Arnoud Quanjer Wildlife Photography

South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of the African continent. It borders the countries of Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland, and Lesotho. South Africa has experienced a significantly different history from other nations in Africa as a result of two facts. {mosimage}Firstly, immigration from Europe reached levels not experienced in other African communities. Secondly, the strategic importance of the Cape Sea Route. The closure of the Suez Canal during the Six Day War exemplifies its significance. Mineral wealth also made the country extremely important to Western interests, particularly throughout the late nineteenth century; then, with international competition and rivalry during the Cold War. As a result of immigration, South Africa is a very ethnically diverse nation. It has the largest population of people from a mixed ethnic background, whites, and Indian communities in Africa. Black South Africans account for slightly more than 70% of the population.

Racial strife between the white minority and the black majority has played a large part in the country's history and politics, culminating in apartheid, which was instituted in 1948 by the National Party (although segregation existed prior to that date). The laws that defined apartheid began to be repealed or abolished by the National Party in 1990 after a long and sometimes violent struggle (including economic sanctions from the international community) by the Black majority as well as many White, Coloured, and Indian South Africans.

Two philosophies originated in South Africa: ubuntu (the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity); and Gandhi's notion of "passive resistance" (satyagraha), developed while he lived in South Africa. The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup d'état, and regular elections have been held for almost a century; however, the vast majority of black South Africans were not enfranchised until 1994. The economy of South Africa is the largest and best developed on the continent, with modern infrastructure common throughout the country.

South Africa is often referred to as "The Rainbow Nation", a term coined by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and later adopted by then-President Nelson Mandela. Mandela used the term "Rainbow Nation" as a metaphor to describe the country's newly-developing multicultural diversity in the wake of segregationist apartheid ideology.

Information courtesy of Wikipedia.org