The southernmost country on the African continent is the Republic of South Africa. For much of the 20th century South Africa's white minority dominated the government and passed laws that separated the population by race. Strong opposition to this system—known as apartheid—led to its collapse in the 1990s. The election of a black president in 1994 began a new era in South African history. South Africa has three capitals: Pretoria (executive), Cape Town (legislative), and Bloemfontein (judicial). GeographySouth Africa covers an area of 470,693 square miles (1,219,090 square kilometers). It has long coastlines on the Atlantic Ocean in the southwest and the Indian Ocean in the southeast. On the north South Africa borders Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Swaziland. The independent kingdom of Lesotho is entirely surrounded by South African territory. Most of South Africa is a plateau, or a raised, fairly flat area. The central part of the plateau is known as the Highveld. It lies between 4,000 and 6,000 feet (1,200 and 1,800 meters) above sea level. A mountainous region known as the Great Escarpment separates the high plateau from the lower plains along the coast. The highest part of the Great Escarpment is a mountain range known as the Drakensberg. The range extends roughly northeast to southwest in the eastern part of the country. In the Lesotho area the Drakensberg reaches heights of about 11,000 feet (3,350 meters). Parts of western South Africa are covered by the Kalahari and Namib deserts. The main rivers in South Africa are the Orange and the Limpopo. The Orange River begins in the mountains of Lesotho and flows westward to the Atlantic Ocean. The Limpopo begins near the city of Johannesburg and flows north and northeast. It empties into the Indian Ocean in Mozambique. South Africa has a moderate climate with few extremes of heat and cold. In most of the country the high elevation of the land helps keep temperatures fairly mild. Rainfall is sparse in most areas, and drought is a common problem. Plants and animalsMuch of South Africa is covered by grasslands with scattered trees. The richest vegetation is found in the southwest. Many of South Africa's 20,000 types of flowering plants grow there. The dry parts of the west have scrub and hardy bushes that can survive with little rain. South Africa's few natural forests are found mostly in mountain valleys and along stretches of the southern coast. Animals such as lions, elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, and antelopes once roamed freely across South Africa. In the 18th and 19th centuries, however, the numbers of animals declined greatly as Europeans settled the land. Many animals were killed by hunters, and others had their habitats destroyed. Today the country's large animals live mainly in wildlife reserves. The largest and best-known reserve is Kruger National Park, which was established in 1898. People and cultureBlack Africans make up about three fourths of South Africa's population. They belong to a number of ethnic groups, the largest being the Zulu and the Xhosa. Each of the African groups has its own language, though some of the languages are related. South Africa has three main minorities. Whites are the largest of them. Most belong to one of two language groups: speakers of Afrikaans, a language developed in South Africa from 17th-century Dutch, and speakers of English. The Afrikaners (those who speak Afrikaans) are descended mainly from Dutch, French, and German settlers. The English speakers are descended mainly from British settlers. After whites, people of mixed race are South Africa's next-largest minority group. Known as Coloreds, they are descended from Africans, Indians and other Asians, and Europeans. Asians are the country's third significant minority. Most of them are descended from people brought to South Africa from India to work on sugar plantations in the 19th century. Christians make up the largest religious group in South Africa. The majority of the Indians practice Hinduism. Other South Africans follow Islam, Judaism, or traditional African religions. - Rural settlement in northeastern South Africa.
