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Capitals & Cities
Cities of the World
The great cities, and what makes each one distinctive.
Sample question
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Which major city spans two continents?
Capital Cities by Clue
No country names here. Each question gives you one distinguishing feature of a capital city, and you work back from it.
About this topic
Capitals tend to collect distinguishing features, because they collect everything else: rivers, palaces, courts, museums and the odd world record. Naming a city from a single clue is a better test of whether you actually know it than reciting it from a list of countries. These ten range from the well known to the genuinely obscure, and several turn on a technicality that catches people out — including one country whose capital and seat of government are two different cities.
Questions & answers
Capital Cities by Clue: all 10 questions and answers
Every question in this quiz is listed below with its correct answer and the reasoning behind it. Play first if you would rather not see the answers — or read through as a study sheet.
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1Which capital was formed by merging two towns on opposite banks of the Danube?
- A Vienna
- B Bratislava
- C Belgrade
- D Budapest Correct
Answer: D. Budapest
Why: Buda on the hills and Pest on the flat eastern bank merged in 1873, along with Óbuda. Vienna, Bratislava and Belgrade also sit on the Danube but were never split that way.
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2Which capital is built across roughly fourteen islands?
- A Oslo
- B Copenhagen
- C Stockholm Correct
- D Helsinki
Answer: C. Stockholm
Why: Stockholm sits where Lake Mälaren meets the Baltic, spread over fourteen islands linked by more than fifty bridges. Its old town, Gamla Stan, occupies one of them.
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3Which city is the highest seat of government in the world?
- A Kathmandu
- B La Paz Correct
- C Quito
- D Bogotá
Answer: B. La Paz
Why: La Paz sits at roughly 3,600 metres, high enough that engines and lungs both notice. Quito is the highest official capital, since Bolivia's constitutional capital is Sucre.
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4Which European capital stands at the mouth of the Tagus?
- A Lisbon Correct
- B Porto
- C Seville
- D Bordeaux
Answer: A. Lisbon
Why: The Tagus is the longest river on the Iberian peninsula and meets the Atlantic at Lisbon. Porto sits on the Douro instead.
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5The Little Mermaid statue sits in the harbour of which capital?
- A Oslo
- B Stockholm
- C Helsinki
- D Copenhagen Correct
Answer: D. Copenhagen
Why: The bronze statue was unveiled in Copenhagen in 1913, based on the Hans Christian Andersen story. It is far smaller than most visitors expect, at about 1.25 metres.
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6Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands, but which city is the seat of government?
- A Utrecht
- B Eindhoven
- C The Hague Correct
- D Rotterdam
Answer: C. The Hague
Why: The parliament, the cabinet and the supreme court all sit in The Hague, along with the International Court of Justice. Amsterdam keeps the constitutional title.
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7Which is the northernmost capital city of a sovereign state?
- A Tallinn
- B Reykjavík Correct
- C Helsinki
- D Oslo
Answer: B. Reykjavík
Why: Reykjavík sits at roughly 64 degrees north, just short of the Arctic Circle. Its name means "smoky bay", after the steam rising from local hot springs.
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8Which African capital is named after a president of the United States?
- A Monrovia Correct
- B Nairobi
- C Lusaka
- D Accra
Answer: A. Monrovia
Why: Monrovia is named after James Monroe, who supported the settlement of freed American slaves in what became Liberia. It is one of very few capitals named after a foreign leader.
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9Which capital stands where the Blue Nile and the White Nile meet?
- A Cairo
- B Juba
- C Addis Ababa
- D Khartoum Correct
Answer: D. Khartoum
Why: The two rivers join at Khartoum to form the Nile proper. The city's name is often traced to an Arabic word for the elephant's trunk shape of the land at the confluence.
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10Which capital's name translates as "good airs"?
- A Santiago
- B Asunción
- C Buenos Aires Correct
- D Montevideo
Answer: C. Buenos Aires
Why: The name comes from an invocation to the Virgin Mary as patron of good winds, shortened over time. Sailors depended on those winds to reach the port at all.
Frequently asked questions about Capital Cities by Clue
How many questions are in Capital Cities by Clue?
Capital Cities by Clue has 10 questions and takes about 7 minutes to finish. It is rated Medium and sits in our Capitals & Cities category.
How is Capital Cities by Clue scored?
Each of the 10 correct answers adds 10 XP, up to 100 XP for a clean run. Wrong answers cost you nothing, and your full question-by-question review is shown at the end.
Are the answers to Capital Cities by Clue explained?
Yes. All 10 questions carry a written explanation of why the correct answer is right, so the quiz works as a study sheet as well as a test.
Can I replay Capital Cities by Clue?
Yes, as often as you like. The questions and the answer options are reshuffled on each run, and you can use Practice Mistakes afterwards to retry only the ones you missed. No account is needed to play.
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