South Africa

South Africa is a republic at the southern tip of Africa. It is bordered to
the north by Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the north-east by Mozambique
and Swaziland. Lesotho is contained entirely inside the borders of South Africa.

History                                                Afrikaans, English,
                                                       Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi,
                                       Official        Ndebele, Southern
                                       languages       Sotho, Northern
South Africa is one of the oldest                      Sotho, Tsonga,
nation-states in Africa. The territory                 Tswana and Venda
was originally colonized by the                        Cape Town
British, which brought waves of white                  (legislative)
settlers. Feuds with Dutch settlers    Capitals        Pretoria
prompted the Boer war. In 1910 the                     (administrative)
four main Dutch and English colonies                   Bloemfontein
in the reigon united as the Union of                   (judicial)
South Africa. In 1931 South Africa
became a fully sovereign and           Largest City    Cape Town (1991 census)
self-governing dominion under the
British crown. In 1961 it became a     President       Thabo Mbeki
republic.                              Area            Ranked 24th
                                       Ê- Total        1,219,912 km2
The descendants of the white settlers  Ê- % water      Negligible
remained a minority among the black    Population
native Africans. The whites were able  Ê- TotalÊ(2002) Ranked 26th
to maintain their rule by implementing                 43,647,658
a series of harsh, apartheid laws that Ê- Density      36/km²
segregated the country along racial
lines. The apartheid system became     Independence
increasingly controversial in the late Ê-ÊUnion of
20th century, and in 1994 the first    South Africa
multi-racial elections were held.      Ê-ÊRepublic of  May 31, 1910
Control of the country is now largely  South Africa    May 31, 1961
in the hands of the black majority,    Ê-ÊFirst        April 27, 1994
although some white politicians and    democratic
business leaders remain.               elections
                                       Currency        Rand
                                       Time zone       UTC +2
                                                       Nkosi Sikelel
                                                       iAfrica (God Bless
                                       National        Africa)
                                       anthems         Die Stem van Suid
                                                       Afrika (The Call of
                                                       South Africa)
                                       Internet TLD    .ZA
                                       Calling Code    27


                   Public Holidays
              Date                       Name
 1 January                      New Year's Day
 March 21                       Human Rights Day
 The Friday before Easter SundayGood Friday
 The day after Easter Sunday    Easter Monday
 April 27                       Freedom Day
 1 May                          Labour Day
 June 16                        Youth Day
 August 9                       National Women's Day
 September 24                   Heritage Day
 December 16                    Day of Reconciliation
 December 25                    Christmas Day
 December 26                    Day of Goodwill

The Public Holidays Act (Act No 36 of 1994) determines whenever any public
holiday falls on a Sunday, the Monday following on it shall be a public holiday.

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