Capital: Pretoria; note - Cape Town is the
legislative center and Bloemfontein the judicial center
Currency: Rand (ZAR)
Borders: Botswana 1,840 km, Lesotho 909 km, Mozambique 491
km, Namibia 967 km, Swaziland 430 km, Zimbabwe 225 km
South Africa is a large country, situated at the foot of the African
Continent. South Africa is roughly the size of Spain and France
combined, with a landmass of 1,219,912 sq km, making it one of
Africa's largest nations. The geography of the country is made up of
the coastal plain (South Africa has 2,798 sq km of coastline), the
central plateau and the Kalahari Basin. South Africa has many great
rivers including the Orange, Breede, Olifants, Great Fish, Great
Kei, Caledonm Vaal, Linpopo, Crocodile, Mfolozi, Tugela and Mzimkulu.
The country is divided into the following regions: Northern
Province, North-West Province, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal,
Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Northern Cape and Free State. South
Africa is famed for its many game reserves with abundant wildlife.
Perhaps the most famous is the Kruger National Park where almost all
of the big animals can be found including lions, elephants, hippos,
cheetahs and rhinoceros. Major cities include Cape Town,
Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Bloemfontein. The highest areas
of elevation can be found sloping toward the central eastern area
surrounding Lesotho.The capital of South
Africa is Pretoria although the legislative centre is Cape Town and
the Judicial centre Bloemfontein. South Africa was once a land of
apartheid, which included the racial separation of whites from
blacks. President Nelson Mandela featured dominantly in South
Africa's fight against apartheid, even serving time in prison for
the cause. The Zulu culture is a famous aspect of South African
heritage and can be found around the city of Durban. The national
languages are Afrikaans and English and the unit of currency is the
South African Rand.
South Africa possesses a strong economy, which is largely industry
and service-based. The main industries are the mining of platinum,
gold and chromium, automobile assembly, metalworking, machinery,
textile, iron and steel, chemicals and fertilizer. Agricultural
produce includes corn, wheat, sugarcane, fruits, vegetables, beef,
poultry, mutton, wool and dairy products.
South Africa is so huge that it has a variety of different climates.
The areas where South Africa borders Zimbabwe and Mozambique are
tropical, the south and central plateau are temperate and the
northwest coast has a dry desert climate. The average daily
temperature in Cape Town is 22°C. The average in Pretoria is 25°C.
The hottest ever temperature recorded in the capital was 36°C. |
