Memorize Every African Capital: 54 Flashcards and the Trick Questions to Watch

Deck UI6233 – Capitals: Africa has 54 cards, one for each African UN member state, from Algeria to Tanzania. The list is complete — no country missing — and the three multi-capital nations get honest answers. Its weaknesses are order and a handful of answers that hide a second city. Here is a study plan built on the real cards.

A sample of the deck

Full coverage: Algiers, Luanda, Gaborone, Yaoundé, Praia, Bangui, N'Djamena, Moroni, Kinshasa, Brazzaville, Cairo, Malabo, Asmara, Addis Ababa, Libreville, Banjul, Accra, Conakry, Bissau, Nairobi, Maseru, Monrovia, Tripoli, Antananarivo, Lilongwe, Bamako, Nouakchott, Port Louis, Rabat, Maputo, Windhoek, Niamey, Kigali, São Tomé, Dakar, Victoria, Freetown, Mogadishu, Juba, Khartoum, Lomé, Tunis, Kampala, Lusaka, Harare.

Tip 1: study by region, not A to Z

Cards 1-51 run alphabetically and the three hard cases are parked at the end (52-54). Alphabetical order teaches you the sequence, not the map. Shuffle into five regional sets:

• North: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Sudan
• West: the 15 ECOWAS-area states plus Mauritania
• Central: Cameroon, Chad, CAR, Gabon, both Congos, Equatorial Guinea, São Tomé
• East: the Horn plus Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, South Sudan
• South & islands: the SADC south plus Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius, Seychelles

Then add the reverse direction (capital → country): Niamey/Bamako and Brazzaville/Kinshasa are where most people slip.

Tip 2: flag the trick questions

Quiz shows love the African capital that is not the biggest city. The deck gives the official answer, so add the second city to the hint:

• Benin: Porto-Novo official, Cotonou is the seat of government — treat it like card 54 (Tanzania).
• Ivory Coast: Yamoussoukro official, Abidjan is the economic capital.
• Burundi: Gitega since 2019; Bujumbura before.
• Nigeria: Abuja replaced Lagos in 1991.
• Tanzania: card 54 is dated — most ministries have moved to Dodoma since 2019.
• Sudan: Khartoum is the official answer, but the government has worked from Port Sudan since the 2023 war.
• Equatorial Guinea: Malabo is the answer here, but the country has been building Ciudad de la Paz on the mainland as its future capital — check the current status before a quiz night.

Memory hooks that work

Twin Congos face each other across the river: Kinshasa (DRC, the big one) and Brazzaville (Republic, named after the French explorer). Pair Niamey (Niger) with Nigeria → Abuja, and Guinea → Conakry, Guinea-Bissau → Bissau, Equatorial Guinea → Malabo as one card.

For the rest of the world, see Learn the State Capitals of Mexico, Brazil and India and How to Learn Every Country by Continent.

Open UI6233 on Flip It to start.