South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa. It borders the Atlantic and Indian oceans and Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland, and Lesotho, an independent enclave surrounded by South African territory. The South African economy is the largest in Africa and 24th largest in the world. Due to this it is the most socially, economically and infrastructurally developed country on the continent.

South Africa has experienced a different history from other nations in Africa because of early immigration from Europe and the strategic importance of the Cape Sea Route. European immigration began shortly after the Dutch East India Company founded a station at what would become Cape Town, in 1652. Great Britain seized the Cape of Good Hope area in 1795, started its over 100 years struggle with the Bores – descendants of early Dutch, French and German settlers—over control of the lands before the establishment of the Union of South Africa in 1910.

South Africa is ethnically diverse, with the largest Caucasian, Indian, and racially mixed communities in Africa. Black South Africans, who speak nine officially recognized languages, and many more dialects, account for nearly 80% of the population.

Racial strife between the black majority and white minority has played a large part in South Africa's history and politics, culminating in apartheid, which was instituted in 1948 by the National Party. The laws that defined apartheid began to be repealed or abolished by the National Party in 1990, after a long and sometimes violent struggle, including economic sanctions from the international community. Regular elections have been held for almost a century; but the majority of South Africans were not enfranchised until 1994.