South Africa
Country Name
South Africa, officially The Republic of South Africa.
Location
Is the southernmost country in Africa.
It is bounded on the south by Southern Africa coastline stretching along
the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
It is bordered in the north by Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe;
and on the east and northeast by Mozambique and Swaziland;
The State of Lesotho and Swaziland are all located within the territory of South Africa.
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 from 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.
Capital
There are three capitals of South Africa
-
Pretoria (executive)
-
Bloemfontein (judicial)
-
Cape Town (legislative)
Flag
The flag of South Africa was adopted on 27 April 1994,
The flag Consists of six colors Red, Blue, Green, White, Yellow
and Black.
It symbolizes the various political tendencies of the country
and the natural resources of the state.
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.
Currency
South African Rand (ZAR)
Time Zone
There are 2 time zones in South Africa
+02:00 GMT
+03:00 GMT
Government Regime
Democracy
International Phone code
+27
Internet Code
.za
Some Facts About South Africa
