South+Africa

Overview People Government Geography Flag Economy Internet Illicit Drugs Timeline Tourism Current Event Resources =South Africa= The first people to land in South Africa were Dutch traders in 1652, who later discovered diamonds in 1867, and gold in 1886 South Africa is located at the southern-most tip of the continent of Africa. It's coastline is approximately 2,798 kilometers long sharing with the Atlantic and Indian Ocean. South Africa is bordered by 5 other African countries. To the north are Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland. Lesotho is a country that is inside of South Africa, but is its own independent country.
 * Table of Contents[[image:http://www.globalexchange.org/countries/africa/southafrica/SouthAfrica.gif width="476" height="389" align="right"]]**

The enthic percents are 79.3 black, 9.1 white, 9.0 coloured, and 2.6 Asian. The population of South Africa is 49,052,489, ranked 25th compared to the rest of the world. The life expectancy of the South Africans at birth is 48.13 years for females, and 49.81 for males; 209th compared to the rest of the world. The infant mortality rate is 44.42 deaths per 1,000 live births; 40.1 per 1,000 for females and 48.66 per 1,000 for males. This infant mortality rate is ranked 59th compared to the rest of the world. Of all the people in South Africa, age 15 and over, 86.4% can read and write. There is a wide variety of languages that people speak in South Africa; 23.8% IsiZulu, 17.6% IsiXhosa, 13.3% Afrikaans, 9.4% Sepedi, 8.2% Setswana, 7.9% Sesotho, 4.4% Xitsonga, and 7.2 % other. There are also a lot of different religions in South Africa. They are Zion Christian 11.1%, Pentecostal/Charismatic 8.2%, Catholic 7.1%, Methodist 6.8%, Dutch Reformed 6.7%, Anglican 3.8%, Muslim 1.5%, Christian 36%, other 2.3%, unspecified 1.4%, none 15.1%.
 * The People of South Africa**

The leader of South Africa is President Jacob Zuma. The capital is Pretoria, an administrative capital. The suffrage is a universal 18 years old.
 * Government**

These people endure a climate of semi-arid in most areas, subtropical along the east coast, and sunny days with cool nights. Most of South Africa is a plateau in the interior with rough hills and a small, narrow coastal plain. The land use in South Africa is 12.1% arable land, .79% permanant crops, and 87.11% of other land use. The area for this country is 1,219,090 sq. kl., a bit less than twice the size of the state of Texas. There are a lot of natural resources in South Africa; salt, natural gas, vanadium, platinum, copper, gem diamonds, uranium, gold, chromium, coal, iron ore, manganese, antimony, nickel, phosphates, and tin. There are some problems in South Africa, especially environmental issues. Some of them are a lack of arterial rivers or lakes that then requires extensive conservation of water, pollution of rivers from runoff and discharge, air pollution that later results in acid rain, desertification, and soil erosion. Another is a natural hazard that is prolonged droughts, or long periods of time without sufficient water supply most of the time due to a lack of precipitation. The suffrage is a universal 18 years old. ​ Although the colors have no official meaning attached to them the South African flag incorporates the colors black, green and yellow of Nelson Mandela's political party, the African National Congress and the former Boer republics flags (red, white, and blue). The Y shape represents the convergence of South Africa's diverse society and the desire for unity. ([].)
 * Geography**
 * Flag**

The economy of South Africa is a middle-income, with a great deal of natural resources, a good financial, legal, communications, energy, and transport sectors; stock exchange is ranked 17th in the world. The GDP per capita of South Africa is about $10,100 ranked 105th compared to the rest of the world. The agriculture products produced in South Africa are wheat, sugarcane, vegetables, corn, fruit, poultry, mutton, wool, and dairy products. The imports are chemicals, petroleum, scientific instruments, foodstuffs, and machinery. The exports are diamonds, gold, platinum, and machinery. The unemployment rate in South Africa is 22.9%; 171st in the world. Exchange rate - Rand (ZAR) per US dollar - 7.9576 (2008 est.) ([].)
 * Economy**

**Internet** Hosts: 1.297 million. Users: 5.1 million

Transshipment center for heroin, hashish, and cocaine, as well as a major cultivator of marijuana in its own right; cocaine and heroin consumption on the rise; world's largest market for illicit methaqualone, usually imported illegally from India through various east African countries, but increasingly producing its own synthetic drugs for domestic consumption; attractive venue for money launderers given the increasing level of organized criminal and narcotics activity in the region and the size of the South African economy. ([].)
 * Illicit Drugs**

**1400s: ** Zulu and Xhosa tribes establish large kingdoms in the South Africa region. The Dutch establish the port of Cape Town. The are the first Europeans to settle in South Africa. The British take control of Cape Town. Dutch settlers fight the British in the Boer War. Britain eventually gains control of South Africa. South Africa becomes an independent nation. The African National Congress, a black civil rights group, begins a Campaign for Defiance of Unjust Laws as a protest against apartheid. Nelson Mandela is one of its leaders. Mandela is arrested for plotting against the government. Though he stays active politically, he will spend 27 years in prison. President F.W. de Klerk announces the end of apartheid. Mandela is freed from prison after serving 27 years. South Africa holds its first elections in which all races can vote. Nelson Mandela is elected President. Mandela steps down as President <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">. South Africa is a very affordable place to visit. Some great places to visit are Table Mountain or God's Window, or just any of the mountains, forests, deserts or coasts. South Africa is the adventure capital of the world whether it is cage-diving with sharks of mountain walks. It is a great place to visit, or even stay a while! South Africa has around 860,000 arrivals per month of which around 210,000 is from outside the African continent. A revenue equaling between 1% and 3% of GDP is generated by the tourism industry. Among the main attractions are the diverse and picturesque culture, the game reserves and the highly regarded local wines. Kruger National Park is the largest game reserve in South Africa. It covers 18,989 square km and extends 350 km from north to south and 60 km from east to west. There are a ton of different plants, birds, and mammals from all over the world. The Voortrekker Monument is a monument situated in the city of Pretoria, South Africa. The massive granite structure, built to honour the Voortrekkers who left the Cape Colony in the thousands between 1835 and 1854, was designed by the architect Gerard Moerdijk who had the ideal to design a "monument that would stand a thousand years to describe the history and the meaning of the Great Trek to its descendants." It can be seen from almost any location in the city, as it is seated on a hilltop. President Jacob Zuma has set up a hotline for people to call, for anything. The DA has spent 13 hours over the past 5 weeks calling to complain about poor presidency while only 5 out of 51 connected calls have been answered by an operator. There have been many complaints that people have not been able to reach an operator about. So Zuma's hotline; not so hot.
 * Timeline**
 * <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1652: **<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">
 * <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1852: **<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">
 * <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1899-1902: **<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">
 * <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1910: **<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">
 * <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1952: **<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">
 * <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1962: **<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">
 * <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1990: **<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">
 * <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1994: **<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">
 * <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1999: **<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">
 * Tourism: WHY SOUTH AFRICA?**
 * Current Event**


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