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South Africa
Capital City.................................Pretoria 
Population............................44,800,000
Former Colonial Power.................Britain
Leader................................Thabo Mbeki
Links: Where is South Africa? - Sport in South Africa - Health in South Africa - Education in South Africa - Alive & Kicking South Africa
History 
South Africa is located at the southern tip of Africa and that is the reason for its name! Perhaps the most famous place in this country is Table Mountain - why do you think it is called this? Some of the first humans lived here and there are some really important archaeological sites. Later the Bantu people settled in some areas of what is now South Africa. However, before 1910 it was not one country. It was an area of settlements and colonies populated by the British, Dutch and local tribes.
The Dutch
In 1487, the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias became the first European to reach the southernmost tip of Africa. The King of Portugal, John II, named it the Cabo da Boa Esperança or Cape of Good Hope as it led to the riches of India.
It was used by the Dutch East India Company as a stopping point on the way to and from India from 1652. Slaves were brought from Indonesia, Madagascar, and India as a labour source for the Dutch immigrants in Cape Town. They expanded eastwards and came across the Xhosa people and had numerous battles over land and livestock.
British Rule
Great Britain took over the Cape of Good Hope area in 1795 to use Cape Town as a stop on the way to Australia and India. It was later returned to the Dutch in 1803, but soon afterwards the Dutch East India Company declared bankruptcy, and the British took over the Cape Colony in 1806. The British expanded this colony eastwards in a series of wars with the Xhosa people and encouraged more British people to come to the area to live.
During the 1830s, after slavery was stopped, approximately 12 000 Boers (Dutch speakers from the Cape Colony) moved and founded the Boer Republics - the South African Republic (later Transvaal) and the Orange Free State (later Free State).
The discovery of diamonds in 1867 and gold in 1884 in the interior encouraged economic growth and immigration. In 1880-1881 and 1899-1902 war broke out between the Boer Republics and the British as the British tried to dominate the whole region. The local population got little benefit from this economic growth.
After four years of negotiating, the Union of South Africa was created from the Cape Colony, the Natal Colony (also ruled by the British), as well as the republics of Orange Free State and Transvaal, on May 31, 1910.
From Apartheid to Independence to Democracy!
In 1948, the National Party was elected to power, and created laws to separate the rights of White and Black people. This is what we know as apartheid. The White minority enjoyed the highest standard of living in all of Africa as the economy grew, but the Black majority remained poor and had low life expectancy. On 31 May 1961, following a whites-only referendum, the country became a republic and left the British Commonwealth but apartheid continued up until the 1990's.
In 1990 the National Party government lifted the ban on the African National Congress and other left-wing political organisations, and released Nelson Mandela from prison after twenty-seven years'. Apartheid laws were slowly removed and the first multi-racial elections were held in 1994, which the ANC won by an overwhelming majority. It has been in power ever since.
Despite the end of apartheid, millions of South Africans, mostly black, continued to live in poverty due to years of apartheid, the failure of the government to tackle social issues and low economic growth.
Interesting fact: Did you know that South Africa is the only country in the world with three capital cities?! Pretoria is the administrative capital, Cape Town is the government capital, and Bloemfontein is the home of the judges and courts.
