SOUTH AFRICA

South Africa is located on the southern tip of the African continent. It is bordered to the north by Botswana and Zimbabwe, completely surrounds Lesotho, and is bordered to the northeast by Mozambique and Swaziland and to the northwest by Namibia.  The Atlantic Ocean is on the western side and the Indian Ocean on the Eastern side. Its climate is mostly semiarid, subtropical along east coast, sunny days and cool nights. Pretoria is the capital city. The country's leading industrial city is Johannesburg. 

Religion

In South Africa there are many Christians including Zion, Pentecostal, Catholic, Methodist, Dutch reformed, and Anglican/Protestant as well as Muslims, atheists and people of other faiths. 

Language

It has eleven official languages which include:

1. Afrikaans (Dutch) - was influenced by many languages which include English, German, Portuguese, French, Malay and some African Languages.

2. English- language of government, schools, legal system and business.

3. IsiNdebele- language of the Ndebele people (part of the South Eastern Bantu group sub group of the Nguni) located in an area known as Kwandebele and also concentrated in Pretoria, middle Burg, Bethal and others. This language is also related to the amaNdebele of Zimbabwe.

4.  IsiXhosa- language of the Xhosa people part of the Nguni settled in the Eastern Cape regions, Ciskei, Transkei,

5. IsiZulu- language of the Zulu people which is part of the Nguni, located in the Kwazulu coast, Natal coast,

6. Sepedi- language of the Northern Sotho people and settled in areas like south Central (kopa, Ndebele), eastern Pai and other places. This language is mostly spoken by the Northern Province of South Africa

7. Sesotho- language of the Southern Sotho. Also spoken in Lesotho country, located in Free State, Southern Gauteng Setlokowa, etc.

8. Setswana- Language of the Tswana people. Widely spoken by people of Botswana, Northern cape of SA, central and western Free State, and the North- West Province of SA.

9. SiSwati- Language of the Swazi people and closely related to the IsiZulu.

10. Tshivenda- language of the Venda people. They can be found in an area called Dzata. They have features related to the Northern Sotho and Shona of Zimbabwe.

11. Xitsonga- language of the Tsonga people and they settled in the Limpopo river Valley.  This language is spoken in southern Mozambique, South Eastern Zimbabwe, and Limpopo province of South Africa.

Non-official languages include Fanagalo, IsiCamtho, Khoe, Nama, San, Lobedu and many others.

History and Apartheid 

South Africa was colonized by the English and the Dutch (known as the Boers or Afrikaners). The Boers came to South Africa in 1652 and they established colonies like Transvaal, the free orange state, in the lands where they settled. The discovery of minerals like diamonds and gold in those lands attracted the English to invade South Africa. This led to the Boer War. The Boers formed a party known as the Afrikaner National Party in 1948 after gaining a strong majority. The party wanted to full control over the economic and social system of the country and to maintain a white domination. They extended racial separation by emphasizing separation and police repression through apartheid. Apartheid was a policy in South Africa whereby the white, minority population dominated over the black and coloured (Indians, Asians, neither purely white nor black) majority populations in South Africa.

In 1950, the Population Registration Act put all South Africans into three racial categories: Black (Bantu), White, and coloureds. The Party established legal inequality between the racial categories. For example, non-whites had to carry passbooks to prove that they were allowed to enter white areas for purposes of work, marriages between non-whites and whites were not allowed, and there were sanctioned "white-only” jobs. Non-whites were not allowed to vote.

A formal legal expression of apartheid was abolished by 1991 and the first non-racial elections were held in 1994. President Nelson Mandela was the first Black president of South Africa. He retired in 1999 and handed over leadership to President Thabo Mbeki.

Geographical Features and Natural Resources.

South Africa has water bodies such as the Orange River which divides South Africa from Namibia. Drakensberg Mountain is along the southern border.

The Kalahari desert is the world's largest known gold deposit. South Africa has many minerals including gold, chromium, antimony, iron ore, coal, copper, manganese, nickel, phosphates, tin, uranium, gem diamonds, platinum, vanadium, salt, natural gas and many others. 

Economy 

Farmers grow crops like corn, sugarcane, wheat, fruits, and vegetables and rear animals for beef, dairy products, wool, and mutton.

Industries include mining, automobile assembly, metal working, machinery, textiles, iron and steel, chemicals, fertilizers. South Africa is the world's largest producer of gold, platinum and chromium.

Though this page has been carefully researched, the author does not claim expertise on South Africa.

Please send questions, comments, and corrections to emuseum@mnsu.edu and include the URL.

Sources

Jako Oliver

   2007 South African Languages.Electronic Document,

     http://www.cyberserv.co.za/users/~jako/lang/  accessed on 03/09/2009