South Africa

Country

Capital City
Pretoria (executive), Bloemfontein (judicial), Cape Town (legislative)
Government
Parliamentary republic with a parliamentarily dependent head of state
Official Language
Afrikaans, English (South African English), Southern Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Southern Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu
Recognized Languages
None
Currency
Rand

Politics

Friends
Foes

History

Recent History

Grid Desc

A long coastline that stretches along the two oceans of South Atlantic and Indian borders Africa's southernmost country. The interior of South Africa is a vast, flat, and sparsely populated scrubland, the Karoo, which is drier towards the northwest along the Namib desert. In contrast, the eastern coastline is lush and well-watered, which produces a climate similar to the tropics. To the north of Johannesburg, the altitude drops beyond the escarpment of the Highveld, and turns into the lower lying Bushveld, an area of mixed dry forest and an abundance of wildlife. It has particularly high temperatures, and is also the location of extended subtropical agriculture. South Africa's tallest peak, Njesuthi, is in the Drakensberg mountain range which is the highest range in the country.