South Africa, the world in one country

South Africa is the most southern country of the continent Africa and is as big as France and Spain together. It is a country with lots of different landscapes and with big contrasts. Enclosed in its boundaries, lay the small kingdoms Lesotho and Swaziland.  

The Republic South Africa is situated in the most southern tip of the continent Africa and borders the Indian Ocean in the east and south. In the west it borders the Atlantic Ocean and in the north Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. It is a country with big contrasts. There are not only big differences between rich and poor but it is also a country with lots of different cultures and languages. Archbishop Desmond Tutu called it “the rainbow nation”.

Language and cultures

South Africa has eleven official languages, English, Afrikaans and nine Bantu languages; Zulu, Xhosa, Tswana, Northern and Southern Sotho, Tsonga, Swazi, Venda and Ndebele. The English and Afrikaans are seen as imported languages but are widely used as second language. If you go back far enough in history are all of these languages imported since the original inhabitants of this area were the Bushmen, or San. Now the San only live in a few isolated places in the Northern Cape and in Namibia and Botswana. Their numbers have become so small that their language is not recognised as one of the official languages. The English and Afrikaans speaking whites are a minority, they have a western culture. The nine Bantu sections of population each have their own different culture although they have adopted a lot of customs from the western culture. The majority has now a Christian faith but this doesn’t mean that all old traditions are forgotten. There is still a lot of superstition; almost everybody is secretly still scared of the Tokolosh, some sort of an evil gnome and muti, (magic potion) of the Sangoma (a medium between the spiritual world and the real world) is still widely used.

History 

The original inhabitants of the region that is now known as South Africa are the San. They were nomadic hunter-gatherers that lived peacefully and in harmony with their environment. About 2000 years ago groups of the Bantu-tribes came to South Africa and brought with them their life stock and agricultural habits. They took over the areas that were suitable for them and slowly but surely the San were forced to live in the dry, infertile areas. In the 15th century the first explorers came to this part of the world and in 1652 the Dutch VOC started a supply station in what is now Cape Town. Arguments about watering holes and grazing rights soon caused hostility by the original inhabitants. After a while the Boeren (Dutch for farmers) started to colonise the land around the station to get more grazing areas for their cattle. When at the end of the 18th century the English took over the administration in the Cape, this soon led to tension between the English and the Boeren. A situation that only got worse. The Boeren at the border of the colony thought they got too little protection and decided eventually to leave the Cape colony. They became the Voortrekkers, who travelled in 1835 to the Lowveld in the east of the country and settled there. In the meanwhile the English had big problems with the Zulus in what is now Kwazulu-Natal. In 1879 the English suffered great losses to the Zulus under chief Cetshwayo before they finally defeated them later that year. The conflicts between the Boeren and the English grew worse and led in1880 to the first Boeren war, in which the Boeren from the Transvaal fought to stay independent from the English. The discovery of gold and diamonds in the Transvaal gave the English only more reason to want to add the Transvaal to the colony and in 1899 the second Anglo-Boeren war started. Although the Boeren had the upper hand at first, they had to surrender in the end to the greater numbers of the English and in 1900 the Transvaal officially became a part of the English colony. Ironically three former Boeren generals were elected in the government at the elections in 1910, of which Louis Botha is the most famous. The rise of the apartheid regime in the fifties was cause for international indignation. After a long battle Nelson Mandela was released in 1990 and a new path was chosen, a path to democracy.

Places of interest

South-Africa has a lot to offer. From Cape Town with its colonial past, the Table Mountain and Cape Point, via the wine route and the garden route till the National Parks like Addo-Elepant Park, Hluwehluwe-Imfolozi and probably the best known; the Kruger Park. The flora varies from fynbos till mixed woodland savannah, and from coast till semi desert. In the parks live many animal species besides the Big Five and there are many bird species. Very few countries offer such diversity in nature and culture as South Africa.

Climate

Generally South Africa has a moderate climate but since it is such a big country there are differences between the regions. The Cape gets most of its rain in winter, which is very mild with temperatures between 16 and 26 degrees Celsius. Even at night it doesn’t get colder then 6 degrees. The east of the country gets its rains in summer. Summer can get quite hot, especially in the Lowveld (Krugerpark area) where temperatures can rise to 40 degrees. Winters in this area are very mild as well. The higher areas like Johannesburg and the Drakensberg are slightly cooler while the central area, the Karoo, is very dry. 

Sources: www.todio.nl