Countries and Capitals – 1

More than just a memory exercise

The more we learn about countries and capitals, the more we appreciate our worldWhy learn a list of countries and capitals? Just to impress people? Hardly. If you think your friends are going to be mightily impressed by you knowing that Taipei is the capital of Taiwan, then you have some pretty strange friends:) Or maybe just a strange idea of what they would find impressive.

Obviously, the first and most obvious reason you might want to memorise a list of countries and capitals is as a plain and simple memory exercise. And it’s a good memory exercise, because lists are always good to remember, and more so when the information in the list is important and useful.

What do the names mean?
The ending ‘-stan’ (as in Pakistan, Kazakhstan, etc) means place or land. Ecuador indicates the country is on the equator. El Salvador means ‘the saviour’. The Bahamas means ‘the shallows’ or ‘shallow sea’ (baja mar). Sierra Leone means ‘lion mountains’. Sri Lanka means ‘Holy Island’. Look into the names of places, they can often tell you something about the history of the place, and the people who discovered it, or live there.

A knowledge of the world’s cultures increases understanding and tolerance

So studying the list and committing it to memory is a good thing in itself, since it helps to improve your memory. But there’s more to learning a list of capitals than being able to recite them like a parrot, or a robot. Sure, memorising lists does improve your memory, but learning a list of countries and capitals is a key element in learning about those countries, and the people who live there. Your improved knowledge of other cultures and the challenges they face will inevitably lead to an increased understanding of them.

Learning countries and capitals can help you understand world culturesBy the way, this isn’t meant to be a comprehensive list of all the countries and capitals of the world, but I think there’s enough here to keep you busy for a while!

Oh, and there’s three more pages of countries and capitals. Hey, not my fault … it’s a big old world!

COUNTRIES AND CAPITALS - 1
AfghanistanKabul
AlbaniaTirana
AlgeriaAlgiers
AndorraAndorra la Vella
AngolaLuanda
Antigua and BarbudaSt. John's
ArgentinaBuenos Aires
ArmeniaYerevan
AustraliaCanberra
AustriaVienna
AzerbaijanBaku
The BahamasNassau
BahrainManama
BangladeshDhaka
BarbadosBridgetown
BelarusMinsk
BelgiumBrussels
BelizeBelmopan
BeninPorto-Nove
BhutanThimphu
BoliviaLa Paz
Bosnia and HerzegovinaSarajevo
BotswanaGaborone
BrazilBrasilia
BruneiBandar Seri Begawan
BulgariaSofia
Burkina FasoOugadougou
BurundiBujumbura
CambodiaPhnom Penh
CameroonYaounde
CanadaOttawa
Cape VerdePraia
Central African RepublicBangui
ChadN'Djamena
ChileSantiago
ChinaBeijing
ColombiaBogota
ComorosMoroni
Congo, Republic of theBrazzaville
Congo, Democratic Republic of theKinshasa
Costa RicaSan Jose
Cote d'IvoireYamoussoukro
CroatiaZagreb
CubaHavana
CyprusNicosia
Czech RepublicPrague
DenmarkCopenhagen
DjiboutiDjibouti
DominicaRoseau
Dominican RepublicSanto Domingo

Map puzzles to help you learn the countries and capitals

The cultures of the world are easier to understand when you learn countries and capitalsThere’s an online, interactive site with lots of maps and information that can help you learn more about the countries of the world. Pay a visit to the index of online atlas maps and see for yourself!

Each map opens up to show the entire area and list the countries it consists of. Click on a country and you’ll see a closer view of that country, with some of the major cities shown, and the capital.

A great learning resource, and a fun way to learn more about the world!

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