By region. The East Asian capitals you likely know; the payload is Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the recent changes.
East Asia
China — Beijing. Japan — Tokyo. South Korea — Seoul. North Korea — Pyongyang. Mongolia — Ulaanbaatar ("red hero", the coldest capital city in the world by average temperature).
Southeast Asia
Thailand — Bangkok (its full ceremonial name is the longest place name in the world). Vietnam — Hanoi (not Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city). Cambodia — Phnom Penh. Laos — Vientiane. Myanmar — Naypyidaw (built from scratch, capital since 2005; Yangon is far larger). Malaysia — Kuala Lumpur (with Putrajaya as the administrative centre). Singapore — Singapore. Indonesia — Jakarta, though a new capital, Nusantara, is under construction on Borneo. Philippines — Manila. Brunei — Bandar Seri Begawan. Timor-Leste — Dili.
South Asia
India — New Delhi. Pakistan — Islamabad (not Karachi, the former capital and largest city). Bangladesh — Dhaka. Sri Lanka — Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte (a suburb of Colombo; Colombo is the commercial capital). Nepal — Kathmandu. Bhutan — Thimphu ("TIM-poo"). Maldives — Malé (one of the most densely populated cities in the world). Afghanistan — Kabul.
Central Asia
Kazakhstan — Astana (Nur-Sultan from 2019 to 2022). Uzbekistan — Tashkent. Turkmenistan — Ashgabat ("ASH-guh-bat"). Kyrgyzstan — Bishkek. Tajikistan — Dushanbe.
The Caucasus and Western Asia
Georgia — Tbilisi. Armenia — Yerevan. Azerbaijan — Baku (the lowest-lying capital in the world, about 28 m below sea level). Turkey — Ankara (not Istanbul). Iran — Tehran. Iraq — Baghdad. Saudi Arabia — Riyadh. Yemen — Sanaa. Oman — Muscat. UAE — Abu Dhabi (not Dubai, the largest city). Qatar — Doha. Bahrain — Manama. Kuwait — Kuwait City. Jordan — Amman. Israel — Jerusalem (its status as capital is not universally recognised). Lebanon — Beirut. Syria — Damascus (one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world). Cyprus — Nicosia.
Filter to Asia and drill the Central Asian -stan capitals first — Bishkek, Dushanbe, Ashgabat, Tashkent, Astana — because those are the ones people miss.
Quiz Asian capitals →