South+Africa

 South Africa by Rhiannon and Mikaela

Interesting Facts!
 * At the beginning of every ceremony, South Africa’s flag is raised with other flags. This flag is always raised first and lowered last out of all the other flags.
 * South Africa is one of the world's largest producers of platinum and gold
 * One of the hobbies in South Africa include face painting of the colors of their flag[[image:face.jpg]]


 * Jacob Zuma, the president of South Africa, was imprisoned with Nelson Mandela in 1963
 * South Africa became the first African nation to host the World Cup in 2010
 * Braais are held. In other words, South Africans have barbecues every weekend!
 * 1/3 of the population doesn’t have access to fresh water
 * 18% of the population is affected by HIV/AIDs

media type="file" key="SouthAfrica.mp3" width="240" height="20" Click here to listen to South Africa’s national anthem!

Comparison Table


 * **[|Nation] ** ||  **<span style="background: #0b3a8b; color: white; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt;">[|Region] **  ||  **<span style="background: #0b3a8b; color: white; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt;">[|Area (square miles)] **  ||  **<span style="background: #0b3a8b; color: white; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt;">[|Real GDP (per capita)*] **  ||  **<span style="background: #0b3a8b; color: white; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt;">[|Adult literacy] **  ||  **<span style="background: #0b3a8b; color: white; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt;">[|Literacy (male)] **  ||  **<span style="background: #0b3a8b; color: white; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt;">[|Literacy (female)] **  ||  **<span style="background: #0b3a8b; color: white; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt;">[|Infant mortality (per 1,000 births)] **  ||  **<span style="background: #0b3a8b; color: white; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt;">[|Life expectancy (male)] **  ||  **<span style="background: #0b3a8b; color: white; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt;">[|Life expectancy (female)] **  ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;">South Africa || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;">Africa (Southern Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa)  || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;">470,693  || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;">$9,757  || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;">88%  || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;">89%  || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;">87%  || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;">44  || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;">50  || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;">53  ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;">United States of America || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;">Americas (North America)  || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;">3,794,100  || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;">$45,592  || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;">99%  || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;">99%  || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;">99%  || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;">6  || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;">77  || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;">81  ||

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: 300.75pt 379.5pt;">The population density per square miles is 82 people in South Africa. America has 105 people per square mile.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The birth rate in South Africa is 19.61 per 1000 population. In America, it is 13.83 per 1000 population.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What does GDP Per Capita mean? <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This means an approximation of the value of goods produced per person in the country, equal to the country’s GDP divided by the total number of people in the country.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Politcal map:

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Physical map:

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Flag <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This is South Africa’s flag. The flag became the country’s flag in 1994 when Africa had its first democratic elections. That was the year when Nelson Mandela became president. The colors of the flag are popularly used in Africa, but the meanings are determined differently by different people. The main design of the flag, the green “Y” is meant to symbolize the coming together of people in South Africa who are on different roads, but then all go to one path together. The colors black, green, and yellow represent Nelson Mandela’s political party. Red shows bloodshed and blue for blue open skies. Green is also for the land and black for the black people living in Africa. They have multiple meanings. The white on previous flags represented the European people. That is not confirmed for the flag now.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Languages <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In South Africa there are many different languages, the most common spoken language being English. English is used most because that is the language used for business, politics, and media. Even though it is the most commonly known, it is ranked only fifth out of the twelve home languages. Some of the languages are very similar to each other and are often mixed, making it hard to pronounce them perfectly. These are the eleven official languages of South Africa:


 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Afrikaans
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">English
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">IsiNdebele
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">IsiXhosa
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">IsiZulu
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Sesotho sa Leboa
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Sesotho
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Setswana
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">siSwati
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Tshivenda
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Xitsonga

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Monetary Unit <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">1 US dollar= 7.38 dollars in South Africa

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Rand is the official unit of South African currency

