AlgeriaCapital: Algiers. The largest country in Africa, about 2.38 million square kilometers. Independent from France since 1962.
EgyptCapital: Cairo. Suez Canal: the usual line between Africa and Asia. So the Sinai Peninsula, its eastern corner, is counted as part of Asia.
LibyaCapital: Tripoli. Fourth largest country in Africa, about 1.76 million square kilometers. Independent since 24 December 1951.
MoroccoCapital: Rabat. Independent from France and Spain since 1956.
SudanCapital: Khartoum. Third largest country in Africa. The largest until South Sudan split off in 2011. The United Nations files it under Northern Africa.
TunisiaCapital: Tunis. Independent from France since 20 March 1956.
How this list was compiled: The 54 countries are the African member states of the United Nations, read off the member list at https://www.un.org/en/about-us/member-states, checked 2026-09-19. The five regions and which country sits in which: United Nations Statistics Division, Standard country or area codes for statistical use (M49), https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/, checked 2026-09-19. Capitals: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependent_territories_in_Africa, checked 2026-09-19; Ciudad de la Paz as the capital of Equatorial Guinea since January 2026 and independence on 12 October 1968: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equatorial_Guinea, checked 2026-09-19. Areas and area ranks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_African_countries_by_area, checked 2026-09-19. Landlocked countries, their neighbor counts, Lesotho as one of three countries inside a single neighbor, Ethiopia as the most populous landlocked country: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landlocked_country, checked 2026-09-19. Dates of independence and colonial names: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decolonisation_of_Africa, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_national_independence and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_by_date_of_formation, checked 2026-09-19; the 17 colonies that became independent in 1960: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_of_Africa, checked 2026-09-19. Sinai counted with Asia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependent_territories_in_Asia, checked 2026-09-19. Sub-Saharan Africa is the M49 grouping of the same name: the 48 countries of Eastern, Middle, Southern and Western Africa, which leaves out the six of Northern Africa. Tanzania: Dodoma is the capital and Dar es Salaam the former capital and largest city (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanzania and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodoma, checked 2026-09-19); the Africa list above still prints the older wording. Ivory Coast, Benin and Burundi, the official capital and the second city: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_multiple_capitals, checked 2026-09-19; Abidjan and Bujumbura are accepted as typed capitals, Cotonou is not. Gitega as the political capital since 16 January 2019, and Bujumbura as the largest city and economic capital: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gitega and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burundi, checked 2026-09-19. Cotonou and Abidjan as largest cities: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benin and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivory_Coast, checked 2026-09-19. Where two sources gave different days for one event, only the year is stated. Two shapes of the drawing that the points file flags as disputed are not on this list and are never asked. Positions in the hints were read off the drawing. Hints and detail lines written for this site. Licence: own work
The drawing: Drawn for this site from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_50m_admin_0_countries_lakes (scale 1:50,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_50m_admin_0_countries_lakes.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19. Lambert azimuthal equal-area projection centred on 1°N 17°E. Outlines simplified; small islands are left out. One place is too small to draw at this scale and shown as a dot. Licence: public domain (Natural Earth terms of use: https://www.naturalearthdata.com/about/terms-of-use/)
How it works
This blank map of North Africa numbers the six countries of the United Nations list: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Sudan. The rest of Africa is drawn without numbers.
Read the full guide
Blank, numbered or named
The sheet opens blank. Choose Numbered to put a number on each of the 6 countries of North Africa, or Named for their names, then press Print this map; the answer key prints on its own sheet.
Which list the map follows
It follows the United Nations list for Northern Africa, which includes Sudan. Some classes leave Sudan out and add Mauritania; tell students which list you use. Western Sahara is drawn but not numbered. Five of the six face the Mediterranean; Sudan faces the Red Sea.
Start with Algeria, the biggest shape, then work along the coast from Morocco in the west to Egypt in the east.
Questions and answers
Which countries are in North Africa?
In the United Nations list, six: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Sudan. All six are numbered here.
Which is the largest?
Algeria, the largest country in all of Africa, at about 2.38 million square kilometers.
Is Egypt in Africa or Asia?
Mostly Africa. The Sinai Peninsula, east of the Suez Canal, lies in Asia, so Egypt is a country on two continents.