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Capitals of Americas

In several big countries of the Americas the biggest city is not the capital: Washington D.C. and Brasília were founded to be capitals, and Ottawa was picked by Queen Victoria in 1857. Several South American capitals sit high in the Andes, and the eastern Caribbean has many small island capitals close together.

Every capital · 35 capitals

Easy to mix up

Ottawa and Washington, not Toronto and New York

Canada's capital is Ottawa, on the river that separates Ontario and Quebec, not Toronto. The capital of the United States is Washington D.C., on the Potomac River, south-west of New York City.

Brasília, not Rio de Janeiro

Brazil moved its capital from Rio de Janeiro to Brasília, a new planned city, in 1960. Aim inland, on the central plateau, away from the Atlantic coast.

Sucre or La Paz?

Bolivia's constitution names Sucre as the capital, and the Supreme Court sits there, but the government works from La Paz, to the north-west. The game uses Sucre.

Dominica or the Dominican Republic?

Santo Domingo is on the south coast of Hispaniola, the island the Dominican Republic shares with Haiti. Roseau is on Dominica, a small island far to the south-east in the Lesser Antilles.

Kingston or Kingstown?

Kingston is the capital of Jamaica, on the south-east coast of a large island south of Cuba. Kingstown is the capital of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, on a small island in the Lesser Antilles.

Finding them on the globe

  • In Central America every capital is inland except Panama City, which sits on the Pacific at the entrance of the Panama Canal.
  • The eastern Caribbean islands form an arc towards South America: going south you pass Basseterre, Saint John's, Roseau, Castries, Kingstown and St. George's. Bridgetown sits alone to the east.
  • Buenos Aires and Montevideo face each other across the wide Río de la Plata: Buenos Aires on the south-west shore, Montevideo on the north shore.
  • Quito, the capital closest to the equator, sits high in the Andes, and so do Bogotá and Sucre. Lima, by contrast, is on the Pacific coast.