List of capital cities
 | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (July 2017) |
The following is a list of the largest cities by population and of capital cities in the geographic region of East Africa. Because population counts in each country occur at different times, the list of numbers is meant as a rough indicator of relative size.
| | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (July 2017) |
Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's fourth largest island, the second-largest island country, and the 46th largest country overall. Its capital and largest city is Antananarivo.
A megacity is a very large city, typically with a population of more than 10 million people. The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs in its 2018 "World Urbanization Prospects" report defines megacities as urban agglomerations with over 10 million inhabitants. A University of Bonn report holds that they are "usually defined as metropolitan areas with a total population of 10 million or more people". Elsewhere in other sources, from five to eight million is considered the minimum threshold, along with a population density of at least 2,000 per square kilometre. The terms conurbation, metropolis, and metroplex are also applied to the latter.
Antananarivo, also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana, is the capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known as Antananarivo-Renivohitra, is the capital of Analamanga region. The city sits at 1,280 m (4,199 ft) above sea level in the center of the island, making it the highest national capital by elevation among the island countries. It has been the country's largest population center since at least the 18th century. The Presidency, National Assembly, Senate, and Supreme Court are located there, as are 21 diplomatic missions and the headquarters of many national and international businesses and NGOs. It has more universities, nightclubs, art venues, and medical services than any city on the island. Several national and local sports teams, including the championship-winning national rugby team, the Makis, are based here.
Cotonou is the largest city in Benin. Its official population count was 679,012 inhabitants in 2012; however, over two million people live in the larger urban area.
A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metropolitan area usually comprises multiple principal cities, jurisdictions and municipalities: neighborhoods, townships, boroughs, cities, towns, exurbs, suburbs, counties, districts and even states and nations in areas like the eurodistricts. As social, economic and political institutions have changed, metropolitan areas have become key economic and political regions.
Kenitra is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is a port on the Sebou River with a population of 431,282 as of 2014. It is one of the three main cities of the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra region and the capital of the similarly named Kénitra Province. During the Cold War, the US Naval Air Station Port Lyautey served as a stopping point in North Africa.
A primate city is a city that is the largest in its country, province, state, or region, and disproportionately larger than any others in the urban hierarchy. A primate city distribution is a rank-size distribution that has one very large city with many much smaller cities and towns and no intermediate-sized urban centers, creating a statistical king effect.
Kabinda is the capital city of Lomami Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Projected to be the second fastest growing African continent city between 2020 and 2025, with a 6.37% growth.
Uyo is the capital city of Akwa Ibom, a state in South South Nigeria.
Barisal, officially known as Barishal, is a major city that lies on the banks of the Kirtankhola river in south-central Bangladesh. It is the largest city and the administrative headquarter of both Barisal District and Barisal Division. It is one of the oldest municipalities and river ports of the country. The city was once called the Venice of the East or the Venice of Bengal.
The Greater Cairo is a metropolitan area centered around Cairo, Egypt. It comprises the entirety of the Cairo Governorate, the cities of Imbaba and Giza in the Giza Governorate, and the city Shubra El Kheima in Qalyubia Governorate. Its definition can be expanded to include peri-urban areas and a number of new planned towns founded in the desert areas east and west of Cairo. The Greater Cairo Region is also officially defined as an economic region consisting of the Cairo, Giza, and Qalyubia Governorates. Within Greater Cairo lies the largest metropolitan area in Egypt, the largest urban area in Africa, the Middle East, and the Arab world, and the 6th largest metropolitan area in the world.
Urban rail transit in Africa has emerged as a growing form of transit due to rapid urbanization that has occurred in recent decades across the continent. Some of these transit systems are older and more developed, such as the metro in Cairo which opened in 1987. Others such as the light-rail system in Addis Ababa are much more recent, which opened in 2015. A variety of technologies are being used ranging from light-rail, bus rapid-transit, and commuter-rail etc. Africa for several decades saw minimal investment in rail infrastructure, but in recent years due to urban population growth and improved financing options, investment in rail networks has increased.
The Salem Metropolitan Area is the 10 most populous metropolitan area in India. It is the third most populous metropolitan area in Tamil Nadu, only after Chennai and Coimbatore and Madurai and Trichy as The Salem Metropolitan Area consist of the city of Salem and its suburbs in Salem district.
The Kaduna Metropolitan Authorities in Kaduna State, Nigeria were originally known as local government or native authorities. The local government authorities were established during British colonial rule in Nigeria. The local government authority was headed by a district head. The authority was established to manage taxation, the production of cash crops, and their export to Britain. The authority in Kaduna City became obsolete in 1979, however, it was reintroduced in 2021 during Governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai's administration.
