South Africa is located at the southern tip of Africa. To the north going from west to east it is bordered by Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Swaziland. Lesotho is a small country situated inside South Africa in the eastern part of the country. To the south South Africa is bordered by the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
Contrary to popular belief South Africa is not devastatingly poor with an unstable government. In many ways it is two countries in one: the densely populated and major cities of Cape Town and Johannesburg akin to any first world nation; and the under-developed rural areas were large scale poverty runs rampant.
Facts:
- Pretoria is the administrative capital, while Cape Town is the legislative capital and the home of Parliament.
- South Africa has 11 official languages and while English is included in these about only 8% speak English as a first language.
- The population is approx. 48.8 million
- 68% of the population, primarily non-blacks, declare themselves as Christian
- Approximately 9.5 million people visit South Africa each year with it’s biggest attraction being its safari parks.
History:
- In 1488 the Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive in South Africa.
- In the 1800’s there was a large migration from Europe with the British took over the land.
- Conflicts between natives and Europeans resulted in the 1st and 2nd Boer Wars
- In 1910 South Africa joined the British Commonwealth which it was a part of until 1961.
- In 1948 the Afrikaner-dominated National Party came to power and began implementing its dream of white supremacy. While they valued white people they did not want English speaking whites, rather they wanted to promote Afrikaner culture.
- During the 1950’s the National Party introduced numerous apartheid laws which mandated classification of all people by race; the public segregation of races, the loss of the right to vote for anyone but whites.
- In 1992, 73% of white voters voted to abolish the apartheid and the idea of white supremacy.
This month me and my team are praying for South Africa in preparation for our journey there. If you would like to pray with us please check out myPraying for South Africa blog.
