SOUTH AFRICA(Proteas home)

SOUTH AFRICA(Proteas home)

Summary:

1.  Introduction.
2.  Borders.
3.  History.
4.  Relief.
5. Map and flag.
6.  Climate.
7.  Precipitation.
8.  Tourism.

1) INTRODUCTION:

South Africa is a country in southern Africa, the southernmost of the continent, a member of the Commonwealth.

Administrative capital: Pretoria.
Legislative Capital: Cape Town.
Population (2018): 59 million inhabitants.
Gross Domestic Product - GDP (2018): $ 52.1 billion.
Currency: Rand.

2) MAP AND FLAG:

South Africa Map

Cape Town,South Africa

South Africa Flag

3) BORDERS:

South Africa is bounded to the north by Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and the Kingdom of Eswatini. Its eastern and southern coasts are bathed by the Indian Ocean, while its western coast overlooks the Atlantic Ocean. Lesotho forms an enclave in the east of the country.

4) HISTORY:

Economic strength of the African continent, the multi-ethnic population, South Africa entered, since 1990, in a new phase of its history, breaking with apartheid, system of racial segregation that prevailed throughout the twentieth century.

5) RELIEF:

The territory of South Africa covers 1,219,090 km². Located south of the Tropic of Capricorn, the country has a simple relief. Thus, a high and vast plateau (veld), covering about two-thirds of the country, rises on its borders in a Great Escarpment which separates the plateau from the shallow littoral zones and which forms, in the South-East, the mountain range of Drakensberg consisting of basaltic lavas and culminating at 3 482 m with the Thabana-Ntlenyana. The South African plateau is largely constituted by the highveld, with a tabular relief, situated between 1,200 m and 1,800 m of altitude.

On its northwest fringes, the plateau lowers, forming basins, and opens on the Kalahari Desert, on that of the Namib and on low plateaus where flow the Orange River as well as other courses of 'water.

6) CLIMATE:

Mostly located in the tropic of Capricorn, South Africa enjoys a tropical climate, subject however to great variations due to the shrinking of the African continent. Oceanic influence is important and altitude is also a predominant factor, especially in the highlands.

Cold on the reliefs, the climate is marked by a dry season to the north. The eastern front, subject to the monsoon, benefits from trade winds from the Indian Ocean. These wet winds bring about 890 mm of annual rainfall from April to October from the coastal plain to the Drakensberg.

7) RAINFALL:

Rainfall decreases as they progress westward. Two thirds of the country receives less than 500 mm of rain per year. Natal is a good example of a region with a tropical climate, hot and humid, favorable to agriculture.

In contrast, the southwestern Cape region is influenced by the western winds of the Atlantic Ocean and has a Mediterranean-like climate with dry summers and wet winters, while the Karroo laughed at. But it is mainly the deserts of Kalahari and Namib that are dominated by a semi-desert and relatively cold climate.

8) TOURISM:

Who would have thought that South Africa would manage to drive out its old demons and return to the path of civil peace and respectability?
Apartheid in force from 1948 was abolished in 1991. In 1994, South Africans participated in the first democratic elections ever held in their country. After 27 years in prison, the world's most famous political prisoner, Nelson Mandela, became the most admired head of state on the planet. The "Rainbow Nation" then knew a true state of grace.
South Africa opted for reconciliation. The humanistic philosophy of some men, coupled with a great pragmatism, managed to set up, in peace, one of the most spectacular political reversals that history has known. South Africa has thus become a democratic and multiracial nation.
Much remains to be done and it will take a lot of time and energy to abolish the segregated segregation - social and economic - and redistribute the cards a little more equitably.
The trip to South Africa is a journey out of the ordinary. The country, bathed by two oceans (Atlantic and Indian), has a relief of an infinite variety and landscapes of a remarkable beauty. It is a mosaic of steppes, savannas, mountains, desert areas, beaches with turquoise waters, big American cities, small Zulu villages out of time.
There is almost no transition from the trendy districts of Cape Town to the miserable townships, from the wild Garden Route to the urban fury of Gauteng; not to mention the rich animal parks: the Kruger is not the only one worthy of interest.

Official website : https://www.southafrica.net/gl/en/

Illustration Credits: Muhammad Sharjeel