More than 95 percent of South Africans live in the eastern half of the country and along the southern coast. The western parts, except for the area around Cape Town in the extreme southwest, are very sparsely populated. More than half of the people live in urban areas. Cape Town is the largest city. The other major cities are Durban, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Soweto, and Port Elizabeth. South African artists often take history, politics, and the relationships between African and European South Africans as their subjects. Some of the country's writers are known throughout the world. In 1991 the novelist and short-story writer Nadine Gordimer became the first South African to win the Nobel prize for literature. EconomySouth Africa has the most productive economy of all African countries. It is based largely on mining and manufacturing. South Africa is one of the world's leading mineral producers. It mines and exports more gold than any other country, though production is slowly declining. South Africa also ranks first in the production of platinum and chromium. Coal and diamond mining are other major sources for mineral exports. The abundance of minerals has made metalworking and iron and steel production into key industries in South Africa. Other important manufactured goods include foods and beverages, machinery, textiles, and chemicals. - Cattle water on the rolling farmland of the southern African plateau in Eastern Cape Province, …
Little of the land in South Africa is suitable for farming. Nevertheless, agriculture still accounts for a substantial amount of the country's exports. The major crops include corn (maize), wheat, sugarcane, citrus fruits, potatoes, peanuts (groundnuts), and grapes. Grapes are grown and used to make outstanding wines. Sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs are raised for meat and other products such as wool and hides. Dairy farming is especially important near the cities. HistorySome of the earliest ancestors of human beings lived in what is now South Africa millions of years ago. By about 10,000 years ago the San and Khoikhoin people roamed the area as hunters and gatherers. Eventually the Khoikhoin began to grow crops and raise livestock. About 2,000 years ago peoples who spoke Bantu languages began migrating southward and settling in the region. Most of the blacks living in South Africa today are descended from these people. European exploration and settlementThe first Europeans to reach South Africa were Portuguese navigators. Their ships sailed around the southernmost tip of Africa—known as the Cape of Good Hope—in the late 15th century. Soon the British and the Dutch began to challenge the Portuguese for control of the Cape sea route. In 1652 the Dutch established a colony on the shores of Table Bay, the site of modern-day Cape Town. Gradually they expanded their settlements inland, where they grew wheat, tended vineyards, and raised sheep and cattle. These Dutch settlers became known as Boers, meaning farmers. (Later they became known as Afrikaners.) The San and Khoikhoin people were killed, forced to work, or chased from their homelands. Boer expansionAs the Boers pushed eastward, they came into conflict with Bantu cattle herders, especially the Xhosa. In the 1780s the two groups began to fight over land and cattle. The struggle lasted for a century, but eventually the Boers defeated the Xhosa. The Boers added Xhosa lands to their colony. This series of conflicts is known as the Cape Frontier Wars. Meanwhile, the British seized control of the Cape of Good Hope in the early 18th century. Soon their influence spread through the region. The Boers resented British policies, especially the ban on slavery beginning in the 1830s. To escape British rule, many Boers migrated north of the Orange River during the 1830s and early 1840s. This migration is known as the Great Trek. Along the way the Boers fought with a number of African peoples. The Boers managed to establish a republic named Natal, but the British took it over in 1843. Then the Boers founded the South African Republic (later called the Transvaal) and the Orange Free State. British rule and the Boer WarIn the late 1900s gold and diamonds were found in southern Africa. After these discoveries the British tried to bring the Boer republics under their rule. The Boers resisted. From 1899 to 1902 the British and the Boers fought a conflict known as the Boer War. The British won the war and made the Boer republics British colonies. After seven years of negotiations, the colonies of Cape, Natal, Transvaal, and the Orange Free State were united in 1910. The new independent country was called the Union of South Africa. ApartheidFrom the start, the government of South Africa was controlled by whites despite the fact that they were in the minority. They passed laws designed to keep apart people of different races. The National party, which came to power in 1948, extended this policy of racial segregation. They gave it the name apartheid, which means “separateness” in the Afrikaans language. Under this system, whites held virtually all political power and owned most of the country's wealth. Of the nonwhite groups, blacks received the harshest treatment. South Africa's nonwhites had begun organizing themselves in opposition to the white government soon after South Africa was formed. In 1912 South African blacks formed a political party that later became known as the African National Congress (ANC). The ANC held nonviolent protests against the government. In 1960 police shot hundreds of unarmed protestors in the township of Sharpeville. Afterward the ANC was outlawed. In response, the group turned to bombings and other acts of violence as a means of protest. Some ANC leaders were arrested and jailed. Among them was Nelson Mandela. The apartheid system was widely condemned outside of South Africa as well as within the country. In response to local and international pressure, the South African government began to relax the apartheid laws in the 1980s. In 1990 a new South African president, F.W. de Klerk, announced that apartheid would end altogether. The ANC was again made legal, Mandela was released from prison, and the apartheid laws were repealed. The country's first all-race democratic elections were held in 1994. The ANC won and Mandela became president. A new South AfricaMandela's government had to deal with the long-term effects of apartheid. It was especially concerned with helping the people who had been mistreated under the old laws. Its priorities included improving education, housing, health care, and wages among the nonwhite population. The government also created a body known as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The commission investigated human-rights abuses committed during the apartheid era by both the South African government and the resistance movement. Thabo Mbeki of the ANC succeeded Mandela as president in 1999. Like other African countries, South Africa faced a serious health crisis when the deadly disease AIDS began to spread rapidly during the 1990s. In the early 21st century South Africa had more people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, than any other country in the world. Population (2001 estimate), 43,586,000. |