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worldwidewandering says:

-- from IT-A - (?)

Capital: Pretoria (executive), Bloemfontein (judicial), Cape Town (legislative)
Languages: Afrikaans, English, Xhosa, Sotho, Tswana, Zulu, others
Ethnic Groups: Black 70%, white 14%, mulatto (coloured) 9%, Indian 3%
Religions: Black Independent 19%, Dutch Reformed 14%, Roman Catholic 10%
Monetary Unit: Rand (ZAR 710)

-- from Master Pip - (?)

Large Map

South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (Afrikaans: Republiek van Suid-Afrika, Zulu: iRiphabliki yaseNingizimu Afrika, Xhosa: iRiphabliki yaseMzantsi Afrika), is a country located at the southern tip of the African continent. It borders the countries of Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Swaziland. Lesotho is an independent enclave entirely surrounded by South African territory.

South Africa has experienced a significantly different evolution from other nations in Africa as a result of two facts. Firstly, immigration from Europe reached levels not experienced in other African communities. Secondly, the strategic importance of the Cape Sea Route, as emphasised by the closure of the Suez Canal during the Six Day War, and mineral wealth made the country extremely important to Western interests, particularly during the Cold War. As a result of immigration, South Africa is a very racially diverse nation. It has the largest population of people of Coloured (i.e. mixed racial background), whites, and Indian communities in Africa. Black South Africans account for slightly less than 70% of the population.

Racial strife between the white minority and the black majority has played a large part in the country's history and politics, culminating in apartheid, which was instituted in 1948 by the National Party (although segregation existed prior to that date). The laws that defined apartheid began to be repealed or abolished by the National Party in 1990 after a long and sometimes violent struggle (including economic sanctions from the international community) by the Black majority as well as many White, Coloured, and Indian South Africans.

Two philosophies originated in South Africa: ubuntu (the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity); and Gandhi's notion of "passive resistance" (satyagraha), developed while he lived in South Africa.[1]

The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup d'état, and regular elections have been held for almost a century; however, the vast majority of black South Africans were not enfranchised until 1994. The economy of South Africa is the largest and best developed on the continent, with modern infrastructure common throughout the country.

South Africa is often referred to as "The Rainbow Nation", a term coined by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and later adopted by then-President Nelson Mandela as a metaphor to describe the country's newly-developing multicultural diversity in the wake of segregationist apartheid ideology.

South Africa will be the host nation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. It will be the first time the tournament is held in Africa...more
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On flickr:
• South Africa
• Pictures of South Africa
• Africa
• Images of Africa
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Other Forums:
• Lonely Planet Thorntree: South Africa

Originally posted at 9:49PM, 5 October 2006 PDT (permalink)
worldwidewandering edited this topic 50 months ago.