mafeking, a town… located in South Africa. Gaborone, named after a local chief, was built almost from scratch and now has nearly 250,000 inhabitants.
Answer: Saipan. The capture of Saipan in July 1944 cost tens of thousands of soldiers' and civilians' lives; many Japanese residents threw themselves off the cliffs rather than surrender. The island is now a popular holiday destination for Asian visitors.
Answer: Kigali. On the last Saturday of every month, Rwandans take part in community service. This tradition, together with a ban on plastic bags, has made Kigali one of the cleanest cities in Africa.
Answer: Bern. A Swiss subtlety: the constitution names no capital. Bern is officially the 'federal city', seat of government and parliament. In practice, it serves as the capital.
Answer: Vatican City. At 0.44 km² and roughly 800 inhabitants, Vatican City is the smallest state in the world. Monaco is also a city-state, but its official capital carries a distinct name: Monaco-Ville.
Answer: Apia. Stevenson settled at Vailima, in the hills above Apia, where the Samoans called him ‘Tusitala’, the storyteller; he died there in 1894. A fun fact: at the end of 2011, Samoa skipped an entire day, 30 December, by moving to the other side of the International Date Line.
Answer: St Peter Port. Hugo lived for nearly fifteen years at Hauteville House, which he decorated himself and from which, on clear days, he could see the French coast. He wrote most of Les Misérables there, published in 1862. The house now belongs to the City of Paris and is open to visitors.
Answer: Singapore. Founded as a British trading post in 1819 by Stamford Raffles, Singapore was expelled from the Federation of Malaysia in 1965 and became independent almost in spite of itself. Famous for its cleanliness, it even banned the sale of chewing gum in 1992.
Answer: Pago Pago. Several Apollo missions, including Apollo 13, splashed down in the South Pacific, and their astronauts were welcomed in Pago Pago, American Samoa, before flying home to the United States. A monument recalls this unexpected link between the small territory and the space race.
Answer: Maseru. Lesotho's capital sits on the border, at the low point of a high-altitude country. It has a building shaped like a mokorotlo, the Basotho's traditional conical hat, which also appears on the national flag.
Answer: St. George's. Grenada is one of the world's leading nutmeg producers. Off its capital, an underwater sculpture park created in 2006 has become a draw for divers. In 1983 the island was invaded by the United States after a coup.
Answer: Nouakchott. Built on the Atlantic coast for Mauritania's independence, the city saw its population boom as droughts drove nomads to the coast. Some districts lie below sea level, sheltered by a fragile line of dunes.
Answer: Algiers. Nicknamed ‘Algiers the White’ for its whitewashed houses, the Algerian capital rises like an amphitheatre above the Mediterranean. Its alleys were the setting for the film The Battle of Algiers (1966), winner of the Golden Lion in Venice.
161 more questions are waiting for you in the quiz!