Place the City - Africa [2] Trivia Quiz

The second-largest city in the nation of Burkina Faso, Bobo-Dioulasso is nearly six hours west of the nation's capital of Ouagadougou (which is found in the central plateau of the country). Also known by its much shorter name, 'Sia', Bobo-Dioulasso shares its French influence with the rest of the nation and is named after the people of the local Bobo language who occupy this part of Southwest Burkina Faso.

Though it's not quite the largest city in Botswana (it's definitely in the top ten), Maun is a critical juncture point in the north of the nation since it acts as an interesting destination for those looking to take a safari on the Okovango Delta. Though visitors might choose to visit this often lush Kalahari expanse, they might instead fly into the nearby Makgadikgadi Pan, one of the largest salt flats in the world and one of the most inhospitable, dry expanses on the planet.

The largest city of Cameroon, but not its capital (that'd be Yaoundé), the city of Douala is a major port of call along the Western African coast and an important economic hub for this part of the continent due to its access to the region and its proximity to oil.

Originally settled by the Portuguese but ultimately heavily colonized by Germans and, eventually, the French, Douala is at the mouth of the Wouri River as it flows out into the Gulf of Guinea.

A Tanzanian city, Arusha is an important city for African travellers because it's smack-dab in the middle of a series of famous natural landmarks including Mount Kilimanjaro, Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Manyara, and Serengeti National Park. Undeniably, it's one of the regions of the continent that epitomizes the untamed wilderness, the local culture, and the beautiful landscapes that outsiders come to recognize as African in nature. Arusha is ultimately closer to Nairobi, Kenya to the north than it is to Dodoma, its own national capital, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's largest city.

After Algiers, Oran is the largest city in the nation of Algeria. Sitting on the Mediterranean Coast, it serves as one of the most important seaports in Northern Africa and it contains a large contingent of the nation's population since, due to the massive desert to the south, it's quite a bit more livable.

At some points populated during significant Spanish and French rules, Oran's architecture and culture have been shaped by both, each mingling with Islamic roots.

It may not be Accra, Ghana's coastal capital city, but it is one of the most important Ghanan destinations nonetheless. Found in the lush rainforests of central Ghana, Kumasi is a culturally significant destination originally established by the Ashanti people though it has since developed as a major population hub, partly due to its proximity to Lake Bosumtwi, one of Ghana's only natural lakes, formed by an asteroid more than a million years ago.

One of the largest cities on the continent, Alexandria isn't even Egypt's most-populated city (Cairo and Luxor both beat it). That said, it's a critically-placed port city sitting close to the mouth of the Nile and a significant historical hub, formerly the home of one of the Seven Wonders of the World (specifically the Lighthouse of Alexandria). Named after Alexander the Great, who founded the city, it at one point contained the largest library in the world.

When Julius Caesar burned the city, it laid waste to some of the most significant ancient works the world had seen. Today, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina stands near its old spot on the sea.

South Africa's Indian Ocean hub, Durban is not a capital city. Under normal circumstances, this wouldn't be a point to be brought up, but many of South Africa's largest cities are capitals in some way or another with only Johannesburg topping the population lists and not being one; this makes Durban the second-most populated non-capital. Though the area here has been occupied periodically over thousands of years, Durban was rediscovered, so to speak, by Vasco da Gama.

It wouldn't be settled until the 19th century when the British landed there.

One of Kenya's largest cities, Mombasa is perhaps one of the most important historical cities on the Indian Ocean due to its importance as both a trading destination and as a port of call for early shipping routes between India and Western Europe. Mombasa is a fairly unique city by geographical standards since the central portion of the city is situated on a large island surrounded by ports and creeks that lead to the open ocean.

Found in the north of Mauritius, the town of Grand Baie is part of the Pamplemousses District, one of the more densely-populated segments of this small island nation. Known for its picturesque beach cove, Grand Baie is an area frequented by sailboats though anyone visiting the island would need to drive a half hour north out of the capital of Port Louis to get there.