The two African capitals with the highest elevation are on the east side of the continent, but the third is in the south-west, they are described here.
African capitals with the highest elevation are as follows:
- Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.
- Asmara, the capital of Eritrea.
- Windhoek, the capital of Namibia.
The list is based on data obtained from Wikipedia.
These cities are marked on the interactive map below, please zoom in to see more details:
Addis Ababa
This city is at an elevation of 2355 meters (7726 ft). This makes it far higher than the highest capital in Europe, but it is also considerably lower than the highest capital in South America. This is the fourth highest capital in the world.
Addis Ababa (the top picture above) is also known under the name Finfinne, and this is the largest city of Ethiopia with its multi-million population.
Perhaps you did not know, but according to some studies, it appears that all humans spread out from a place that is very close to current Addis Ababa. They claim this happened some 100000 years ago.
But the city itself is not very old, it was founded in 1886, and a few years later it became the capital. Please see more in this video:
Asmara
Asmara is a neighboring capital of Addis Ababa, it is much closer to the sea but its elevation is almost the same, 2325 meters (7628 ft). This makes it the 6th highest capital city in the world.
With the population of over one million, this is also the largest city of Eritrea. The history of this place is long, it goes back to 800 BC, but the city was founded in the 12th century. It is declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It became the capital of Eritrea under Italian rule in the last years of the 19th century.
In this video you can see a lot more about Asmara, please have a look:
Windhoek
This capital of Namibia is at an elevation of 1721 meters (5646 ft). Compared to the other two cities above, it is on the opposite side of the continent and on the opposite side of the equator. It is on the place 11 by elevation among the capitals in the world.
The population is around half a million, and this is by far the most important city in the country. Windhoek was first settled in 1840, and it was founded a second time in 1890.
Please see more in this video:
So these are African capitals with the highest elevation, and note that the list could be continued with Nairobi in Kenya and Maseru the capital of Lesotho.
You might want to read also my text about capitals in Asia with the highest elevation. But did you know that there are capitals below the sea level?
Thank you for reading. Let me know if you have questions, there is a comment box below. Bookmark this site and keep as a reference, it is all about capitals in the world.