Africa Capitals
Algeria: Algiers
Algiers is the capital of Algeria. Algiers lies on the Mediterranean Sea and is also the largest city in the country with 3.5 million inhabitants. Six million people live in the entire region. The old town (Kasbah) forms the old core of the city. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The castle from the 16th century, mosques, palaces and narrow streets characterize the picture here. Algiers is also called “the white one” because the white houses shine brightly in the sun.
Nigeria: Abuja
The capital of Nigeria is Abuja. It’s pretty much in the middle of the country. Abuja only became the capital in 1991, replacing Lagos, which is on the coast. With the choice of the new capital one wanted to choose a place that lies exactly in the middle between the north of the country, where mainly Muslims live, and the south, where mainly Christians live.
There is always a lot of argument between the two religious followers. With Abuja as the capital, both groups should have equal access to political power in the country. Abuja has 1.6 million inhabitants. The largest city is still Lagos with more than 13 million inhabitants. Lagos is actually the second largest city in Africa (after Cairo )!
South Africa: Pretoria
The capital of South Africa is called Pretoria. In 2005 the city council decided to change the name to Tshwane. The renaming was finally decided in 2016. However, the city is known worldwide by the old name. 2.9 million people live in it.
The Parliament of South Africa sits way, not in Pretoria, but in Cape Town. The largest city in the country is Johannesburg. The country is divided into nine provinces.
| Country | Capital | Population |
|---|---|---|
| Algeria | Algiers | 3,000,000 |
| Angola | Luanda | 8,000,000 |
| Benin | Porto-Novo (official), Cotonou (de facto) | 264,000 (Porto-Novo), 1,200,000 (Cotonou) |
| Botswana | Gaborone | 231,600 |
| Burkina Faso | Ouagadougou | 2,500,000 |
| Burundi | Gitega (official), Bujumbura (former capital) | 30,000 (Gitega), 497,000 (Bujumbura) |
| Cameroon | Yaoundé | 3,500,000 |
| Cape Verde | Praia | 137,000 |
| Central African Republic | Bangui | 900,000 |
| Chad | N’Djamena | 1,605,000 |
| Comoros | Moroni | 60,200 |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | Kinshasa | 14,300,000 |
| Republic of the Congo | Brazzaville | 2,400,000 |
| Djibouti | Djibouti | 624,000 |
| Egypt | Cairo | 9,500,000 |
| Equatorial Guinea | Malabo | 297,000 |
| Eritrea | Asmara | 649,000 |
| Eswatini (Swaziland) | Mbabane (administrative), Lobamba (royal and legislative) | 94,874 (Mbabane), 4,400 (Lobamba) |
| Ethiopia | Addis Ababa | 5,000,000 |
| Gabon | Libreville | 797,000 |
| The Gambia | Banjul | 31,000 |
| Ghana | Accra | 2,500,000 |
| Guinea | Conakry | 2,500,000 |
| Guinea-Bissau | Bissau | 492,000 |
| Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire) | Yamoussoukro (official), Abidjan (de facto) | 215,000 (Yamoussoukro), 4,700,000 (Abidjan) |
| Kenya | Nairobi | 4,500,000 |
| Lesotho | Maseru | 330,000 |
| Liberia | Monrovia | 1,000,000 |
| Libya | Tripoli | 1,150,000 |
| Madagascar | Antananarivo | 1,600,000 |
| Malawi | Lilongwe | 1,000,000 |
| Mali | Bamako | 2,000,000 |
| Mauritania | Nouakchott | 1,000,000 |
| Mauritius | Port Louis | 148,000 |
| Morocco | Rabat | 1,600,000 |
| Mozambique | Maputo | 1,100,000 |
| Namibia | Windhoek | 430,000 |
| Niger | Niamey | 1,300,000 |
| Nigeria | Abuja | 2,800,000 |
| Rwanda | Kigali | 1,200,000 |
| São Tomé and Príncipe | São Tomé | 71,000 |
| Senegal | Dakar | 3,000,000 |
| Seychelles | Victoria | 26,000 |
| Sierra Leone | Freetown | 1,200,000 |
| Somalia | Mogadishu | 2,500,000 |
| South Africa | Pretoria (administrative), Bloemfontein (judicial), Cape Town (legislative) | 2,000,000 (Pretoria), 500,000 (Bloemfontein), 4,500,000 (Cape Town) |
| South Sudan | Juba | 450,000 |
| Sudan | Khartoum | 5,000,000 |
| Tanzania | Dodoma (official), Dar es Salaam (former capital) | 410,956 (Dodoma), 6,000,000 (Dar es Salaam) |
| Togo | Lomé | 1,800,000 |
| Tunisia | Tunis | 2,800,000 |
| Uganda | Kampala | 1,500,000 |
| Zambia | Lusaka | 2,000,000 |
| Zimbabwe | Harare | 1,600,000 |