South Africa - Tourism and Travel

The Republic of South Africa makes up most of southern Africa. It has a long coastline on the Indian and Atlantic oceans. The independent country of Lesotho is located entirely within South Africa.

South Africa has a total area of 470,693 square miles (1,219,090 square kilometers).

It has three capitals: The legislative capital is Cape Town, the administrative capital is Pretoria and the judicial capital is Bloemfontein.

Johannesburg is the largest city in South Africa.

Pretoria and Johannesburg are located in Guateng, the most highly populated province in South Africa.

South Africa belongs to the Commonwealth of Nations.

It has a presidential system of government.

The official currency of South Africa is the rand, which equals 100 cents.

Between 1910 and 1961, South Africa was ruled jointly by British and by Afrikaners, descendants of Dutch settlers that were known as "Boers". In 1961, South Africa became an independent country that was ruled by a white minority.

A policy known as "apartheid" was instituted. Apartheid denied basic human rights to non-whites, who made up more than three fourths of the population.

The system of apartheid led to South Africa being ostracized by the international community.

South Africa began a series of measures to end apartheid in 1990.

Democratic elections for a post-apartheid government were held in 1994.

Geography and Climate

Most of South Africa consists of a large plateau that is covered with bush or grassland.

This plateau is drained by the Limpopo and Orange river systems.

The Orange River is the only major river in southern Africa that flows westward instead of eastward.

South Africa has a fertile coastal plain that rises to become mountains in the east and south.

The Drakensberg Mountains are in the east.

The peaks of the Drakensberg Mountains are covered in lava that is more than 250 million years old.

Table Mountain, a flat topped mountain with folds that look like they are made of cloth, looks over the bay at Cape Town.

Part of the Kalahari Desert is in South Africa. The Kalahari Desert is the world's largest continuous sand surface. The sand in the Kalahari desert is red because of the presence of iron oxide.

The Karoo is a semi-desert region in South Africa. It is divided into two regions, the Great Karoo and the Little Karoo.

The Great Karoo has broad, flat-topped mountains. They were cut from level rock strata that experienced very dry conditions.

The Little Karoo has mountains made up of sedimentary rock. This rock has developed many folds and faults.

South Africa has mild winters and warm summers.

In the coast around Cape Town, it rains in the winter, but in the rest of the country, most of the rain falls in the summer.

People

50,110,000 people live in south Africa.

79% are black, 10% are colored, 9% are white and 2% are Asian.

The South African constitution recognizes 11 official languages.

Two of these languages, English and Afrikaans, are of European origin. Afrikaans is derived from Dutch.

The other nine official languages are Ndebele, Sotho, Northern Sotho, Tswana, Swazi, Tsonga, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu.

68% of the population is Christian, 29% are animist or practice traditional religions , 2% are Muslim and 1% are Hindu.

Economy

South Africa has Africa's largest economy.

The country attracts migrant workers from neighboring countries.

South Africa is the largest producer of gold and chromium in the world and one of the largest producers of diamonds.

It has reserves of many other minerals as well.

The Bushveld Intrusion in South Africa contains some of the richest deposits of ore in the world. Located in South Africa's high veld, or grassland, is made up of molten magma that intruded into the Earth's crust. The Bushveld Intrusion is saucer-shaped and 180 miles (300 kilometers) across. It has a dome of granite that overlays regular layers of precious minerals.

Important industries are financial services, motor vehicles, textiles, chemicals, electrical equipment, food processing and mineral processing.

About one third of the work force is involved in agriculture.

Important crops are fruit, including grapes that are used for winemaking, and corn. Wool is also an important agricultural product.

The distribution of wealth in South Africa is very uneven and there are high levels of unemployment.