Learning all the world’s capitals sounds huge. Learning by continent is very achievable. Here are the full lists and quizzes organized by region.
European capitals (50 countries)
European Union. Berlin, Paris, Rome, Madrid, Lisbon, Athens, Amsterdam, Brussels, Luxembourg, Vienna, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Dublin, Warsaw, Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Bucharest, Sofia, Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius, Valletta, Nicosia.
Outside EU. London (UK), Oslo (Norway), Bern (Switzerland), Reykjavik (Iceland), Kyiv (Ukraine), Minsk (Belarus), Moscow (Russia - partly in Europe), Belgrade (Serbia), Sarajevo (Bosnia), Pristina (Kosovo), Skopje (North Macedonia), Tirana (Albania), Podgorica (Montenegro), Andorra la Vella, San Marino, Monaco, Vaduz (Liechtenstein), Vatican.
Tip. Nordic capitals often end in -o (Oslo, Helsinki, Stockholm with exception). Central European capitals often have Slavic names (Warsaw, Prague, Bratislava).
African capitals (54 countries)
Maghreb. Rabat (Morocco), Algiers (Algeria), Tunis (Tunisia), Tripoli (Libya), Cairo (Egypt).
West Africa. Dakar (Senegal), Bamako (Mali), Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), Abidjan (Ivory Coast), Accra (Ghana), Abuja (Nigeria), Lome (Togo), Porto-Novo (Benin), Conakry (Guinea), Bissau (Guinea-Bissau), Praia (Cape Verde), Banjul (Gambia), Freetown (Sierra Leone), Monrovia (Liberia), Niamey (Niger), N’Djamena (Chad).
Central Africa. Yaounde (Cameroon), Libreville (Gabon), Brazzaville (Congo), Kinshasa (DRC), Bangui (CAR).
East Africa. Nairobi (Kenya), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Mogadishu (Somalia), Khartoum (Sudan), Juba (South Sudan), Asmara (Eritrea), Djibouti, Kampala (Uganda), Kigali (Rwanda), Gitega (Burundi), Dodoma (Tanzania), Antananarivo (Madagascar), Moroni (Comoros).
Southern Africa. Pretoria (South Africa), Maputo (Mozambique), Harare (Zimbabwe), Lusaka (Zambia), Gaborone (Botswana), Windhoek (Namibia), Maseru (Lesotho), Mbabane (Eswatini), Luanda (Angola).
See our article on common geography mistakes for tricky cases.
Asian capitals (50 countries)
East Asia. Beijing (China), Tokyo (Japan), Seoul (South Korea), Pyongyang (North Korea), Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia), Taipei (Taiwan).
South Asia. New Delhi (India), Islamabad (Pakistan), Dhaka (Bangladesh), Kathmandu (Nepal), Colombo (Sri Lanka), Thimphu (Bhutan), Male (Maldives), Kabul (Afghanistan).
Southeast Asia. Bangkok (Thailand), Hanoi (Vietnam), Phnom Penh (Cambodia), Vientiane (Laos), Naypyidaw (Myanmar), Manila (Philippines), Jakarta (Indonesia), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Singapore, Bandar Seri Begawan (Brunei), Dili (Timor-Leste).
Central Asia. Astana (Kazakhstan), Tashkent (Uzbekistan), Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), Ashgabat (Turkmenistan), Dushanbe (Tajikistan).
Middle East. Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Tehran (Iran), Baghdad (Iraq), Damascus (Syria), Beirut (Lebanon), Amman (Jordan), Jerusalem (Israel contested), Ankara (Turkey), Baku (Azerbaijan), Yerevan (Armenia), Tbilisi (Georgia), Muscat (Oman), Sanaa (Yemen), Manama (Bahrain), Doha (Qatar), Abu Dhabi (UAE), Kuwait City.
Americas capitals (35 countries)
North America. Washington DC (US), Ottawa (Canada), Mexico City (Mexico).
Central America and Caribbean. Guatemala City, Belmopan (Belize), Tegucigalpa (Honduras), San Salvador, Managua (Nicaragua), San Jose (Costa Rica), Panama City, Havana (Cuba), Port-au-Prince (Haiti), Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), Kingston (Jamaica), Port of Spain (Trinidad and Tobago), plus a dozen small island states.
South America. Buenos Aires (Argentina), Brasilia (Brazil), Santiago (Chile), Lima (Peru), Bogota (Colombia), Caracas (Venezuela), Quito (Ecuador), La Paz and Sucre (Bolivia), Asuncion (Paraguay), Montevideo (Uruguay), Georgetown (Guyana), Paramaribo (Suriname).
Oceania capitals (14 countries)
Canberra (Australia), Wellington (New Zealand), Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea), Suva (Fiji), Apia (Samoa), Nukualofa (Tonga), Honiara (Solomon Islands), Port Vila (Vanuatu), Funafuti (Tuvalu), Tarawa (Kiribati), Yaren (Nauru), Palikir (Micronesia), Majuro (Marshall Islands), Ngerulmud (Palau).
Method to remember
By continent, not alphabetically. The brain retains better through geographic grouping.
By tricky pairs. Cotonou/Porto-Novo (Benin has two capitals), Pretoria/Cape Town (South Africa), Yamoussoukro/Abidjan (Ivory Coast), La Paz/Sucre (Bolivia). These deserve special attention.
Fifteen minutes a day. SAPIRO offers quizzes on the 197 capitals by continent and level. With an educational explanation behind each question.
Worth reading: world capitals quiz.