North American Capitals Quiz

Capitals of North America & the Caribbean.

Capitals of North America and the Caribbean — three easy ones, seven in Central America, and thirteen island nations that decide your score.

The shape of this quiz

North America is twenty-three countries, and they split into three very unequal difficulty tiers.

The mainland three are free: Canada/Ottawa, United States/Washington D.C., Mexico/Mexico City. The only trap is that Canada is Ottawa, not Toronto — Ottawa was chosen in 1857 as a compromise between English and French Canada, and Toronto remains far larger.

Central America's seven are moderate, and there is a pattern that makes them much easier.

The Caribbean's thirteen are where the quiz is actually decided.

Central America: the name-matching pattern

Three of the seven have capitals that share the country's name, which is one rule covering three answers:

Guatemala — Guatemala City
Panama — Panama City
El Salvador — San Salvador

The other four: - Honduras — Tegucigalpa - Nicaragua — Managua - Costa Rica — San José - Belize — Belmopan

Belize is the one people miss most. The capital moved from Belize City to Belmopan in 1970 after a hurricane destroyed much of the old capital — a rare case of a capital relocated for disaster reasons. Belize City is still the largest.

The Caribbean thirteen

Almost nobody gets these without study, and they are worth a dedicated session:

Cuba — Havana
Haiti — Port-au-Prince
Dominican Republic — Santo Domingo
Jamaica — Kingston
Bahamas — Nassau
Barbados — Bridgetown
Trinidad and Tobago — Port of Spain
Saint Lucia — Castries
Grenada — St George's
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines — Kingstown
Saint Kitts and Nevis — Basseterre
Antigua and Barbuda — Saint John's
Dominica — Roseau

The two pairs that get swapped

Kingston and Kingstown. Kingston is Jamaica. Kingstown is Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. One letter apart, both Caribbean, and reliably confused.

Dominica and the Dominican Republic. Two entirely different countries. Dominica's capital is Roseau; the Dominican Republic's is Santo Domingo. Dominica is a small English-speaking island; the Dominican Republic is a much larger Spanish-speaking country sharing Hispaniola with Haiti.

Those two pairs alone account for a large share of all errors in this quiz.

The Santo Domingo fact worth knowing

Santo Domingo is the oldest continuously inhabited European-founded settlement in the Americas, established in 1496. That is the kind of hook that makes a name stick when raw repetition has not worked.

Where to go next

North American Flags covers the same countries, and the Caribbean flags are far more visually distinctive than the capitals are memorable — so learning the flags first can give you a country list to hang the capitals on.

Frequently asked questions

What is the capital of Canada?

Ottawa. Toronto is much larger and Montreal more historically prominent, but Ottawa was selected in 1857 as a deliberate compromise between English-speaking and French-speaking Canada, sitting on the border between Ontario and Quebec.

What is the difference between Kingston and Kingstown?

Kingston is the capital of Jamaica. Kingstown is the capital of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. One letter apart, both in the Caribbean, and one of the most frequently swapped pairs in any capitals quiz.

Is Dominica the same as the Dominican Republic?

No, they are separate countries. Dominica is a small English-speaking island whose capital is Roseau. The Dominican Republic is a larger Spanish-speaking country sharing the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, and its capital is Santo Domingo.

Why is Belmopan the capital of Belize?

The capital moved inland from Belize City to Belmopan in 1970, after Hurricane Hattie devastated the coastal capital in 1961. It is one of very few capitals relocated specifically because of natural disaster risk. Belize City remains the largest city.

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