CanberraCanberra is the capital of Australia, not Sydney or Melbourne. It was founded and named in 1913 as a compromise between those two rivals, and it is the country's largest inland city.
WellingtonWellington has been the capital of New Zealand since 1865, on Cook Strait at the North Island's southwestern tip. Auckland is the most populous city. No sovereign state has a capital farther south.
Melanesia 4
SuvaSuva is Fiji's capital and most populous settlement, on the southeast coast of Viti Levu. The capital moved here from Levuka in 1877, and Suva is the country's major port.
Port MoresbyPort Moresby is Papua New Guinea's capital and largest city, on the Coral Sea. Royal Navy Captain John Moresby, the first Briton to see it, arrived in 1873, and it is named in honor of his father, an admiral.
HoniaraHoniara is Solomon Islands' capital and largest city, on the northwestern coast of Guadalcanal, the largest island. It became the administrative center of the islands in 1952.
Port VilaPort Vila is Vanuatu's capital and largest city, on Efate island's west coast. From 1906 France and the United Kingdom managed the islands jointly as the New Hebrides.
Micronesia 5
PalikirPalikir is the capital of the Federated States of Micronesia, on the northwest side of Pohnpei. It was declared the capital in 1989. Kolonia, the island's largest town, was the capital before it.
South TarawaSouth Tarawa is the capital of Kiribati, a run of islets from Betio to Bonriki on the atoll of Tarawa. More than half of the country's people live there. Typing Tarawa counts too.
MajuroMajuro is the Marshall Islands' capital and largest city, and also a coral atoll of 64 islands. It took over from Jaluit, the former capital. The government sits at Delap-Uliga-Djarrit, the atoll's main settlement.
YarenYaren is the district on Nauru's south coast that holds the government offices. The country has no official capital and no cities, so Yaren is the accepted answer. In 2026 its official name became the Republic of Naoero.
NgerulmudNgerulmud has been the capital of Palau since October 2006, when it replaced Koror City, still the most populous city. It stands on Babeldaob, the largest island, in Melekeok state.
Polynesia 3
ApiaApia is Samoa's capital and largest city, on the central north coast of Upolu. Upolu is the smaller of the country's two main islands, and Savai'i is the larger.
NukuʻalofaNukuʻalofa is Tonga's capital and largest city, on the north coast of Tongatapu. Tongatapu is the main island, in the southernmost of the country's island groups. Tonga is a kingdom.
FunafutiFunafuti is the capital of Tuvalu, and officially the whole atoll is the capital. The government offices are in the village of Vaiaku on Fongafale, the main islet. More people live here than in the rest of Tuvalu combined.
How this list was compiled: Capitals, and the notes on Yaren, South Tarawa, Majuro, Funafuti, Palikir and Ngerulmud: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_capitals, checked 2026-09-19. Which states are members of the United Nations: https://www.un.org/en/about-us/member-states, checked 2026-09-19. The 2026 change of Nauru's official name to the Republic of Naoero: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nauru, checked 2026-09-19 (the UN member list already prints Naoero). The detail line of each capital comes from the opening section of the city's own Wikipedia article, all checked 2026-09-19: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canberra, /Palikir, /Suva, /South_Tarawa, /Majuro, /Yaren_District, /Wellington, /Ngerulmud, /Port_Moresby, /Apia, /Honiara, /Nuku%CA%BBalofa, /Funafuti and /Port_Vila. Where each country lies comes from the opening section of the country's own Wikipedia article, checked 2026-09-19: /Federated_States_of_Micronesia, /Fiji, /Kiribati, /Marshall_Islands, /New_Zealand, /Palau, /Papua_New_Guinea, /Samoa, /Solomon_Islands, /Tonga, /Tuvalu and /Vanuatu. 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 17°S 172°E. Outlines simplified; small islands are left out. 15 places are 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 Oceania capitals quiz names one country at a time, lights it on a map from Australia to the mid-Pacific and asks for its capital, such as Port Vila or Honiara. It asks 14 countries, all together or by region.
Read the full guide
Which 14 countries the quiz asks
The list is the 14 member states of the United Nations with a shape on this drawing: Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and 11 smaller island countries. Four sets under Start from shorten the round: Australia and New Zealand with 2 capitals, Melanesia with 4, Micronesia with 5 and Polynesia with 3. The 10 other shapes are territories and associated states, never asked or counted.
A map that is mostly water
In Find it only Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea are big enough to tap directly. The other 11 are specks at this scale, so each has a ring on a leader line, and a tap on the ring counts. When typing, Tarawa counts for South Tarawa.
Both big countries are traps. Australia's capital is Canberra, a planned inland city, not Sydney or Melbourne, and New Zealand's is Wellington, not Auckland.
Two capitals begin with Port: Port Moresby belongs to Papua New Guinea, north of Australia, and Port Vila to Vanuatu, a ringed chain farther east.
Three capitals are atolls, not cities: Majuro in the Marshall Islands, Funafuti in Tuvalu, and South Tarawa, part of Tarawa atoll, in Kiribati.
Questions and answers
What is the capital of Nauru?
Nauru has no official capital and no cities. The government offices stand in Yaren, a district on the south coast, so Yaren is the answer here. In 2026 the country changed its official English name to the Republic of Naoero; the map keeps Nauru.
Is Koror still the capital of Palau?
No. Ngerulmud replaced Koror as Palau's capital in October 2006, and Koror is marked wrong here. Palikir, not Kolonia, has been the capital of the Federated States of Micronesia since 1989. Every capital was checked on September 19, 2026.
How many countries are in Oceania?
Fourteen are member states of the United Nations, and this quiz asks all of them. The other 10 shapes on the drawing are territories and states in free association with a larger country, kept as quiet background. A tap on one is not a miss.