It is an official language of Eswatini, along with English, and one of the official languages of South Africa. [219], About 20% of the population uses private healthcare. There are smaller but still significant groups of speakers of Khoi-San languages which are not official languages, but are one of the eight unofficially recognised languages. [47] British emigration to South Africa began around 1818, subsequently culminating in the arrival of the 1820 Settlers. [113], Climate change is expected to bring considerable warming and drying to much of this already semi-arid region, with greater frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as heat waves, flooding and drought. [220] The three dominant hospital groups, Mediclinic, Life Healthcare and Netcare, together control 75% of the private hospital market. The name Namib itself is of Nama origin and means "vast place". Although few South African film productions are known outside South Africa itself, many foreign films have been produced about South Africa. The climatic zones range from the extreme desert of the southern Namib in the farthest northwest to the lush subtropical climate in the east along the border with Mozambique and the Indian Ocean. South Africa's name in native (official) languages: Afrika Borwa (Pedi, seSotho, Tswana) Afrika Dzonga (Tsonga) Afurika Tshipembe (Venda) Mzantsi Afrika (isiXhosa) Ningizimu Afrika (siSwati, isiZulu) Suid-Afrika (Afrikaans) ISO Country Code: za, zaf Time: In 2015, 71 percent of net wealth are held by 10 percent richest of the population, whereas 60 percent of the poorest held only 7 percent of the net wealth and the Gini coefficient was 0.63, whereas in 1996 was 0.61. In 1948, the National Party was elected to power. [184] However, water supply and sanitation in South Africa has come under increasing pressure in recent years despite a commitment made by the government to improve service standards and provide investment subsidies to the water industry. Public universities in South Africa are divided into three types: traditional universities, which offer theoretically-oriented university degrees; universities of technology (formerly called technikons), which offer vocationally-oriented diplomas and degrees; and comprehensive universities, which offer both types of qualification. It was imported before the codification of European law into the Napoleonic Code and is comparable in many ways to Scots law. The provinces are in turn divided into 52 districts: 8 metropolitan and 44 district municipalities. [171] Other problems include state ownership and interference, which impose high barriers to entry in many areas. Dias continued down the western coast of southern Africa. Raymond Dartidentified the first hominin fossil dis… The land (at approximately 400–500 m above sea level) between two of these ranges of fold mountains in the south (i.e. Various researchers have located pebble tools within the Vaal River valley. [77] In a 2006 survey, the South African Migration Project concluded that South Africans are more opposed to immigration than any other national group. [47] The new colonists were induced to settle for a variety of reasons, namely to increase the size of the European workforce and to bolster frontier regions against Xhosa incursions.[47]. [116] The President appoints a Deputy President and Ministers, who form the Cabinet which consists of Departments. The Freedom Charter, adopted in 1955 by the Congress Alliance, demanded a non-racial society and an end to discrimination. South Africa's most popular sports are association football, rugby union and cricket. For 2019, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) estimates the mid-year population at 58,78 million. South African cuisine is heavily meat-based and has spawned the distinctively South African social gathering known as the braai, a variation of the barbecue. These features have led to significant problems concerning the financial sustainability of service providers, leading to a lack of attention to maintenance. [148] In recent years, the SANDF has become a major peacekeeping force in Africa,[149] and has been involved in operations in Lesotho, the DRC,[149] and Burundi,[149] amongst others. The discovery of diamonds in 1867 and gold in 1884 in the interior started the Mineral Revolution and increased economic growth and immigration. The country’s terrain is that of a shallow basin that rises gradually from the Lake Chad area in the west and is rimmed by mountains to the north, east, and south. During the 1950s, Drum magazine became a hotbed of political satire, fiction, and essays, giving a voice to urban black culture. Water-saving measures were in effect that required each citizen to use less than 50 litres (13 US gal) a day.[187]. Further hominin remains have come from the sites of Makapansgat in Limpopo Province, Cornelia and Florisbad in the Free State Province, Border Cave in KwaZulu-Natal Province, Klasies River Mouth in Eastern Cape Province and Pinnacle Point, Elandsfontein and Die Kelders Cave in Western Cape Province. The National Council of Provinces, the upper house, consists of ninety members, with each of the nine provincial legislatures electing ten members. South Africa first won the 1995 Rugby World Cup, which it hosted. CBS Biodiversity Series 7", "Anthropogenic modification of forests means only 40% of remaining forests have high ecosystem integrity - Supplementary Material", "South African National Biodiversity Institute", "South Africa's Second National Climate Change Report", "Mercury: Rethinking the crisis of local democracy", "Increasing police repression highlighted by recent case", "Political tolerance on the wane in South Africa", "South Africa's recent performance in the Ibrahim Index of African Governance", "Here's how South Africa's crime rate compares to actual warzones", "Global Study on Homicide – Statistics and Data", "Gated communities in South Africa: Comparison of four case studies in Gauteng", "South Africa has world's largest private security industry; needs