San JoséSan José, Spanish for Saint Joseph, is the capital and largest city of Costa Rica, in the Central Valley in the middle of the country. It was founded in 1736 and became the capital in 1823.
San SalvadorSan Salvador is the capital and largest city of El Salvador, at the foot of the San Salvador volcano. Founded in 1525, it moved twice, the second time in 1545 to the Valle de las Hamacas, a valley named for its earthquakes.
Guatemala CityGuatemala City, Ciudad de Guatemala, is the capital of Guatemala, about 1,500 m up in the Valle de la Ermita. Its formal name is Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción. The government moved here in 1776, after an earthquake ruined the old capital.
TegucigalpaTegucigalpa, Tegus for short, has been the capital of Honduras since October 30, 1880, when the government left Comayagua. It was founded in 1578 as Real de Minas de San Miguel de Tegucigalpa. Comayagüela, its twin city, counts too.
Mexico CityMexico City, Ciudad de México or CDMX, is the capital and largest city of Mexico and the most populous city in North America. It stands 2,240 m up in the Valley of Mexico, on the site of Tenochtitlan, a city built around 1325.
ManaguaManagua is the capital of Nicaragua, on the southern shore of Lake Managua, also called Lake Xolotlán. It was chosen as the capital in 1852 because it lies between the rival cities of León and Granada.
Panama CityPanama City, Ciudad de Panamá, is the capital of Panama, at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal. Founded on August 15, 1519, it was the first Spanish city on the Pacific coast of the Americas. Casco Viejo is the city rebuilt in 1673.
Caribbean 2
HavanaHavana, La Habana in Spanish, is Cuba's capital and largest city. It was founded on its present site in 1519 as San Cristóbal de la Habana, and Old Havana has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1982.
Santo DomingoSanto Domingo, officially Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic, at the mouth of the Ozama River. It is named in honor of Saint Dominic, and it has the first cathedral in the Americas.
South America 9
Buenos AiresBuenos Aires is the capital of Argentina. The name is short for Santa María de los Buenos Aires, Holy Mary of the Fair Winds. Pedro de Mendoza founded it in 1536, and Juan de Garay founded it again, for good, in 1580.
SucreSucre is the capital of Bolivia under its constitution and the seat of the Supreme Court. It is named for Antonio José de Sucre and was earlier called La Plata, Charcas and Chuquisaca. La Paz, the seat of government, counts too.
SantiagoSantiago, also called Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile. Pedro de Valdivia founded it on February 12, 1541 as Santiago del Nuevo Extremo, in honor of the apostle James, the patron saint of Spain.
BogotáBogotá is the capital and largest city of Colombia, founded on August 6, 1538 by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada. The Spanish crown named it Santafé, Holy Faith, in 1540, and it kept that name until 1819.
QuitoQuito, officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital of Ecuador, 2,850 m up and the capital city closest to the equator. It is named for the Quitu people, and in 1978 its old center was among the first World Heritage Sites.
AsunciónAsunción is the capital and largest city of Paraguay, on the east bank of the Paraguay River. Juan de Salazar de Espinosa founded it on August 15, 1537, the Feast of the Assumption, which gave the city its name.
LimaLima is Peru's capital and its largest city. Francisco Pizarro founded it in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes, the City of Kings. The river through it is the Rímac, and the city forms one urban area with the port of Callao.
MontevideoMontevideo is the capital and largest city of Uruguay, on the country's south coast. Monte in the name is the Cerro de Montevideo, the hill across the bay, and experts disagree about where video comes from. The city dates itself to 1726.
CaracasCaracas, officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela. Diego de Losada founded it on July 25, 1567. Its historic center lies about 900 m up, behind Cerro El Ávila, a ridge about 2,200 m high.
Spain and Equatorial Guinea 2
Ciudad de la PazCiudad de la Paz, City of Peace, has been the capital of Equatorial Guinea since a decree of January 2026. It is a new city near the center of the mainland, once known as Djibloho or Oyala. Malabo, on the island of Bioko, came before it.
