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World Capitals Trivia Questions

Paris and Tokyo to start, then Ankara, Canberra, Sucre and the three capitals of South Africa. Play the round, then read every question and answer below.

Written and checked by the Trivia Question Games editors · Updated September 2026

42questions
8min to read
5game modes
42answers explained
AllEasyMediumHard
Multiple choice 1/42 Score 0

Keys 1-4 pick an answer, Enter moves on. Nothing is saved to an account.

Capital cities look like the safest quiz subject there is until someone answers Istanbul, Sydney or Rio. The most famous city in a country is very often not its capital, and that gap is what makes this round work. Governments move their seat inland for defence, for balance between rivals, or simply because a new planned city was easier than expanding an old one.

The round is built around that idea. The easy fourteen are the capitals almost everyone can place. The medium fourteen collect the classic traps, where the largest city and the capital are different places. The hard fourteen go further, into countries that split the role between two or three cities, and into small states whose capitals rarely come up.

Europe: world capitals trivia questions

  1. What is the capital of France?

    Answer: Paris EasyIt has been the seat of French government for more than a thousand years.Why?

  2. What is the capital of Russia?

    Answer: Moscow EasySaint Petersburg took the role for two centuries before it returned to Moscow.Why?

  3. What is the capital of Spain?

    Answer: Madrid EasyIt sits almost exactly in the geographic centre of the country.Why?

  4. What is the capital of Portugal?

    Answer: Lisbon EasyIt was rebuilt on a grid plan after the earthquake of 1755.Why?

  5. What is the capital of Greece?

    Answer: Athens EasyThe Acropolis has overlooked the city since antiquity.Why?

  6. What is the capital of Norway?

    Answer: Oslo EasyIt sits at the head of a long fjord in the country's south east.Why?

  7. What is the capital of Switzerland?

    Answer: Bern MediumThe Swiss call it the federal city rather than a formal capital.Why?

  8. Which city is the constitutional capital of the Netherlands?

    Answer: Amsterdam MediumThe constitution names it, even though the government sits elsewhere.Why?

  9. Which Dutch city is the seat of government and home to the royal residence?

    Answer: The Hague MediumParliament, ministries and the international courts are all based there.Why?

  10. What is the capital of Malta?

    Answer: Valletta HardThe fortified city was laid out by the Knights of St John in the sixteenth century.Why?

  11. What is the capital of Liechtenstein?

    Answer: Vaduz HardThe whole country has fewer residents than a mid-sized town.Why?

Asia and Oceania: world capitals trivia questions

  1. What is the capital of Japan?

    Answer: Tokyo EasyKyoto held the role until the imperial court moved east in 1868.Why?

  2. What is the capital of India?

    Answer: New Delhi EasyKolkata was the capital of British India until 1911.Why?

  3. What is the capital of China?

    Answer: Beijing EasyIts name means northern capital.Why?

  4. What is the capital of Turkey?

    Answer: Ankara MediumThe capital moved inland in 1923, though Istanbul remains the largest city.Why?

  5. What is the capital of Australia?

    Answer: Canberra MediumIt was purpose-built between the two rivals that both wanted the title.Why?

  6. What is the capital of Myanmar?

    Answer: Naypyidaw MediumThe government moved there from Yangon in 2005.Why?

  7. What is the capital of New Zealand?

    Answer: Wellington MediumIt took the role from Auckland in 1865 for being more central.Why?

  8. What is the capital of Vietnam?

    Answer: Hanoi MediumHue was the imperial capital under the Nguyen dynasty.Why?

  9. What is the capital of Pakistan?

    Answer: Islamabad MediumIt was planned and built in the 1960s next to Rawalpindi.Why?

  10. What is the capital of Iran?

    Answer: Tehran MediumIt sits at the foot of the Alborz mountains.Why?

  11. What is the administrative capital of Sri Lanka?

    Answer: Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte HardParliament moved to this suburb of Colombo in the early 1980s.Why?

  12. What is the capital of Bhutan?

    Answer: Thimphu HardPunakha held the role before the seat of government moved in 1955.Why?

  13. What is the capital of Mongolia?

    Answer: Ulaanbaatar HardIt is one of the coldest capital cities in the world.Why?

  14. What is the capital of Kyrgyzstan?

    Answer: Bishkek HardAlmaty is in neighbouring Kazakhstan and Dushanbe is in Tajikistan.Why?

Africa: world capitals trivia questions

  1. What is the capital of Egypt?

    Answer: Cairo EasyIt sits at the head of the Nile delta.Why?

  2. What is the capital of Kenya?

    Answer: Nairobi EasyIt grew from a railway depot built at the turn of the twentieth century.Why?

  3. What is the capital of Nigeria?

    Answer: Abuja MediumLagos handed over the role in 1991 to a purpose-built city in the interior.Why?

  4. What is the capital of Morocco?

    Answer: Rabat MediumCasablanca is much larger but has never held the title.Why?

  5. What is the designated capital of Tanzania?

    Answer: Dodoma MediumThe move inland was decided in 1973 and took decades to complete.Why?

  6. Which city is South Africa's legislative capital?

    Answer: Cape Town HardParliament sits there while the executive is based elsewhere.Why?

  7. Which city is South Africa's executive capital?

    Answer: Pretoria HardThe presidency and government departments are based there.Why?

  8. Which city is South Africa's judicial capital?

    Answer: Bloemfontein HardThe Supreme Court of Appeal sits there, completing the three-capital arrangement.Why?

  9. What is the political capital of Ivory Coast?

    Answer: Yamoussoukro HardAbidjan remains the largest city and the economic centre.Why?

