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Portal:South Africa

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Flag of South Africa
Flag of South Africa
Map of the South Africa within 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.

Juǀʼhoan children in Namibia

The San peoples (also Saan), or Bushmen, are the members of any of the indigenous hunter-gatherer cultures of southern Africa, and the oldest surviving cultures of the region. They are thought to have diverged from other humans 100,000 to 200,000 years ago. Their recent ancestral territories span Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, and South Africa.

The San speak, or their ancestors spoke, languages of the Khoe, Tuu, and Kxʼa language families, and can be defined as a people only in contrast to neighboring pastoralists such as the Khoekhoe and descendants of more recent waves of immigration such as the Bantu, Europeans, and Asians. (Full article...)

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Sir George Colley at the Battle of Majuba Hill
The Illustrated London News's depiction of Major-General Sir George Pomeroy Colley of the British Army at the Battle of Majuba Hill, which was fought on 27 February 1881 near Volksrust, South Africa, during the First Boer War. The battle was the third successive victory for the South African Republic and led to the signing of the Pretoria Convention to end the war. Colley was the first governor of the Colony of Natal as well as High Commissioner for South Eastern Africa. He was killed during the battle.

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Cape Town's beach, the Atlantic Ocean, and Table Mountain.

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The action of 9 February 1799 was a minor naval engagement of the French Revolutionary Wars between a British Royal Navy frigate and a French privateer frigate fought 100 nautical miles (190 km) west of the southeastern coast of what is now Natal in South Africa. The 32-gun French frigate Prudente had since the start of the war been part of a squadron operating from Île de France (now Mauritius). This squadron had dispersed during 1798, with the ships sent on independent commerce raiding operations across the British trade routes in the Indian Ocean. Prudente had subsequently been seized in the autumn of that year by Anne Joseph Hippolyte de Maurès, Comte de Malartic, the Governor of Île de France, and sold to a private raiding company.

In early 1799 Prudente was operating off South Africa, attacking British trade passing to or from the Cape Colony when the ship was discovered by British frigate HMS Daedalus under Captain Henry Lidgbird Ball. Prudente turned away and Ball gave chase, following the French ship closely. After five hours Daedalus caught Prudente and fired a raking broadside into the stern, disabling the French ship. For another hour the action continued at close range until Prudente was forced to surrender. (Full article...)

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King Shaka kaSenzangakhona
Shaka kaSenzangakhona (c. 1787 – c. 22 September 1828), also known as Shaka Zulu, was the most influential leader of the Zulu Kingdom. He is widely credited with uniting many of the Northern Nguni people, specifically the Mtetwa Paramountcy and the Ndwandwe into the Zulu Kingdom, the beginnings of a nation that held sway over the portion of southern Africa between the Phongolo and Mzimkhulu Rivers, and his statesmanship and vigour marked him as one of the greatest Zulu kings. Research continues into the character and methods of the Zulu warrior king, whose reign still greatly influences South African culture.

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Bokkoms

Bokkoms (or bokkems) is whole, salted and dried mullet (more specifically the Southern mullet, Chelon richardsonii, a type of fish commonly known in the Western Cape of South Africa as "harders"), and is a well-known delicacy from the West Coast region of South Africa. This salted fish is dried in the sun and wind and is eaten after peeling off the skin. In some cases it is also smoked. It is sometimes referred to as "fish biltong". (Full article...)

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Nelson Mandela
No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.

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Blyde River Canyon. The Three Rondavels are seen to the right of the center of this view.
Blyde River Canyon. The Three Rondavels are seen to the right of the center of this view.
Credit: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen

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

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