Capital Cities in Africa

Africa's Capital Cities

Africa's capital cities are listed below. Many of Africa's capitals are not necessarily places of interest to the average tourist. But most of the international airports are based just outside the capital cities, as well as tourist offices, embassies, major hospitals, large hotels and banks.

African capital cities vary widely in population density. Maseru, the capital of Lesotho has a population of around 14,000, whereas Cairo in Egypt, Africa's largest city, has an estimated population of 17 million in its metropolitan area. In Libya, 85% of the population live in urban areas, whereas in Rwanda, only 6% of the population live in cities and towns. Some African capitals are planned and don't have nearly the history or population density as the more organically grown cities. You may for example expect the capital of Nigeria to be Lagos (population almost 8 million), but in fact it's Abuja (population 700,000).

Check out these images of African Capital Cities

Africa's Capital Cities

Algeria - Algiers
Angola - Luanda
Benin - Porto-Novo
Botswana - Gaborone
Burkina Faso - Ouagadougou
Burundi - Bujumbara
Cameroon - Yaounde
Cape Verde - Praia
Central African Republic - Bangui
Chad - N'Djamena
Comoros - Moroni
Congo, Republic of the - Brazzaville
Congo, Democratic Republic of the - Kinshasa
Cote d'Ivoire - Yamoussoukro (official); Abidjan (de facto)
Djibouti - Djibouti
Egypt - Cairo
Equatorial Guinea - Malabo
Eritrea - Asmara
Ethiopia - Addis Ababa
Gabon - Libreville
The Gambia - Banjul
Ghana - Accra
Guinea - Conakry
Guinea-Bissau - Bissau
Kenya - Nairobi
Lesotho - Maseru
Liberia - Monrovia
Libya - Tripoli
Madagascar - Antananarivo
Malawi - Lilongwe
Mali - Bamako
Mauritania - Nouakchott
Mauritius - Port Louis
Morocco - Rabat
Mozambique - Maputo
Namibia - Windhoek
Niger - Niamey
Nigeria - Abuja
Rwanda - Kigali
Senegal - Dakar
Seychelles - Victoria
Sierra Leone - Freetown
Somalia - Mogadishu
South Africa - Pretoria/Tshwane (administrative); Cape Town (legislative); Bloemfontein/Mangaung (judiciary)
Sudan - Khartoum
Swaziland - Mbabane
Tanzania - Dar es Salaam; Dodoma (legislative)
Togo - Lome
Tunisia - Tunis
Uganda - Kampala
Zambia - Lusaka
Zimbabwe - Harare

Disputed territory capitals include:

Western Sahara - La 'Youn
Somaliland - Hargeisa