South Africa

Published on January 2017 | Categories: Documents | Downloads: 71 | Comments: 0 | Views: 1089
of 8
Download PDF   Embed   Report

Comments

Content

Country profile:

location: The Republic of South Africa is a country

located at the southern tip of Africa, with a 2,798 kilometres (1,739 mi) coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. geographical location of South Africa

is 25 °43'S, 28°17'E and it lies in the southern hemisphere. The area of South Africa is 1,219,912 sq km (471,011 sq mi). Comparatively, the area occupied by South Africa is slightly less than twice the size of the state of Texas. Considered as a whole, South Africa extends 1,821 km (1,132 mi) NE±SW and 1,066 km (662 mi) SE±NW. The neighboring countries of South Africa: These following countries and geo-political entities not only share the boundaries of South Africa, but also have deep rooted socio-cultural bonds. Site North-west country
Namibia, Botswana and

Zimbabwe North- east Mozambique and Swaziland

east west Wholly surrounded

Indian Ocean Atlantic Ocean
Lesotho (independent nation)

Climate: South Africa has a generally temperate climate,

due in part to being surrounded by the Atlantic and Indian Oceans on three sides, by its location in the climatically milder southern hemisphere and due to the average elevation rising steadily towards the north (towards the equator) and further inland. Due to this varied topography and oceanic influence, a great variety of climatic zones exist.

minerals and resources:

Proven Natural Gas Reserves (Cedigaz 2009) recoverable Coal Reserves (2007) 34 billion short tons (World Energy Council) 15 million barrels

Proven Oil Reserves (January 1, 2010)
population growth: -0.31%. density: 41/km (170th)

birth rate : 18.48 births/1,000 population.

Death rate:
crime rate: 0.05%. aids provided.
y y y y

US gives Zambia $276m for HIV/Aids Drug can slash HIV-infection rate - study New Aids cases fall by one fifth - UN Africa welcomes pope's condom stance

Ethnicity and tribal group: South Africans represent a rich

array of ethnic backgrounds, but the idea of ethnicity became highly explosive during the apartheid era, when the government used it for political and racial purposes. Apartheid doctrines taught that each black population would eventually achieve maturity as a nation, just as the Afrikaner people, in their own view, had done. Officials, therefore, sometimes referred to the largest African ethnic groups as nations. Apartheid policies also empowered the government to remove black Africans from cities and to preserve the "ethnic character of neighborhoods in the African townships that were created, legally and illegally, around the cities. Many township neighborhoods were given specific "tribal" designations. Township residents generally ignored these labels, however, and reacted to the divisiveness of the government's racial policies by minimizing the importance of their ethnic heritage, or disavowing it entirely. A few South Africans embraced the notion that ethnicity was an outdated concept, a creation of governments and anthropologists, invoked

primarily to create divisions among people of a particular class or region. Apartheid policy: Apartheid (Afrikaans pronunciation: [ p rt it], separateness) was a system of legal racial segregation enforced by the National Party government in South Africa between 1948 and 1994, under which the rights of the majority 'non-white' inhabitants of South Africa were curtailed and minority rule by white people was maintained. Group Black White Coloured Asian Percentage 79.4 9.2 8.8 2.6

Religions:

Name

percentage

Zion Christian Pentecostal/Charismatic Catholic Methodist Dutch Reformed Anglican Islam Unspecified None

11.1 8.2 7.1 6.8 6.7 3.8 1.5 1.4 15.1

Literacy: Communication system: Tele

communication

system South Africa has an extensive GSM network, working on the same frequency as the rest of Africa and Europe. There are four cell phone providers in South Africa: Vodacom, MTN, Cell-

C and Virgin Mobile. The networks support GPRS countrywide and 3G, EDGE and HSDPA support is available in larger urban areas. Communication and media system
Telephones-main lines in 4.844 million use Telephones-mobile cellular 16.86 million Radios Televisions Internet hosts Internet service providers Internet users TV channels Newspapers (popular) 17 million 6 million 288,633 150 3.1 million 7 5

Transportation system:

Railways Highways Merchant marine Airports

20,872 km 275,971 km 2 ships 728

Sports: Soccer is the most popular Sport in South Africa,

and is very popular among South African blacks. South Africa hosted the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the first one hosted in Africa. Other popular Sports include: Cricket (which is the 2nd most popular Sport in South Africa), Rugby union, Boxing, Hockey, Surfing, and Running. South Africa was absent from international sport for most of the apartheid era due to sanctions, but started competing globally after the country's white electorate voted in a referendum in favour of a negotiated settlement of the apartheid question.

Sponsor Documents

Or use your account on DocShare.tips

Hide

Forgot your password?

Or register your new account on DocShare.tips

Hide

Lost your password? Please enter your email address. You will receive a link to create a new password.

Back to log-in

Close