How to learn the capitals of the world

Countries first, then capitals

Learn where the countries are before you learn their capitals. A capital learned for a country you cannot place is a fact with nothing to hold it. Once the country has a position, the capital becomes a dot inside a shape you know, and the two are remembered together.

Then take one continent at a time. South America has twelve and is a good first one; Europe is the one most people half know already. On the globe, a capital quiz shows the city as a point, so you learn whether it is on the coast, on a river or far inland, and that is often what makes it stick.

The capital is not always the biggest city

The wrong answers people give are nearly always the famous city. These are the ones to learn on purpose:

• Australia: Canberra, not Sydney.
• Canada: Ottawa, not Toronto.
• Brazil: Brasília, not Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo.
• Turkey: Ankara, not Istanbul.
• Switzerland: Bern, not Zurich or Geneva.
• New Zealand: Wellington, not Auckland.
• Nigeria: Abuja, not Lagos.
• Morocco: Rabat, not Casablanca.
• Vietnam: Hanoi, not Ho Chi Minh City.
• Pakistan: Islamabad, not Karachi.
• The United States: Washington, not New York.

The ones you get for free

Some capitals carry the country's name, and they are worth collecting early because they cost nothing: Mexico City, Guatemala City, Panama City, Kuwait City, Luxembourg, Monaco, San Marino, Singapore, Djibouti. A few more are one step away: Algiers for Algeria, Tunis for Tunisia, Brasília for Brazil.

Pairs that sound alike

• Budapest and Bucharest. Budapest is Hungary's. Bucharest is Romania's.
• Bratislava and Ljubljana. The capitals of Slovakia and Slovenia, which are mixed up because the countries are.
• Kingston and Kingstown. Kingston is Jamaica's. Kingstown is the capital of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
• Niamey and Abuja. Niger's and Nigeria's. Neither is named after its country, and neither is Lagos.
• Roseau and Santo Domingo. Dominica's and the Dominican Republic's.

Practise it

Play a continent on Name it first, where the dot lights up and you give the city. Then Find it, where you are given the city and click where it is. Misses come back in Review until they stop being misses.

• By continent: South America, Europe, North America, Asia, Africa, Oceania.
• Capitals of the world: all of them, when the continents are done.