Discover South Africa

South Africa occupies the most southern tip of Africa.

It is bounded to the south by 2,798 kilometres (1,739 miles) of coastline stretching along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; and to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini (former Swaziland); and it surrounds the enclaved country of Lesotho.

Most of the country is classified as semi-arid.

Like much of the African continent south of the Sahara, South Africa's landscape is dominated by a high Central Plateau surrounded by coastal lowlands.

The new Rainbow flag was chosen to represent the country's new democracy after the end of apartheid and was adopted on April 27, 1994.

Three of the colours – black, green and yellow – are said to represent the country’s black population. The other three – red, white and blue – are said to represent the country's white population.

The red is also said to represent the violence that led to freedom.

The yellow can be linked to the natural resources of South Africa.

The white generally refers to the colonial and apartheid past.

The blue may refer to the sky or to the ocean of South Africa.

The green Y is commonly interpreted to mean the unification of the various ethnic groups and the moving forward into a new united South Africa.

The design therefore represents the merging of both black population and white population to live in a reunited Rainbow Nation.

South Africa has three capital cities: executive Pretoria, judicial Bloemfontein and legislative Cape Town. 

The largest city is Johannesburg. 

About 80% of South Africans are of Black African ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different African languages. The remaining population consists of Africa's largest communities of European, Asian, and multiracial ancestry.

The first European settlement in southern Africa was established by the Dutch East India Company in Table Bay (Cape Town) in 1652.

From the 1770s, colonists came into contact and inevitable conflict with Bantu-speaking chiefdoms some 800 km east of Cape Town. 

In 1910, the Union of South Africa was created out of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal and Free State. It was to be essentially a white union. Black opposition was inevitable, and the African National Congress (ANC) was founded in 1912 to protest the exclusion of black people from power. 

In 1948, the pro-Afrikaner National Party (NP) came to power with the ideology of apartheid, an even more rigorous and authoritarian approach than the previous segregationist policies. 

Nelson Mandela was born in 1918. He studied law before working as a lawyer in Johannesburg. There he became involved in anti-colonial and African nationalist politics, joining the ANC in 1943 and co-founding its Youth League in 1944.

After the National Party's white-only government established apartheid, a system of racial segregation that privileged whites, he and the ANC committed themselves to its overthrow.

Although initially committed to non-violent protest, he led a sabotage campaign against the government. He was arrested and imprisoned in 1962, and subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment.

Mandela served 27 years in prison.

President F. W. de Klerk released him in 1990. Mandela and de Klerk led efforts to negotiate an end to apartheid, which resulted in the 1994 multiracial general election in which Mandela led the ANC to victory and became president.

He declined a second presidential term and focused on combating poverty and HIV/AIDS through the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

He died in 2013.

Widely regarded as an icon of democracy and social justice, he received more than 250 honours, including the Nobel Peace Prize. He is held in deep respect within South Africa, where he is often referred to by his Thembu clan name, Madiba, and described as the "Father of the Nation".

Freedom Day is a public holiday in South Africa celebrated on 27 April. It celebrates freedom and commemorates the first post-apartheid elections held on that day in 1994. The elections were the first non-racial national elections where everyone of voting age of over 18 from any race group, including foreign citizens permanently resident in South Africa, were allowed to vote. 

In Africa, the Big Five game animals are the lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and Cape buffalo. The term was coined by big-game hunters, and refers to the five most difficult animals in Africa to hunt on foot, but is now also widely used by safari tour operators.

Most of South Africa's landscape is made up of high, flat areas called plateaus. These lands are covered with rolling grasslands, called highveld, and tree-dotted plains called bushveld. To the east, south, and west of the plateau lands is a mountainous region called the Great Escarpment.

One of South Africa's most famous sport is rugby and the National team is called the Springboks, from the name of a small antelope.

They won the Rugby World Cup in 1995, just after the end of apartheid.

South African people also practise football and cricket.

The currency is the rand.   

1 rand = 0,05 €

Describe the South African coat of arm with all its symbols!

Ask someone to correct your exercise or send it to Mrs Williams

Prestation Personnalisée 1 E-buck