regulation – Mthethwa", "Bigger than the army: South Africa's private security forces", "Two more S. African farmers killed: death toll now at 3,037", "Police in South Africa arrest 560 'undocumented' foreigners in raid", "GUIDE: Rape statistics in South Africa – Africa Check", "Sexual Violence Against Women in South Africa", "After a Week of Xenophobic Attacks, South Africa Grapples for Answers", "Gauteng xenophobia attacks akin to 2008 crisis – Institute of Race Relations", "Virginia Gildersleeve: Opening the Gates (Living Legacies)", "China, South Africa upgrade relations to "comprehensive strategic partnership, "Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act 200 of 1993 (Section 224)", "Rationalisation in the SANDF: The Next Challenge", "Address by the Minister of Defence at a media breakfast at Defence Headquarters, Pretoria", "Out of (South) Africa: Pretoria's Nuclear Weapons Experience", "South Atlantic Nuclear Event (National Security Council, Memorandum)", "Chapter XXVI: Disarmament – No. In 1878 and 1879 three British attacks were successfully repelled until Garnet Wolseley defeated Sekhukhune in November 1879 with an army of 2,000 British soldiers, Boers and 10,000 Swazis. (This etymology is missing or incomplete. In golf, Gary Player is generally regarded as one of the greatest golfers of all time, having won the Career Grand Slam, one of five golfers to have done so. Only 15% of South African jobs are in the informal sector, compared with around half in Brazil and India and nearly three-quarters in Indonesia. [52] The Boers' inability to subdue Sekhukhune and the Pedi led to the departure of Burgers in favour of Paul Kruger and the British annexation of the South African Republic (Transvaal) on 12 April 1877 by Theophilus Shepstone, secretary for native affairs of Natal. They are Cape Town, Pretoria, and Bloemfontein. South Africa has a mixed economy, the second largest in Africa after Nigeria. He was born in Mvezo South Africa on the 18th of July,, 1918, and he passed away on the 5th of December, 2013. The primary sources of South African law are Roman-Dutch mercantile law and personal law with English Common law, as imports of Dutch settlements and British colonialism. [78] The targets were mainly legal and illegal migrants, and refugees seeking asylum, but a third of the victims were South African citizens. South African cuisine is diverse; foods from many cultures are enjoyed by all and especially marketed to tourists who wish to sample the large variety available. Afrikaans music covers multiple genres, such as the contemporary Steve Hofmeyr, the punk rock band Fokofpolisiekar, and the singer-songwriter Jeremy Loops. [71], Along with many African nations, South Africa has been experiencing a brain drain in the past 20 years. The grass and thorn savannah turns slowly into a bush savannah towards the north-east of the country, with denser growth. The high Drakensberg mountains, which form the south-eastern escarpment of the Highveld, offer limited skiing opportunities in winter. Before its independence in 1990, the area was known first as German South-West Africa (Deutsch-Südwestafrika), then as South-West Africa, reflecting the colonial occupation by the Germans and the South Africans. South Africa's national cricket team, the Proteas, has also won the inaugural edition of the 1998 ICC KnockOut Trophy by defeating West Indies in the final. This area also produces much of the wine in South Africa. [9] Estimates based on the 1991 census suggest just under half of South Africans can speak English. Table Mountain, one of the iconic landmarks of South Africa, is one of the oldest mountains in the … The district municipalities are further subdivided into 205 local municipalities. The South African Rand is also the official currency of Lesotho, Swaziland, and Namibia along with their local currencies. [38] Representatives of the British East India Company did call sporadically at the Cape in search of provisions as early as 1601, but later came to favour Ascension Island and St. Helena as alternative ports of refuge. [151] In 2017, South Africa signed the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.[153]. The last census was held in 2011, with a more recent intercensal national survey conducted in 2016. This city is also considered the South African academic center because it is home to 3 universities, the South African Bureau of Standards (for research), and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. Free State is a South African province located in the center of the country. The Constitution of South Africa is the supreme rule of law in the country. Muslims accounted for 1.5% of the population, Hindus 1.2%,[205] traditional African religion 0.3% and Judaism 0.2%. Most South Africans can speak more than one language. [208], South African Muslims comprise mainly of those who are described as Coloureds and those who are described as Indians. [209][210], South Africa is also home to a substantial Jewish population, descended from European Jews who arrived as a minority among other European settlers. Since 1994, the country has had an official name in each of its 11 official languages. Official Name: Republic of South Africa short form: South Africa former: Union of South Africa. The struggle to control these important economic resources was a factor in relations between Europeans and the indigenous population and also between the Boers and the British.