Portal:South Africa

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South Africa

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Introduction

Flag of South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of the African continent. It borders the countries of Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Eswatini, and entirely surrounds Lesotho.

South Africa has the largest population of people of European descent in Africa, one of the largest Indian population outside of Asia, as well as the largest Coloured (of mixed European, Asian and African descent) community in Africa, making it one of the most ethnically diverse countries on the continent. Racial and ethnic strife between the black majority and the white minority have played a large part in the country's history and politics. The National Party began introducing the policy of apartheid after winning the general election of 1948; however, it was the same party under the leadership of F.W. de Klerk who started to dismantle it in 1990 after a long struggle by the black majority, as well as many white, coloured and Indian South Africans.

The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup d'état, and regular free and fair elections have been held since 1994, making it a regional power and among the most stable and liberal democracies in Africa.

South Africa is ranked as an upper-middle income economy by the World Bank. It has the second largest economy in Africa after Nigeria, and the 34th-largest in the world. By purchasing power parity, South Africa has the 7th highest per capita income in Africa. Although being the second largest economy, South Africa has the most sophisticated economy in the continent, with modern infrastructure common throughout the country. The country is considered to be a newly industrialized country according to the World Bank classifications.

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Afrikaans is a West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia, and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and also Argentina, where a group in Sarmiento speaks a Patagonian dialect. It evolved from the Dutch vernacular of South Holland (Hollandic dialect) spoken by the predominantly Dutch settlers and enslaved population of the Dutch Cape Colony, where in the 17th and 18th centuries it gradually developed characteristics that distinguish it from Dutch.

Although Afrikaans has adopted words from other languages, including German, Malay, and Khoisan languages, an estimated 90 to 95% of its vocabulary is of Dutch origin. Differences between Afrikaans and Dutch often lie in the more analytic morphology and grammar of Afrikaans, and different spellings. There is a large degree of mutual intelligibility between the two languages, especially in written form. (Full article...)

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Credit: Wildmedic

SANAE IV is the current research base of the South African National Antarctic Expedition. It is located flat-topped nunatak named Vesleskarvet in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica

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...that the oldest remains of modern humans were found in the Klasies River Caves in the Eastern Cape. They are well over 100,000 years old.
...that Pietermaritzburg 's city hall is the largest red brick building in the Southern Hemisphere.
...that in eastern South Africa, scientists have found traces of blue-green algae dating back 3,500 million years. This is some of the earliest evidence of life on Earth.

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WikiProjects

WikiProject South Africa

WikiProject South Africa discussions • South Africa Wikipedians' Notice Board • South African Wikipedians • Wikipedians in South Africa • Wikimedia ZA • Subscribe to the Wikimedia ZA mailing list

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This is a Good article, an article that meets a core set of high editorial standards.

The Angolan Civil War (Portuguese: Guerra Civil Angolana) was a civil war in Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with interludes, until 2002. The war began immediately after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. It was a power struggle between two former anti-colonial guerrilla movements, the communist People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the anti-communist National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).

The MPLA and UNITA had different roots in Angolan society and mutually incompatible leaderships, despite their shared aim of ending colonial rule. A third movement, the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA), having fought the MPLA with UNITA during the Angolan War of Independence, played almost no role in the Civil War. Additionally, the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC), an association of separatist militant groups, fought for the independence of the province of Cabinda from Angola. With the assistance of Cuban soldiers and Soviet support, the MPLA managed to win the initial phase of conventional fighting, oust the FNLA from Luanda, and become the de facto Angolan government. The FNLA disintegrated, but the U.S.- and South Africa-backed UNITA continued its irregular warfare against the MPLA government from its base in the east and south of the country. (Full article...)

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Wolraad Woltemade (c.1708 – 1 June 1773) was born in Hesse-Schoumberg, part of present-day Germany. He migrated to the Dutch Cape Colony at Cape Town with the Dutch East India Company) as a dairyman. He died while rescuing sailors from the wreck of the ship De Jonge Thomas in Table Bay on 1 June 1773.

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In South Africa, a potjiekos /ˈpɔɪkiːkɒs/, literally translated "small-pot food", is a dish prepared outdoors. It is traditionally cooked in a round, cast iron, three-legged cauldron, the potjie, descended from the Dutch oven brought from the Netherlands to South Africa in the 18th century and found in the homes and villages of people throughout southern Africa. The pot is heated using small amounts of wood or charcoal or, if fuel is scarce, twisted grass or even dried animal dung. (Full article...)

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If there are dreams about a beautiful South Africa, there are also roads that lead to their goal. Two of these roads could be named Goodness and Forgiveness.

— Nelson Mandela

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Credit: Dylan Harbour

Johannesburg CBD at sunrise.

