South Africa is a country on the southernmost tip of the African continent, marked by several distinct ecosystems. Inland safari destination Kruger National Park is populated by big game. The Western Cape offers beaches, lush winelands around Stellenbosch and Paarl, craggy cliffs at the Cape of Good Hope, forest and lagoons along the Garden Route, and the city of Cape Town, beneath flat-topped Table Mountain
Table of Contents
Major Statistic:
Let’s discuss some important aspect of this country first
- Official Name: Republic of South Africa (RSA).
- Capital: Pretoria
- Religion: Christians and Muslims.
- National Anthem: It is actually composed of two separate songs.The first is ‘Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika (Lord, Bless Africa)’.The second is ‘Die Stem van Suid-Afrika (The Call of South Africa)’.
- Language : 11 official languages: isiZulu, Afrikaans, English, isiXhosa, siSwati, Sesotho, Xitsonga, Sepedi, isiNdebele, Setswana, Tshivenda.
- Currency : South African Rand.
- National Flower : King Protea.
- National Tree: Real Yellowwood.
- National Animal : Springbok.
- National Bird: Blue Crane.
- National Flag :
- The red, white and blue were taken from the flag of the Boer Republics. The remaining three colors – green, black and gold – were taken from the flag of the African National Congress. The green is meant to symbolize the fertility of the land, the black is representative of the people of the nation, while the gold represents the nation’s mineral wealth.
- National Day: 27 April.
Geography:
South Africa is the southernmost country on the African continent. South Africa also shares borders with Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe in the North, and Mozambique in the East
- Largest state : Johannesburg or “The City of Gold”, is the largest city in South Africa.
- Smallest state: Gauteng
Polity:
- Current Prime Minister : Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa
- First Prime Minister : Louis Botha
Some interesting facts:
- Longest river: The longest river in South Africa is the Orange River hich forms also part of the border between Namibia from South Africa.
- Highest mountain: Mafadi
- South Africa is often called ‘The Cradle of Humankind’, because archaeological artefacts, tools and human remains prove that people lived in the area more than 100,000 years ago.
- Nelson Mandela became the first black president in South Africa.
- In 2019 South Africa has world’s highest level of income inequality according to World Bank
- South Africans have one of the highest rates of HIV in world
- South Africa is the only country to voluntary abandon its nuclear weapon program
- South Africa has one of the world’s younger populations by age according to US government estimates
So, this is all for this blog. We’ll keep updating you with such interesting blogs in future as well so that you don’t face any difficulty while appearing for competitive exams such as SSC CHSL, NET JRF, etc.
In the next blog, we would be discussing some interesting facts and trivia about the country: South Korea
