# South Africa

South Africa

sovereign state, country| Part of | Southern Africa  |
| Year dem found am | 31 May 1910  |
| Participant insyd | BASIC countries  |
| Demonym | Suid-Afrikaner, South African, Sud-africaine, Sud-africain  |
| Anthem | national anthem of South Africa  |
| Culture | culture of South Africa  |
| Motto | Unity in Diversity  |
| Motto text | ǃke e: ǀxarra ǁke, Ex Unitate Vires, Inspiring new ways, Undod drwy Amrywiaeth  |
| Continent | Africa  |
| Country | South Africa  |
| Capital | Pretoria, Bloemfontein, Cape Town  |
| Located in time zone | UTC+02:00, UTC+03:00, Africa/Johannesburg  |
| Located in or next to body of water | South Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean  |
| Coordinate location | 29°0′0″S 24°0′0″E  |
| Coordinates of easternmost point | 26°51′32″S 32°53′27″E  |
| Coordinates of northernmost point | 22°7′40″S 29°39′30″E  |
| Coordinates of southernmost point | 34°50′5″S 20°0′0″E  |
| Coordinates of westernmost point | 28°38′0″S 16°27′15″E  |
| Highest point | Mafadi  |
| Lowest point | Indian Ocean  |
| Government ein basic form | parliamentary republic, representative democracy, apartheid  |
| Office held by head of state | President of South Africa  |
| State ein head | Cyril Ramaphosa  |
| Office head of government hold | President of South Africa  |
| Government ein head | Cyril Ramaphosa  |
| Executive body | Government of South Africa  |
| Legislative body | Parliament of South Africa  |
| Highest judicial authority | Constitutional Court of South Africa  |
| Central bank | South African Reserve Bank  |
| Currency | rand  |
| Twinned administrative body | Aisai  |
| Driving side | left  |
| Electrical plug type | Europlug, AC power plugs and sockets: British and related types, BS 546, IEC 60906-1  |
| Dey replace | Republic of South Africa (1961—1994)  |
| Studied by | South African studies  |
| Dema official website |   |
| Hashtag | SouthAfrica  |
| Top-level Internet domain | .za  |
| Flag | flag of South África  |
| Coat of arms | Coat of arms of South Africa  |
| Geography of topic | Geography of South Africa  |
| Get characteristic | free country  |
| History of topic | history of South Africa  |
| ‎most populous urban area | Johannesburg  |
| Railway traffic side | left  |
| Open data portal | DataFirst Statistics South Africa, South Africa Data Portal  |
| Economy of topic | economy of South Africa  |
| Demographics of topic | demographics of South Africa  |
| Commonwealth Sport country code | RSA  |
| Mobile country code | 655  |
| Country calling code | +27  |
| Trunk prefix | 0  |
| Emergency phone number | 112  |
| GS1 country code | 600-601  |
| Licence plate code | ZA  |
| Maritime identification digits | 601  |
| NCI Thesaurus ID | C17151  |
| Unicode character | 🇿🇦  |
| Category for maps or plans | Category:Maps of South Africa  |

**South Africa**, officially be de **Republic of South Africa** (**RSA** anaa **R.S.A.**), be de southernmost country for Africa insyd. Ebe bounded to de south by 2,798 kilometres (1,739 mi) of coastline wey dey stretch along de South Atlantic den Indian Oceans; go de north by de neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, den Zimbabwe; den go de east den northeast by Mozambique den Eswatini. E sanso dey completely enclave de country Lesotho. Ebe de southernmost country for de mainland of de Old World, den de second-most populous country wey dey locate entirely south of de equator, after Tanzania. South Africa be biodiversity hotspot, plus unique biomes, plant den animal life. Plus ova 62 million people, de country be de world ein 23rd-most populous nation wey e dey cova area of 1,221,037 square kilometres (471,445 square miles). Pretoria be de administrative capital, while Cape Town, as de seat of Parliament, be de legislative capital. Dem traditionally regard Bloemfontein as de judicial capital. De largest city, den site of highest court be Johannesburg.

About 80% of de population be Black South Africans. De population wey dey remain dey consist of Africa ein largest communities of European (White South Africans), Asian (Indian South Africans den Chinese South Africans), den multiracial (Coloured South Africans) ancestry. South Africa be multiethnic society wey dey encompass wide variety of cultures, languages, den religions. Ein pluralistic makeup dey reflect insyd de constitution ein recognition of 12 official languages, de fourth-highest number for de world insyd. According to de 2011 census, de two most spoken first languages be Zulu (22.7%) den Xhosa (16.0%). De next two be of European origin: Afrikaans (13.5%) dem develop am from Dutch wey dey serve as de first language of chaw Coloured den White South Africans; dem commonly dey use English (9.6%) insyd public den commercial life, both dey reflect de legacy of Dutch den British colonialism, respectively.