[51]. South Africa has also produced numerous world class rugby players, including Francois Pienaar, Joost van der Westhuizen, Danie Craven, Frik du Preez, Naas Botha, and Bryan Habana. In 1934, the South African Party and National Party merged to form the United Party, seeking reconciliation between Afrikaners and English-speaking whites. Religious Demography", "In South Africa, many blacks convert to Islam / The Christian Science Monitor", "Muslims say their faith growing fast in Africa", "National adult literacy rates (15+), youth literacy rates (15–24) and elderly literacy rates (65+)", "Peoples Budget Coalition Comments on the 2011/12 Budget", "Motsoaledi to reform private health care", "What does the demand for healthcare look like in SA? "[170] Official affirmative action policies have seen a rise in black economic wealth and an emerging black middle class. [138], Between 1994 and 2018, there were more than 500 xenophobic attacks against foreigners in South Africa. South Africa also has one possession, the small sub-Antarctic archipelago of the Prince Edward Islands, consisting of Marion Island (290 km2 or 110 sq mi) and Prince Edward Island (45 km2 or 17 sq mi) (not to be confused with the Canadian province of the same name). Despite government efforts to encourage entrepreneurship in biotechnology, information technology and other high technology fields, no other notable groundbreaking companies have been founded in South Africa. There are eleven official names of South Africa, one in each of its eleven official languages. However, the vast majority of black South Africans were not enfranchised until 1994. They have been marginalised to a great extent, and the remainder of their languages are in danger of becoming extinct. The deep interior of mainland South Africa has the hottest temperatures: a temperature of 51.7 °C (125.06 °F) was recorded in 1948 in the Northern Cape Kalahari near Upington,[98] but this temperature is unofficial and was not recorded with standard equipment, the official highest temperature is 48.8 °C (119.84 °F) at Vioolsdrif in January 1993.[99]. And instead of hiring a team of professionals to name the airline, they’re looking for public input. The extreme southwest has a climate remarkably similar to that of the Mediterranean Sea with wet winters and hot, dry summers, hosting the famous fynbos biome of shrubland and thicket. Click on a coloured area to see an article about English in that country or region, Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}30°S 25°E / 30°S 25°E / -30; 25, This article is about the Republic of South Africa. [215], In 2004, South Africa started reforming its tertiary education system, merging and incorporating small universities into larger institutions, and renaming all tertiary education institutions "university". It has also served in multinational UN Peacekeeping forces such as the UN Force Intervention Brigade for example. pop_jop/Getty Images. "[151] South Africa is alleged to have conducted a nuclear test over the Atlantic in 1979,[152] although this is officially denied. Readers Digest Association, Cape Town. [36] On 4 December, he landed at Walfisch Bay (now known as Walvis Bay in present-day Namibia). With over 59 million people, it is the world's 23rd-most populous nation and covers an area of 1,221,037 square kilometres (471,445 square miles). When asking yourself What is South Africa famous for ? 15.1% had no religious affiliation, 0.6% were "other" and 1.4% were "unspecified. Drought, increased intensity and frequency of fire, and climbing temperatures are expected to push many rare species towards extinction. Helen Hemingway Benton Publishers, Chicago. South Africa is a multiethnic society encompassing a wide variety of cultures, languages, and religions. [37] Dias' feat of navigation was later immortalised in Luís de Camões' Portuguese epic poem, The Lusiads (1572). Arguably, the most high-profile film portraying South Africa in recent years was District 9. [31] There followed species including Australopithecus sediba, Homo ergaster, Homo erectus, Homo rhodesiensis, Homo helmei, Homo naledi and modern humans (Homo sapiens). [209] South African Muslims describe their faith as the fastest-growing religion of conversion in the country, with the number of black Muslims growing sixfold, from 12,000 in 1991 to 74,700 in 2004. Up to 1945, more than 4900 species of fungi (including lichen-forming species) had been recorded. Geological map of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland (1970). [89] This is hotter, drier and less intensely cultivated than the Highveld above the escarpment. 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. [199] It is the second most commonly spoken language outside of the household, after Zulu.[200]. This population peaked in the 1970s at 120,000, though only around 67,000 remain today, the rest having emigrated, mostly to Israel. The remaining two languages are Venda and Tsonga. Atlas of Southern Africa. "[151] Six nuclear devices were completed between 1980 and 1990, but all were dismantled before South Africa signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1991. South Africa scored well in the categories of Rule of Law, Transparency and Corruption, and Participation and Human Rights, but was let down by its relatively poor performance in Safety and Security. South Africa is next to Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho and Swaziland. Raymond Dart identified the first hominin fossil discovered in Africa, the Taung Child (found near Taung) in 1924. VI, p. 750. It is famous for the most extensive areas of indigenous forests in South Africa (a generally forest-poor country). There are an estimated 200,000 traditional healers in South Africa, and up to 60% of South Africans consult these healers,[207] generally called sangoma ('diviner') or inyanga ('herbalist'). There is great diversity in South African music. By 2015, 1.4 million students in higher education have benefited from a financial aid scheme which was promulgated in 1999. There are even smaller groups of speakers of endangered languages, many of which are from the Khoi-San family, but receive no official status; however, some groups within South Africa are attempting to promote their use and revival. Many of the unofficial languages of the San and Khoekhoe peoples contain regional dialects stretching northwards into Namibia and Botswana, and elsewhere. When looking at a map of the country, you will also notice Lesotho in the middle of South Africa. The name "South Africa" is derived from the country's geographic location at the southern tip of Africa.