MadridMadrid is the capital and largest city of Spain, on the River Manzanares in the center of the Iberian Peninsula. Philip II set his court there in 1561. At about 660 m it is the second-highest capital in Europe, after Andorra la Vella.
How this list was compiled: Capitals, the two capitals of Bolivia (Sucre constitutional, La Paz administrative), Comayagüela as co-official capital of Honduras, and Equatorial Guinea's move to Ciudad de la Paz ("Malabo was the capital until 2026"): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_capitals, raw wikitext read 2026-09-19. The list of 20: the table of sovereign states where Spanish is the primary or only official language, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_territories_where_Spanish_is_an_official_language, checked 2026-09-19; the same article lists Puerto Rico as a territory and Antigua and Barbuda as a state that made Spanish an official second language in May 2026. Which states are members of the United Nations: https://www.un.org/en/about-us/member-states, checked 2026-09-19 (all 20 listed, Puerto Rico not). The hint and the detail line of each capital come from the city's own Wikipedia article, all checked 2026-09-19: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buenos_Aires, /Sucre, /Santiago, /Bogot%C3%A1, /San_Jos%C3%A9,_Costa_Rica, /Havana, /Santo_Domingo, /Quito, /San_Salvador, /Ciudad_de_la_Paz, /Guatemala_City, /Tegucigalpa, /Mexico_City, /Managua, /Panama_City, /Asunci%C3%B3n, /Lima, /Madrid, /Montevideo and /Caracas. 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 12°S 76°W. Spain; Equatorial Guinea moved into insets. Outlines simplified; small islands are left out. Licence: public domain (Natural Earth terms of use: https://www.naturalearthdata.com/about/terms-of-use/)
How it works
This Spanish speaking countries and capitals quiz names a country, lights it on the map and asks for its capital, such as Asunción. It asks the 20 countries where Spanish is the main official language. Find it reverses the question.
Read the full guide
Which 20 countries are asked
This capitals of Spanish speaking countries quiz asks the 20 member states of the United Nations where Spanish is the main official language: Mexico, six countries in Central America, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, nine in South America, plus Spain and Equatorial Guinea.
Two boxes and one ring
A Spanish speaking countries map quiz with capitals has to fit Spain and Equatorial Guinea beside the Americas. Each sits in a dashed box on the left, Spain in the upper one. El Salvador is too small to tap, so a tap on its numbered ring counts.
Three capitals are Ciudad de plus the country: México, Guatemala and Panamá. The Spanish names count when typed.
Three are named for saints: San José for Costa Rica, San Salvador for El Salvador, Santo Domingo for the Dominican Republic.
For a map labeling Spanish speaking countries capitals sheet, press Print blank: numbered countries and a numbered line for each capital.
Questions and answers
Is there a map labeling Spanish speaking capitals answer key?
Yes. Print labelled is the key: the Print blank sheet with all 20 capitals written on their numbered lines. It also fits a handout titled Map Labeling: Spanish Speaking Capitals, if that handout uses these 20 countries.
Is a Spanish capitals quiz about Spain or about all 20 countries?
Here it means all 20, which makes it a Spanish countries and capitals quiz for a Spanish class. Spain gets one question, Madrid. The Spain map quiz asks its 17 autonomous communities.
What is the capital of Equatorial Guinea in 2026?
Ciudad de la Paz, a new city on the mainland. A decree of January 2026 moved the capital there from Malabo, on the island of Bioko. Older worksheets still say Malabo, which this quiz does not accept.
Why does this Spanish speaking countries and their capitals quiz ask 20 and not 21?
Lists of 21 add Puerto Rico, a territory of the United States whose capital is San Juan. It is drawn here and not asked, because this page asks member states of the United Nations only.
Which city does a Spanish speaking country capitals quiz want for Bolivia?
Sucre is the capital in the constitution, and La Paz is the seat of government. The label here is Sucre, and a typed La Paz counts too.