Introduction

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.