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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Meerkats in the Kalahari

Photograph: Charles J. Sharp

A family, or mob, of meerkats (Suricata suricatta) in the Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, South Africa. Meerkats, members of the mongoose family, are primarily insectivores, though they may eat other small animals or plants. They are social animals that live in groups of twenty or more. Meerkat family dynamics were featured in the series Meerkat Manor, first aired in 2005.

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...that the Kruger National Park supports the greatest variety of wildlife species on the African continent.
...that Nelson Mandela went especially to Ohlange High School to see a grave and to place his vote in South Africa's first free election?
... that Daniel and Lucy Lindley founded Inanda Seminary School to ensure that schoolboys in South Africa would not have to marry "naked girls"?

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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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Jacques Henry Kallis (born 16 October 1975) is a South African cricketer. As a right-handed batsman and right-arm fast-medium swing bowler, Kallis is regarded as one of the greatest all-rounders ever. To date, he is the only cricketer in the history of the game to hold more than 11,000 runs and 250 wickets in both one day and Test match cricket.

Kallis has played over 150 Test matches and boasts a batting average of just under 57 runs per innings. From October to December 2007 he produced a streak of five centuries in four Test Matches; with his century in the second innings of the third test against India in January 2011, his 40th in all, he moved past Ricky Ponting to become the second-highest scorer of Test centuries, behind only Sachin Tendulkar, who currently has 51 centuries.

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South African wine has a history dating back to 1659, with the first bottle being produced in Cape Town by its founder and governor Jan van Riebeeck. Access to international markets led to increased investment in South Africa's wine industry. Production is concentrated around Cape Town and almost exclusively located within the Western Cape province, with major vineyard and production centres at Constantia, Paarl, Stellenbosch and Worcester. (Full article...)

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Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

— Nelson Mandela

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Blyde River Canyon. The Three Rondavels are seen to the right of the center of this view.

Credit: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen

Blyde River Canyon in Mpumalanga.

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

Image 1Enoch Sontonga (from Culture of South Africa)
Image 2Zulus in Natal (from Culture of South Africa)
Image 3Oracles of the Pink Universe by Simphiwe Ndzube, 2021 (from Culture of South Africa)
Image 4Map of the black homelands in South Africa at the end of apartheid in 1994 (from History of South Africa)
Image 5View of Table Bay with ships of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), c. 1683. (from History of South Africa)
Image 6The statue of Jan van Riebeeck, the founder of Cape Town, in Heerengracht Street. (from History of South Africa)
Image 7King Cetshwayo (ca. 1875) (from History of South Africa)
Image 8King Moshoeshoe with his advisors (from History of South Africa)
Image 9Flag of the South African Republic, often referred to as the Vierkleur (meaning four-coloured) (from History of South Africa)
Image 10Regional 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 11Old Dutch church in Ladismith (from Culture of South Africa)
Image 12Children of different ethnic groups ride a bus in Cape Town, 1994 (from History of South Africa)
Image 13Groot 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 14Nicolaas Waterboer, Griqualand ruler, 1852–1896 (from History of South Africa)
Image 15Emily 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 16Painting of the Sharpeville massacre of March 1960 (from History of South Africa)
Image 17An account of the first trekboers (from History of South Africa)
Image 18Cecil John Rhodes, co-founder of De Beers Consolidated Mines at Kimberley (from History of South Africa)
Image 19Union Buildings, government administrative centre, Pretoria, c. 1925 (from History of South Africa)
Image 20The Rhodes Colossus—Cecil Rhodes spanning "Cape to Cairo" (from History of South Africa)
Image 21Looking out over the floodplains of the Luvuvhu River (right) and the Limpopo River (far distance and left) (from History of South Africa)
Image 22Indian indentured labourers arriving in Durban (from History of South Africa)
Image 23Generals Smuts (right) and Botha were members of the British Imperial War Cabinet during World War I. (from History of South Africa)
Image 24Boer Voortrekkers depicted in an early artist's rendition (from History of South Africa)
Image 25Church on Greenmarket Square in Cape Town, South Africa with a banner memorialising the Marikana massacre (from History of South Africa)
Image 26Replica 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 27Olive Schreiner, the author of The Story of an African Farm (1883) (from Culture of South Africa)
Image 28Frederik W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela, two of the driving forces in ending apartheid (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 30An array of traditional South African cuisine (from Culture of South Africa)
Image 31Statue 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 32Johannesburg before gold mining transformed it into a bustling modern city (from History of South Africa)
Image 33Flag of the Republic of the Orange Free State (from History of South Africa)
Image 34Simon's Town harbour and naval base in South Africa were used by the Allies during World War II. (from History of South Africa)
Image 35Gateway to the Castle of Good Hope, the oldest building in South Africa (from Culture of South Africa)
Image 36Tents in the British concentration camp of Barberton, c.1901 (from History of South Africa)
Image 37Meat on a traditional South African braai (from Culture of South Africa)
Image 38Daniel François Malan, National Party leader from 1934 to 1953 (from History of South Africa)
Image 39Harry Smith (from History of South Africa)
Image 40The 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 41The 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 42Members of 44 Parachute Brigade on patrol during the South African Border War. (from History of South Africa)
Image 43Shaka Zulu in traditional Zulu military garb (from History of South Africa)
Image 44The Boer method of punishing natives, by Frank Patterson, 1900 (from History of South Africa)
Image 45Jan van Riebeeck, first Commander of the Dutch East India Company colony (from History of South Africa)

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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 Internet censorship 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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