The Americas: world capitals trivia questions

  1. What is the capital of Argentina?

    Answer: Buenos Aires EasyIt stands on the estuary of the Rio de la Plata.Why?

  2. What is the capital of Mexico?

    Answer: Mexico City EasyIt was built over the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan.Why?

  3. What is the capital of Canada?

    Answer: Ottawa EasyIt was chosen partly as a compromise between English and French-speaking rivals.Why?

  4. What is the capital of Brazil?

    Answer: Brasilia MediumIt was built inland in the 1950s and became the capital in 1960.Why?

  5. Which city is the constitutional capital of Bolivia?

    Answer: Sucre HardIt holds the supreme court and the constitutional title.Why?

  6. Which Bolivian city is the seat of government and home to the legislature?

    Answer: La Paz HardAt over 3,600 metres it is among the highest seats of government anywhere.Why?

  7. What is the capital of Suriname?

    Answer: Paramaribo HardThe Dutch colonial waterfront district is a World Heritage site.Why?

  8. What is the capital of Belize?

    Answer: Belmopan HardThe capital moved inland after a hurricane devastated the coastal city in 1961.Why?

Answer key

  1. Paris
  2. Tokyo
  3. Cairo
  4. Moscow
  5. Madrid
  6. Nairobi
  7. Buenos Aires
  8. Lisbon
  9. Athens
  10. Mexico City
  11. New Delhi
  12. Beijing
  13. Oslo
  14. Ottawa
  15. Ankara
  16. Canberra
  17. Brasilia
  18. Bern
  19. Amsterdam
  20. The Hague
  21. Naypyidaw
  22. Wellington
  23. Abuja
  24. Rabat
  25. Hanoi
  26. Islamabad
  27. Dodoma
  28. Tehran
  29. Sucre
  30. La Paz
  31. Cape Town
  32. Pretoria
  33. Bloemfontein
  34. Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte
  35. Thimphu
  36. Ulaanbaatar
  37. Bishkek
  38. Paramaribo
  39. Belmopan
  40. Valletta
  41. Vaduz
  42. Yamoussoukro

How to play

  1. Pick a mode: multiple choice, true or false, a 60-second sprint, or the daily quiz.
  2. Answer with a tap, or press 1 to 4 on a keyboard. The right answer appears straight away with a line explaining it.
  3. Finish the round to see your score, copy the result grid, and step up a difficulty.
  4. Hosting a night? The full world capitals list and a separate answer key are printed below, and the print layout drops the game and keeps the paper.

Tiebreaker questions

Closest guess wins. Read one out when two tables finish level.

  1. In what year did Australia's federal parliament first sit in Canberra?

    Answer: 1927 Melbourne had hosted parliament since federation in 1901 while the planned capital was built.

  2. In what year was Brasilia inaugurated as the capital of Brazil?

    Answer: 1960 The city was built from scratch in about four years on a plateau chosen to draw people inland from the coast.

  3. In what year did Nigeria formally move its capital from Lagos to Abuja?

    Answer: 1991 Abuja sits near the centre of the country, deliberately outside any one region's heartland.

Common mistakes in world capitals trivia

  • Sydney is the capital of Australia.

    Canberra was purpose-built as a compromise between Sydney and Melbourne. Sydney is the largest city but has never been the national capital.

  • Istanbul is the capital of Turkey.

    Ankara has been the capital since the republic was founded in 1923. Istanbul is the biggest city and the former Ottoman capital.

  • Toronto is the capital of Canada.

    Ottawa was chosen in the nineteenth century partly for its distance from the American border. Toronto is the capital of Ontario only.

  • Rio de Janeiro is the capital of Brazil.

    Rio lost that role in 1960 when the government moved to the newly built Brasilia in the interior.

  • Amsterdam is where the Dutch government sits.

    Amsterdam is the constitutional capital, but parliament, ministries and the royal residence are in The Hague.

  • Every country has exactly one capital.

    South Africa has three, Bolivia and the Netherlands split functions between two cities, and Sri Lanka's parliament sits in Kotte rather than Colombo.

Running this round at a quiz night

Capitals are the purest pub-quiz round: the answer is a fact, not an opinion, and teams love them. Run the continents in order and mix one easy capital with two harder ones so nobody drifts off. Read each country name clearly and offer the old name where it helps, such as Burma for Myanmar. Disputes concentrate on countries with more than one capital, so word those questions precisely: constitutional, legislative, seat of government. Say before the round that you will accept the city named in the question type only. Spelling is not an issue if the city is recognisable. For tiebreakers use the fixed year a capital moved, such as Brasilia in 1960, which nobody knows but everyone can guess.

Frequently asked questions

Why does South Africa have three capitals?

The role was divided when the country was formed in 1910 so that no single former colony dominated. Cape Town hosts parliament, Pretoria hosts the executive, and Bloemfontein hosts the Supreme Court of Appeal. All three answers are correct for their own branch.

Is Amsterdam or The Hague the capital of the Netherlands?

Amsterdam is named in the constitution as the capital, so it is the right answer to the plain question. The Hague is the seat of government, parliament and the royal residence, which is why so many people answer it. Good questions state which they mean.

Which capitals catch people out most often?

Turkey, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Switzerland and Myanmar are the reliable ones, because in each case the best known city lost the role or never had it. Bolivia is the toughest, since it genuinely has two answers depending on whether you mean the constitutional capital or the seat of government.

Not in a quiz mood?

The question games are a different kind of round: no right answers, just prompts you read out and argue about. Would You RatherNever Have I EverTruth or DareThis or That

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