The Republic also known as SA or South Africa or RSA is state that is situated in the southern tip of Africa. The state is segregated into nine provinces with a coastline of 2,798 km (1,739 miles) on the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic. It is surrounded by the neighboring countries of Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe in the North, Swaziland and Mozambique in the east, whereas, the Lesotho, an enclave enclosed by the South African territory.

The country is multiethnic one, with different languages and cultures. In the South African constitution, eleven languages are identified as official languages. Out of these, there are two Europe origin languages- Afrikaans, a language that has roots from the Dutch people and South African English. The colored people and the bulk of white people speak the AfriKaans. Even though English is widely spoken in the commercial and public life, it only occupies the fifth place in list of the mainly spoken home language.

In South Africa’s constitutional democracy consisting of a parliamentary republic, political representation is given to all language and ethnic groups. Distinct from the majority of parlimentary republics, the positions of heads o governments and states are combined in a parliament dependent president

Out of the total South African population, nearly 79.5% are of Black descendent lineage segregated among a range of ethnic groups that speaks diverse Batu languages out of which nine has been given the official status.

Capital Pretoria (executive)

Bloemfontein (judicial)

Cape Town (legislative)

Largest Johannesburg

Official language(s) – 11-Afrikaans, Southern Ndebele, Swazi, Northern Sotho, Southern Sotho, English (South African English), Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu, Tsonga

Currency Rand (ZAR)

Time zone SAST (UTC+2)

Religion - As per the national census, 2001, 79.7% of the South African population are of Christians, this comprises 11.1% of Zion Christian, 8.2% of Pentecostal (Charismatic), 7.1% of Roman Catholic, 6.8% of Methodist, 6.7% of Dutch Reformed, 3.8% of Anglican; the remaining 36% consists of the members of other Christian churches. 1.5% of the population are represented by the Muslims, the Hindus account for about 1.3% of the population, 0.2% belong to Judaism, 15.1% of the population have people who do not associate with any religion., other comprise of 2.3% and s1.4% of the population remain unspecified.
History of South Africa

Nearly 170,000 years ago, the modern people occupied the South Africa. Before the coming of the Europeans, the country was occupied by the indigenous Bantu speaking people. These people migrated into South Africa from different parts of the African continent. Xhosa and the Zulu groups were the two main historic groups.
In the year 1487, Bartolomeu Dias, a Portuguese explorer was the first European to come to South Africa. He touched the Walfisch Bay (called as the Walvis Bay in today’s Namibia) on December 4.

IN 1652, a Dutch colonial administrator Jan van Riebeeck setup a refreshment station at the Cape of Good Hope which was later be known as Cape Town. The Dutch brought the slaves from India, Indonesia and Madagascar to works as laborers for the Cape Town colonists.

In the 19th century, the invention f diamond and later the discovery of gold lead to the Boer war. It was fought between the original Boer (the original Dutch, German, Flemish and the French settlers) and the British battled for the ownership for the rich South African wealth. In 1806, Cape Town became a British colony.
In 1807, the slave act was passed. This was as a result of the continuous pressure from the abolitionist societies in Britain.

Boer war

The first Boer war was fought between the years, 1880-1881. In this, the Boer republic (Orange Free State and Transvaal Republic) effectively opposed the encroachments of the British utilizing the guerilla tactics. The Boer republics were well accustomed to the Local conditions However the British came back with renewed power and with vigor, armed with large number of troops, experience and new tactics in the second Boer war fought between 1899 -1902, in which the British ultimately won.

Though the whites benefited from the highest living standards, the Black community stayed behind in terms income, housing, education, and life expectancy.

On May 31st, 1961 subsequent to the whites only referendum, South Africa became republic and it left the common wealth. The queen’s monarchy came to an end and the last Governor General was declared as the State President.

End of Apartheid

The National Party government in the year 1990 initiated the primary step by lifting ban on the ANC (The African National Congress) and other political parties. Nelson Mandela was released after 27 years in prison. In the year 1994, the first universal election was conducted. The ANC swept the polls with a leading majority. Nelson Mandela became President of South Africa, and the nation again rejoined the common wealth of nations.