President: Jacob Zuma (2009)
Total area: 471,008 sq mi (1,219,912 sq km)
Population (2014 est.): 48,375,645 (growth rate: –0.48%); birth rate: 18.94/1000; infant mortality rate: 41.61/1000; life expectancy: 49.56; density per sq mi: 109.8
Administrative capital (2011 est.): Pretoria, 1.501 million; Legislative capital and largest city: Cape Town, 3.562 million. Judicial capital: Bloemfontein, 468,000. No decision has been made to relocate the seat of government. South Africa is demarcated into nine provinces, consisting of the Gauteng, Northern Province, Mpumalanga, North West, KwaZulu/Natal, Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Northern Cape, and Free State. Each province has its own capital.
Other large cities: Johannesburg, 3.844 million; Ekurhuleni, 3.357 million; Durban, 3.012 million (2011).
Monetary unit: Rand
Read more: South Africa: Maps, History, Geography, Government, Culture, Facts, Guide & Travel/Holidays/Cities http://www.infoplease.com/country/south-africa.html#ixzz3Y2SYgnhI
Geography
South Africa, on the continent's southern tip, is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the west and by the Indian Ocean on the south and east. Its neighbors are Namibia in the northwest, Zimbabwe and Botswana in the north, and Mozambique and Swaziland in the northeast. The kingdom of Lesotho forms an enclave within the southeast part of South Africa, which occupies an area nearly three times that of California.
The southernmost point of Africa is Cape Agulhas, located in the Western Cape Province about 100 mi (161 km) southeast of the Cape of Good Hope.
Read more: South Africa: Maps, History, Geography, Government, Culture, Facts, Guide & Travel/Holidays/Cities http://www.infoplease.com/country/south-africa.html#ixzz3Y2SdOPI1
History
The San people were the first settlers; the Khoikhoi and Bantu-speaking tribes followed. The Dutch East India Company landed the first European settlers on the Cape of Good Hope in 1652, launching a colony that by...