Can you name all 54 countries of Africa from their outlines?
Each round shows the outline of one of the 54 countries of Africa, with north up. South Africa’s outline has a hole in it: Lesotho, which South Africa surrounds. Six of the 54 have no land border with another country on the site’s list: Cape Verde, the Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Sao Tome and Principe and Seychelles. One wrong answer ends the run, there is no timer, and naming all 54 completes it.
How to play
- A country’s outline fills the board. North is up, but every outline is resized to fit, so sizes are not comparable. Type the country’s name in the box below. Capital letters, accents and punctuation do not matter, and common alternative names are accepted.
- A correct answer is accepted by itself after a short pause and the next round begins. Pressing Enter submits whatever you typed.
- One wrong answer ends the run, so check before you press Enter. There is no timer.
- Press Finish to end a run early; your score is saved.
- The 54 outlines of Africa come in shuffled order, each once. Your score counts up to 54 at the top of the board, and naming the last one completes the run. The answer review below the board lists every round.
- Your result is saved in this browser. Once enough people have played a game, the results also show how your score ranks, and you can copy or share an image of your result, or replay.
Tips for playing
Decide first whether the shape is a compact block, a long strip, a peninsula or a scatter of islands, then look for one distinctive corner. As drawn in the quiz, Togo’s outline is the tallest for its width (2.6 times as tall as it is wide) and the Gambia’s the widest (3.9 times as wide as it is tall).
All 54 countries of Africa
Show all 54 answers
| Outline | Country | Land neighbours |
|---|---|---|
 | Algeria | Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Tunisia |
 | Angola | Democratic Republic of the Congo, Namibia, Republic of the Congo, Zambia |
 | Benin | Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Togo |
 | Botswana | Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe |
 | Burkina Faso | Benin, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Togo |
 | Burundi | Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania |
 | Cameroon | Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo |
 | Cape Verde | None |
 | Central African Republic | Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, Sudan |
 | Chad | Cameroon, Central African Republic, Libya, Niger, Nigeria, Sudan |
 | Comoros | None |
 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia |
 | Djibouti | Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia |
 | Egypt | Israel, Libya, Palestine, Sudan |
 | Equatorial Guinea | Cameroon, Gabon |
 | Eritrea | Djibouti, Ethiopia, Sudan |
 | Eswatini | Mozambique, South Africa |
 | Ethiopia | Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan |
 | Gabon | Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Republic of the Congo |
 | Gambia | Senegal |
 | Ghana | Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Togo |
 | Guinea | Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Senegal, Sierra Leone |
 | Guinea-Bissau | Guinea, Senegal |
 | Ivory Coast | Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali |
 | Kenya | Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda |
 | Lesotho | South Africa |
 | Liberia | Guinea, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone |
 | Libya | Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Niger, Sudan, Tunisia |
 | Madagascar | None |
 | Malawi | Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia |
 | Mali | Algeria, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal |
 | Mauritania | Algeria, Mali, Senegal |
 | Mauritius | None |
 | Morocco | Algeria, Spain |
 | Mozambique | Eswatini, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe |
 | Namibia | Angola, Botswana, South Africa, Zambia |
 | Niger | Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Libya, Mali, Nigeria |
 | Nigeria | Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Niger |
 | Republic of the Congo | Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon |
 | Rwanda | Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Uganda |
 | Sao Tome and Principe | None |
 | Senegal | Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania |
 | Seychelles | None |
 | Sierra Leone | Guinea, Liberia |
 | Somalia | Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya |
 | South Africa | Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe |
 | South Sudan | Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda |
 | Sudan | Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Libya, South Sudan |
 | Tanzania | Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia |
 | Togo | Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana |
 | Tunisia | Algeria, Libya |
 | Uganda | Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania |
 | Zambia | Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe |
 | Zimbabwe | Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia |
Land neighbours among the 197 countries of the site’s list, from the mledoze/countries border data (ODbL 1.0). Common alternative country names are accepted too.
Frequently asked questions
How many outlines are in the Africa Country Shapes quiz?
54, one for each country of Africa in the site’s 197-country list. Western Sahara is not a separate answer.
Which countries of Africa are islands or have no land border?
Six of the 54 have no land border with another country on the site’s list: Cape Verde, the Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Sao Tome and Principe and Seychelles. Their outlines are coastlines all round, which is a clue in itself.
What happens if I get one wrong?
The run ends and the correct country is shown. Your score is the number of outlines you named before the mistake, out of 54; name all 54 to complete the run.
Why are some islands missing?
Outlines show a country’s main land area and nearby islands; distant territories and very small islands may be left out. Very small island countries are drawn with higher-precision outlines so they stay visible.
Are the outlines drawn to scale?
No. Every outline is resized to fill the same frame, so Algeria, the largest country of Africa by total area (World Bank, 2023), looks no bigger than Seychelles, one of the smallest. North is always up, and the land-neighbours column of the answer list below helps place each shape.
Africa outlines worth a second look
- South Africa’s outline has a hole in it: Lesotho, which South Africa surrounds.
- Senegal is wrapped around the Gambia, whose thin strip along its river cuts into Senegal’s outline.
- Namibia has a narrow arm, the Caprivi Strip, reaching east from its northern border.
- Equatorial Guinea is drawn as a square mainland block with Bioko Island offshore.
- The Democratic Republic of the Congo reaches the Atlantic through a narrow corridor in the west.
- As drawn in the quiz, Togo’s outline is the tallest for its width (2.6 times as tall as it is wide) and the Gambia’s the widest (3.9 times as wide as it is tall).
Which countries count?
The quiz uses the 54 countries of Africa from the site’s 197-country list, the same list as the Countries of Africa map quiz. Western Sahara is not a separate answer. Outlines come from Natural Earth’s public-domain map data; land borders come from the mledoze/countries dataset (Open Database License 1.0).
Sources
Source: Natural Earth / world-atlas · Natural Earth 4.1.0 via world-atlas 2.0.2
Public domain map geometry, simplified for display. Country outlines also use higher-precision Natural Earth overrides for small islands and microstates. The 197-answer list and continent groups are editorial choices, not a live geopolitical feed. No original collection date is recorded for these bundled map files.
Found an incorrect answer or a source that needs updating? Send a correction with the game name and a reference.