South Africa is a country located
southern tip of Africa. Bordering countries like Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe,
Mozambique and Swaziland. The country is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and
Indian Ocean.
South Africa is known for its
cultural diversity languages and religious beliefs. Eleven official languages
are recognized by the Constitution of South Africa. Two of these languages
are of European origin: Afrikans, language which is originated mainly from
Dutch that is spoken by the majority of white people and mestizos, and English.
Due to the extent of the country,
the climate is very variable depending on climatic zones. In the south and the
highlands, the weather is mild, while in the north the climate is subtropical
and in the western part of the country is semi-arid.
The prevalent biome in the
country is the prairie, especially in the Highveld, where the predominant
floras are grasses, low shrubs, and acacia trees, mainly white and camel thorn.
The vegetation is sparser towards the northwest due to low rainfall.
In the Bushveld are numerous
habitats of mammals such as the lion, leopard, wildebeest, kudu, impala, hyena,
hippo and giraffe.
South Africa has a wealth of
flowering plants, but has few forests. A very small portion of South Africa is
forest, found almost exclusively in the humid coastal plain. There are reserves
even smaller forests that are outside the scope of the fire. Plantations of
imported tree species are predominant, particularly the non-native eucalyptus
and pine
In the fifteenth century, settled
the first European settlement South Africa. What they did was appropriate the
best lands for grazing and farming, thus causing progressive displacement of
the indigenous population. This population was displaced and shelter in areas
barren and dry as the Kalahari Desert.
Apartheid, or segregation, was a phenomenon that marks
its official start in 1948 and his term is running concurrently with the Cold
War in 1991.
The Apartheid regime practiced by the British in South
Africa and implemented by Dutch settlers (The Boer), had as main objective to
raise a hierarchy between whites and blacks. This led to a political division,
geographic, and other even more extreme.
In 1948, the National Party came to power with a
pro-apartheid campaign.
The end of apartheid came with
the release of Nelson Mandela after 27 years in prison that fought for the
rights of discriminated persons.
This led to the first democratic
elections in South Africa in 1994, and the Government of National Unity.