## Demographics

### Urbanization

One online database dey list South Africa get more dan 12,600 cities den towns. De following be de largest cities den towns insyd South Africa.

| Largest cities anaa towns insyd South Africa

2016 Community Survey, World Urbanization Prospects: De 2018 Revision |
| --- |
|  | Rank | Name | Province | Pop. |  |
| Johannesburg
Cape Town | 1 | Johannesburg | Gauteng | 9,167,045 | Durban
Pretoria |
| 2 | Cape Town | Western Cape | 4,004,793 |
| 3 | Durban | KwaZulu-Natal | 3,661,911 |
| 4 | Pretoria | Gauteng | 2,437,000 |
| 5 | Gqeberha | Eastern Cape | 1,263,051 |
| 6 | Vereeniging | Gauteng | 957,528 |
| 7 | Soshanguve | Gauteng | 841,000 |
| 8 | East London | Eastern Cape | 810,528 |
| 9 | Bloemfontein | Free State | 759,693 |
| 10 | Pietermaritzburg | KwaZulu-Natal | 679,766 |

## Politics

### Administrative divisions

Dem divide de provinces into 52 districts: 8 metropolitan den 44 district municipalities. Dem subdivide de district municipalities further into 205 local municipalities. De metropolitan municipalities, wey dey govern de largest urban agglomerations, dey perform de functions of both district den local municipalities.

| Province | Provincial capital | Largest city | Area (km2) | Population (2016) | Population (2020) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Eastern Cape | Bhisho | Gqeberha | 168,966 | 6,996,976 | 6,734,000 |
| Free State | Bloemfontein | Bloemfontein | 129,825 | 2,834,714 | 2,929,000 |
| Gauteng | Johannesburg | Johannesburg | 18,178 | 13,399,724 | 15,488,000 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | Pietermaritzburg | Durban | 94,361 | 11,065,240 | 11,532,000 |
| Limpopo | Polokwane | Polokwane | 125,754 | 5,799,090 | 5,853,000 |
| Mpumalanga | Mbombela | Mbombela | 76,495 | 4,335,964 | 4,680,000 |
| North West | Mahikeng | Klerksdorp | 104,882 | 3,748,435 | 4,109,000 |
| Northern Cape | Kimberley | Kimberley | 372,889 | 1,193,780 | 1,293,000 |
| Western Cape | Cape Town | Cape Town | 129,462 | 6,279,730 | 7,006,000 |

## You fi read further

* *A History of South Africa, Third Edition*. Leonard Thompson. Yale University Press. 2001. 384 pages. ISBN 0-300-08776-4.
* *Economic Analysis and Policy Formulation for Post-Apartheid South Africa: Mission Report, Aug. 1991*. International Development Research Centre. IDRC Canada, 1991. vi, 46 p. Without ISBN.
* *Emerging Johannesburg: Perspectives on the Postapartheid City*. Richard Tomlinson, et al. 2003. 336 pages. ISBN 0-415-93559-8
* *Making of Modern South Africa: Conquest, Segregation and Apartheid*. Nigel Worden. 2000. 194 pages. ISBN 0-631-21661-8.
* *South Africa: A Narrative History*. Frank Welsh. Kodansha America. 1999. 606 pages. ISBN 1-56836-258-7
* *South Africa in Contemporary Times*. Godfrey Mwakikagile. New Africa Press. 2008. 260 pages. ISBN 978-0-9802587-3-8.
* *The Atlas of Changing South Africa*. A. J. Christopher. 2000. 216 pages. ISBN 0-415-21178-6.
* *The Politics of the New South Africa*. Heather Deegan. 2000. 256 pages. ISBN 0-582-38227-0.
* *Twentieth-Century South Africa*. William Beinart Oxford University Press 2001, 414 pages, ISBN 0-19-289318-1.

* Government of South Africa
* South Africa. *The World Factbook*. Central Intelligence Agency.
* South Africa from *UCB Libraries GovPubs*
* South Africa from the BBC News
* South Africa luxury travel from Scott Dunn
* Wikimedia Atlas of South Africa
* Geographic data related to South Africa at OpenStreetMap