African Countries Quiz

African Countries Quiz: 54 Nations to Place on the Map

Africa is home to 54 countries recognized by the African Union, from Morocco in the north to South Africa in the south. This geography quiz tests your knowledge of the continent's capitals, land areas, landlocked countries, and archipelagos. Ninety questions spread across three levels: easy for the basics, medium to go deeper, and hard for the experts.

African Capitals: Beyond the Obvious

Cairo, Rabat, Dakar: these capitals are well known. But do you know Lilongwe (Malawi), Gitega (Burundi), or Moroni (Comoros)? South Africa complicates things with three capitals: Pretoria for the executive branch, Cape Town for the legislature, and Bloemfontein for the judiciary. Ivory Coast trips up players too: Yamoussoukro has been the official capital since 1983, not Abidjan.

Former Colonial Names

Upper Volta, Southern Rhodesia, Dahomey, Ubangi-Shari, Gold Coast: these names disappeared from the map between 1957 and 1997. Ghana was the first sub-Saharan African country to gain independence, in 1957. Zaire became the Democratic Republic of the Congo again in 1997. Eswatini dropped the name Swaziland in 2018. These questions often show up in the medium and hard levels.

Sixteen Landlocked Countries

Africa has 16 landlocked countries, a world record. Lesotho is unique: it's entirely surrounded by South Africa. Mali, Niger, and Chad depend on the ports of their coastal neighbors. By contrast, five island nations — Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Comoros, Cape Verde, and São Tomé and Príncipe — are archipelagos in the Indian or Atlantic Ocean.

Timeline and Free-Text Formats

Want to mix up the format? The chronological quiz asks you to put African independence dates in order. With free-text entry, you type the capital names directly instead of choosing from multiple options. Two ways to raise the challenge.

Your Score Against Other Players

Every quiz records your score, your time, and your percentage of correct answers. You can compare your results on Quizoland's overall leaderboard. And for a fresh daily challenge, check out the quiz of the day: a different topic every morning.

Exploring African Geography

This quiz covers all 54 African countries: their current names, their former names, their capitals, their land areas. Algeria dominates with 2.38 million km². The Seychelles are the smallest African country at 455 km². In between, 52 more nations to discover, question after question.