Benin(capital: Porto-Novo)Capital: Porto-Novo, though the government sits in Cotonou, the largest city. Formerly called Dahomey.
Burkina Faso(capital: Ouagadougou)Capital: Ouagadougou. Six neighbors: Mali, Niger, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Ivory Coast. About 274,000 square kilometers.
Cape Verde(capital: Praia)Capital: Praia. Ten volcanic islands, 600 to 850 kilometers west of Cap-Vert. Cap-Vert is the westernmost point of mainland Africa and gave them their name. Also called Cabo Verde.
Ghana(capital: Accra)Capital: Accra. West Africa's second most populous country, after Nigeria.
Guinea(capital: Conakry)Capital: Conakry. Sometimes called Guinea-Conakry. That tells it apart from Guinea-Bissau and Equatorial Guinea. Formerly French Guinea.
Guinea-Bissau(capital: Bissau)Capital: Bissau. The capital's name was added to the country's name. That tells it apart from Guinea. Formerly Portuguese Guinea. Independence was declared in 1973 and recognized in 1974.
Ivory Coast(capital: Yamoussoukro)Capital: Yamoussoukro, in the country's center. The port of Abidjan is the largest city. Officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire.
Liberia(capital: Monrovia)Capital: Monrovia. English is the official language. The country began in the early 19th century as a project of the American Colonization Society.
Mali(capital: Bamako)Capital: Bamako. Africa's eighth-largest country. About 1.24 million square kilometers, with seven neighbors.
Mauritania(capital: Nouakchott)Capital: Nouakchott, on the Atlantic coast. About 90% of the country lies in the Sahara, and most people live in the south.
Niger(capital: Niamey)Capital: Niamey. The sixth-largest country in Africa. Over 80% of it lies in the Sahara, and most people live in the south and west.
Nigeria(capital: Abuja)Capital: Abuja, in the Federal Capital Territory. Lagos is the largest city. Africa's most populous country, a federation of 36 states.
Senegal(capital: Dakar)Capital: Dakar. The westernmost country of mainland Africa. It nearly surrounds The Gambia, which cuts its southern region of Casamance off from the rest.
Sierra Leone(capital: Freetown)Capital: Freetown. About 73,000 square kilometers, from savanna to rainforest. Only two land neighbors.
The Gambia(capital: Banjul)Capital: Banjul. The smallest country on the African mainland. About 11,300 square kilometers, on both banks of the lower Gambia River.
Togo(capital: Lomé)Capital: Lomé. Less than 115 kilometers wide between Ghana and Benin. About 57,000 square kilometers.
How this list was compiled: The 54 countries are the African member states of the United Nations: 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: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equatorial_Guinea, checked 2026-09-19. The wider list of southern Africa: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Africa, checked 2026-09-19. Sudan filed under Northern Africa: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sub-Saharan_Africa, checked 2026-09-19. 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; the two "largest shape" hints were checked against the areas of the drawn shapes. The former names of the capital of Equatorial Guinea that are accepted (Oyala, Djibloho, La Paz): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciudad_de_la_Paz, checked 2026-09-19. The name Swaziland until April 2018: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eswatini, checked 2026-09-19. The three capitals of South Africa: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa, checked 2026-09-19. The second and later sentences of each detail line were read on 2026-09-19 in the lead of that country's article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ followed by the country's name as the quiz labels it (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_(country) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Ireland for those two); no detail line names a flagged shape or describes a border that is contested. 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
The 16 countries of the United Nations list make up this Western Africa map quiz, Mauritania to Nigeria, on a map zoomed to the bulge. Find it names one to tap. Name it lights one up, then asks its capital.
Read the full guide
Whose list of 16 this is
The list is the United Nations region called Western Africa, not the same as the regional bloc. ECOWAS lost Mauritania in 2000, and Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger left it in January 2025, leaving 12 members. All four are still asked here. If your class calls this a West Africa map quiz, check its list against the 16 names listed below the map.
Thirteen shapes, three rings, then the capital
Thirteen countries are large enough to tap. Cape Verde, The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau are not, so a ring beside each takes the tap. A miss shows where the country sits. In Name it, a question scores only when country and capital are both right. Print blank gives this zoomed map with 16 numbered lines.
Down the Atlantic coast: Mauritania, Senegal wrapped around The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia. Then the coast turns east.
The Niger River, not drawn, orders four countries: it rises in Guinea, crosses Mali, then runs through Niger and Nigeria.
Three of the 16 have no coast: Mali in the west, Burkina Faso tucked under it, Niger in the east.
Questions and answers
How many countries are in West Africa?
Sixteen on the United Nations list, which this page follows. The UN region also names Saint Helena, a British territory in the South Atlantic, which is not a member state and is not asked. Counts of 15 come from ECOWAS before 2025, without Mauritania.
Why do the labels say Ivory Coast and Cape Verde?
Most English-language atlases print those names. Ivory Coast has asked since 1986 to be called Côte d'Ivoire in every language, and in 2013 Cape Verde told the United Nations that only Cabo Verde should be used officially. Either form counts, with or without the accent.
Which capital is asked for Ivory Coast and for Benin?
The official one. For Ivory Coast that is Yamoussoukro, although the port of Abidjan is the largest city. For Benin it is Porto-Novo, while the government sits in Cotonou. Nigeria's capital is Abuja, not Lagos.