A Complete List of African Countries and Their Capitals

Did you know?

South Africa has three official capitals. Pretoria is the executive capital, Bloemfontein is the judicial capital, and Cape Town is the legislative capital.

In the 19th century, the relatively unexplored continent of Africa was seen by Europe’s dominant powers as the perfect opportunity to expand their territory in order to utilize the continent’s various unused resources and establish colonial supremacy. This ensued the ‘Scramble for Africa’; as England, France, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Belgium and Spain divided the African continent (except Liberia and Ethiopia) between themselves.

Today, African countries are some of the worst-governed and most impoverished in the world. However, its varied landscapes, wildlife, culture, and traditions have made it one of the most desired travel destinations in the world.

List of African Countries and Their Capitals

Here is the complete list of African countries and their capitals.

Trivia

• South Sudan’s capital is planned to be moved to Ramciel from Juba in the near future.
• Dodoma has been Tanzania’s capital since 1996. Dar es Salaam served as the capital of Tanzania from 1964 (Independence) to 1996.
• The Comoros, Cape Verde, Mauritius, São Tomé & Príncipe and Seychelles, although not a part of the main African landmass, are a part of the African subcontinent.
• Western Sahara, bordered to the north by Morocco, is an occupied territory with El Aaiún as its official capital. This region, divided into north and south territories by the Moroccan Wall, is a disputed region. The northern regions of the wall (known as Free Zone) are controlled by Polisario, while the southern regions are considered Moroccan territory.

The very thought of the African continent evokes images of sweeping savannas, snarling lions, herds of elephants, rhinoceros, and thousands of other wild beasts. At the same time, African countries have been clogged by political instability, poverty and dismal human rights record in the post-colonisation period. Since the turn of the century, many African nations have taken a positive turn towards democracy, and shown positive economic growth in the information services and telecommunications sector. If the trend continues, Corporate America’s prediction of ‘Africa is the new Asia’ won’t be a far-off shot by any means.

Countries of the world rarely divide their government across three cities, yet South Africa does exactly that, with Pretoria, Bloemfontein, and Cape Town each serving a separate capital function.