South Africa
Updated: Sep 15, 2022
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Country Name
South Africa, officially The Republic of South Africa.
Location
Is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded on the south by the Southern African coastline stretching along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
It is bordered in the north by Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; and in the east and northeast by Mozambique and Swaziland; The states of Lesotho and Swaziland are all located within the territory of South Africa.
Capital
There are three capitals of South Africa
Pretoria (executive),
Bloemfontein (judicial),
Cape Town (legislative).
Reason for Naming the country
The name "South Africa" is derived from the country's geographic location at the southern tip of Africa. Upon formation, the country was named The Union of South Africa reflecting its origin in the unification of four formerly separate British colonies. Since 1961 the long-form name has been the "Republic of South Africa". In Dutch, the country was named Republiek van Zuid-Afrika, replaced in 1983 by the Afrikaans Republiek van Suid-Afrika. Since 1994 the Republic has had an official name in each of its 11 official languages.
Flag
The flag of South Africa was adopted on 27 April 1994.
The South African flag features horizontal stripes of red and blue on
the top and bottom, respectively. They are separated by a green Y design
outlined in white, and the triangle created by the green is filled in with
black and outlined in a thin yellow stripe. The modern design of the South African national flag is designed to represent unity.
The green color represents the fertility of the land, the black color represents the people of the nation, and the yellow represents the nation’s mineral wealth. The flag features a horizontal bicolor of red and blue, a black triangle on the hoist-side, and a central band that splits into a “Y” shape that is green in color. The green band and the arms of the Y are trimmed in white, while the inside of the Y is trimmed in gold.
*Flag Facts:
-The flag of South Africa is similar to the flag of Vanuatu.
Language
South Africa has eleven official languages; Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Venda, Xhosa, and Zulu.
While all the languages are formally equal, some languages are spoken more than others. The three most spoken languages are Zulu (22.7%), Xhosa (16.0%), and Afrikaans (13.5%)
Despite that English is recognized as the language of commerce and science, it ranked fourth and was listed as the first language of only 9.6 %.
Religion
The major faiths practiced in South Africa are Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, traditional African religions, and Judaism.
Christianity is the primary belief system in South Africa, with Protestantism being the largest denomination. Non-Christian entities in the country include Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, and Buddhism. Even though the country prides itself on being a multi-dominion country, 15% of the population does not identify themselves with any religion, the second largest group after the Protestant Christians.
Currency
South African Rand (ZAR).
Time Zone
There are 2 time zones in South Africa
+02:00 GMT
+03:00 GMT.
Government Regime
Unitary dominant-party parliamentary republic with an executive presidency.
Climate
In South Africa there are the following climates:
- The cool and arid climate of the west coast (Namib desert).
- The subtropical climate of the southern coast, with Mediterranean characteristics, that is, with a dry summer, in the westernmost part (see Cape Town), while there is no dry season in the eastern part (see Durban).
- The climate of the plateau, which covers most of the country, with dry, sunny winters, during which it can get cold at night, and hot summers, during which thunderstorms can break out. The plateau is arid in the western part, where there is a desert and in the eastern part, where there are several cities including Johannesburg and Pretoria.
The Republic of South Africa, the southernmost African country, extends from 22° to 34° south latitude. Being in the Southern Hemisphere, it has seasons reversed compared to Europe or North America.
Since it has different climates, it's hard to find a single time that is best for the whole of South Africa.
A good compromise between the different areas can be found in spring, September, and October, to avoid the winter cold of mountains and plateaus, the summer heat of inland areas, and the summer rains of the east, as well as the tropical cyclones that may affect the eastern regions in summer and autumn.