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The following are images from various South Africa-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1An account of the first trekboers (from History of South Africa)
Image 2Jan van Riebeeck, first Commander of the Dutch East India Company colony (from History of South Africa)
Image 3Harry Smith (from History of South Africa)
Image 4The Boer method of punishing natives, by Frank Patterson, 1900 (from History of South Africa)
Image 5Groot Constantia, the oldest wine estate in South Africa, was founded in 1685 by Simon van der Stel. The South African wine industry (New World wine) is among the lasting legacy of the VOC era. The recorded economic history of South Africa began with the VOC period. (from History of South Africa)
Image 6King Moshoeshoe with his advisors (from History of South Africa)
Image 7Nicolaas Waterboer, Griqualand ruler, 1852–1896 (from History of South Africa)
Image 8Zulus in Natal (from Culture of South Africa)
Image 9The statue of Jan van Riebeeck, the founder of Cape Town, in Heerengracht Street. (from History of South Africa)
Image 10Members of 44 Parachute Brigade on patrol during the South African Border War. (from History of South Africa)
Image 11Tents in the British concentration camp of Barberton, c.1901 (from History of South Africa)
Image 12Emily Hobhouse campaigned against the appalling conditions of the British concentration camps in South Africa, thus influencing British public opinion against the war. (from History of South Africa)
Image 13Gateway to the Castle of Good Hope, the oldest building in South Africa (from Culture of South Africa)
Image 14The rise of the Zulu Empire under Shaka forced other chiefdoms and clans to flee across a wide area of southern Africa. Clans fleeing the Zulu war zone included the Soshangane, Zwangendaba, Ndebele, Hlubi, Ngwane, and the Mfengu. Some clans were caught between the Zulu Empire and advancing Voortrekkers and British Empire such as the Xhosa . (from History of South Africa)
Image 15Regional geography during the period of the Anglo–Boer wars:
South African Republic/Transvaal
Orange Free State
British Cape Colony
Natal Colony (from History of South Africa)
Image 16View of Table Bay with ships of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), c. 1683. (from History of South Africa)
Image 17Flag of the South African Republic, often referred to as the Vierkleur (meaning four-coloured) (from History of South Africa)
Image 18Olive Schreiner, the author of The Story of an African Farm (1883) (from Culture of South Africa)
Image 19Enoch Sontonga (from Culture of South Africa)
Image 20Map of the black homelands in South Africa at the end of apartheid in 1994 (from History of South Africa)
Image 21Union Buildings, government administrative centre, Pretoria, c. 1925 (from History of South Africa)
Image 22The British Empire is red on the map, at its territorial zenith in the late 1910s and early 1920s. (India highlighted in purple.) South Africa, bottom centre, lies between both halves of the Empire. (from History of South Africa)
Image 23Church on Greenmarket Square in Cape Town, South Africa with a banner memorialising the Marikana massacre (from History of South Africa)
Image 24Frederik W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela, two of the driving forces in ending apartheid (from History of South Africa)
Image 25Children of different ethnic groups ride a bus in Cape Town, 1994 (from History of South Africa)
Image 26Generals Smuts (right) and Botha were members of the British Imperial War Cabinet during World War I. (from History of South Africa)
Image 27Cecil John Rhodes, co-founder of De Beers Consolidated Mines at Kimberley (from History of South Africa)
Image 28Indian indentured labourers arriving in Durban (from History of South Africa)
Image 29The Castle of Good Hope (Kasteel de Goede Hoop in Dutch), Cape Town. Founded officially in 1652, Kaapstad/Cape Town is the oldest urban area in South Africa. (from History of South Africa)
Image 30Oracles of the Pink Universe by Simphiwe Ndzube, 2021 (from Culture of South Africa)
Image 31Meat on a traditional South African braai (from Culture of South Africa)
Image 32Flag of the Republic of the Orange Free State (from History of South Africa)
Image 33Old Dutch church in Ladismith (from Culture of South Africa)
Image 34Statue of Bartolomeu Dias at the High Commission of South Africa in London. He was the first European navigator to sail around the southernmost tip of Africa. (from History of South Africa)
Image 35The Rhodes Colossus—Cecil Rhodes spanning "Cape to Cairo" (from History of South Africa)
Image 36Painting of the Sharpeville massacre of March 1960 (from History of South Africa)
Image 37Boer Voortrekkers depicted in an early artist's rendition (from History of South Africa)
Image 38Shaka Zulu in traditional Zulu military garb (from History of South Africa)
Image 39Looking out over the floodplains of the Luvuvhu River (right) and the Limpopo River (far distance and left) (from History of South Africa)
Image 40Simon's Town harbour and naval base in South Africa were used by the Allies during World War II. (from History of South Africa)
Image 41Johannesburg before gold mining transformed it into a bustling modern city (from History of South Africa)
Image 42Replica of an East Indiaman of the Dutch East India Company/United East Indies Company (VOC). The Dutch East India Company was a major force behind the (c. 1590s–1720s) and Netherlandish cartography (c. 1570s–1670s). (from History of South Africa)
Image 43King Cetshwayo (ca. 1875) (from History of South Africa)
Image 44An array of traditional South African cuisine (from Culture of South Africa)
Image 45Daniel François Malan, National Party leader from 1934 to 1953 (from History of South Africa)

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Topics

South Africa articles

History

Timeline Years Early history Kingdom of Mapungubwe Venda Kingdom Kaditshwene Dutch Cape Colony Mthethwa Paramountcy Ndwandwe Cape Colony Zulu Kingdom Orange Free State Transvaal Republic First Boer War Second Boer War Great Depression World War II Apartheid Border War Democratic South Africa
By topic	Economy Military

Cannabis Crime Disability Education Feminism Health Healthcare Immigration Intersex Land invasion Languages LGBT Life expectancy Poverty Racism Religion Sexual violence Slum clearance Smoking Social issues Social movements Women Xenophobia
Culture	Architecture Art Cinema Cuisine (wine) HIV/AIDS Homelessness Flag Literature Media Music National symbols Public holidays Sports World Heritage Sites heritage sites
Demographics	South African Bantu-speaking peoples Ndebele Pedi Sotho Swazi Tsonga Tswana Venda Xhosa Zulu Khoisan Khoekhoe San people Whites Afrikaners British Coloureds Cape Coloureds Cape Malays Griquas Indians Chinese

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