South America Capitals Quiz

About this quiz

A capital is the city where a country’s government sits, and it is not always the biggest or the best known. Canberra, Ottawa and Brasília were chosen, or even built from scratch, as compromises between rival cities, and Sydney, Toronto and Istanbul are all larger than their country’s capital. A few countries share the role between cities: South Africa has three capitals, and this quiz uses Pretoria, where the government sits.

Each question names a country and gives four cities to choose from, all from the same part of the world. Countries whose capital has the same name, such as Singapore and Monaco, are left out, and so are a few whose capital is disputed. At the end you can see every capital you missed.

South America

South America has 12 capitals. Bolivia’s government sits in La Paz, at about 3,600 metres the highest seat of government in the world, while Sucre is the capital named in its constitution. Brasília was built in under four years and opened in 1960, its plan designed by Lúcio Costa and its buildings by Oscar Niemeyer.

Flag images: flag-icons by Panayiotis Lipiridis (MIT licence).