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Government <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">South Africa’s type of government is constitutional democracy which means it has a three-tier system. The system is made up of national, provincial, and local levels of government. They each have its own legislature and executive. South Africa's president is Jacob Zuma who is the head of the government. He is also the important chief of state. The president is determined by an elected parliament. Parliament has two houses: a 90 member Council of Provinces and a 400 seat National Assembly. The president serves a maximum of two-five year terms. Citizens may vote at the age of 18.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The United States current president is Barrack Obama. The US Government is made up of three branches: a legislature, an executive, and a judiciary. The United State's government is a democratic federal republic, though each state has its own legislature for determining laws. The seat of government is located in Washington D.C. Same as South Africa, Americans can vote at the age of 18 years of age.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Political Leader <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">South Africa’s political leader is Jacob Zuma, and his clan name is Msholozi. He became the president of the African National Congress in 2007.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">During his childhood, his father died when Jacob was young while his mother was a domestic worker. He had no formal schooling.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">He was arrested for being on the South African communist Party in 1963. After 10 years, he was released. Zuma was elected president, beating his opponent by 824 votes.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Religions Practiced <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In South Africa, religion varies very widely. The people of South Africa follow very different religion and traditions. During the last twentieth century the Government has taken a lot of effort to encourage Christian belief and customs in South Africa. In South Africa about 80% of the population is Christian. Most of the Christians are Protestants. There are a number of South African Christian churches and nearly 85% of the people are members of the church. In the last couple years, the Christian religion has greatly widened because of missionaries from the US.A small proportion of South Africans - about 6% - are made up of Jews, Muslims, and Hindus. The Islamic religion is not so popular now, but is growing quickly. The reason for this is because the Native Africans have stayed true to their religion, Islam, and are now spreading it around different parts of South Africa.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Economic Summary <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The economy of South Africa is based on trade with foreign countries. More than half of the gross national product (GNP) is completed through exports and imports. By spending money in modern production technologies after the apartheid era, South African products became more and more competitive on the world market. In 1996, an export surplus of about 8.7 billion Rand was achieved. Exports are mainly of mineral raw materials, agricultural produce, chemical products, machinery, electronic devises and vehicles. Import goods are machines, plastic products, chemicals and also vehicles. The main customer countries are:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Japan (7.2 %)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Italy (6.2 %)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">USA (6.2 %)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Germany (5.1 %)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Great Britain (4.8 %)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Zimbabwe (4.1 %)

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Imports mainly come from:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Germany (13 %)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">USA (11 %)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Great Britain (10.5 %)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Japan (7.4 %)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Italy (4.4 %)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">France (3.2 %)

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Brief History

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">In 1652, provisions station at Cape Town was established by the Dutch. Ships with food traveled around the tip of the continent. French and Germans joined the Dutch colony. The colonists became known as Boers. Boers are farmers. When the British took away the formal possession of the Cape Colony, lots of people were frustrated so they migrated to the interior. This all happened between 1835 and 1848. Since the Boers migrated, it led to the Great Trek, otherwise known as war. The Boers ended up winning against the Zulu, Xhosas, and other Africans.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Lots of tension happened between the Boer and the British. The Boers lost, so in 1910, Britain combined its Cape and Natal colonies with the Boer republics. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">South Africa divided its country into racial groups: whites, blacks, coloureds (mixed races) and Indians. Finally, in 1961, the country gained independence from the British, and stopped the racial rules.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The ANC (African National Congress) first made in 1912, was banned for its communist and antiapartheid activities. This happened in 1960 while South Africa was very violent. Many of the ANC leaders (like Nelson Mandela) were put in jail.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">When Frederik Willem de Klerk took office and began to get a better government established. He freed Mandela and gave the ANC legal status. Mandela and de Klerk shared the Nobel Peace Prize when 1993 came around.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Elections were held in April 1994, and Mandela got elected president. A bill of rights was released stating equality was guaranteed for everyone living in South Africa. After Mandela retired, a new president was introduced. His name was Thabo Mbeki. He was forced to quit, so now the current president, Jacob Zuma was elected in 2009.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">South Africa Wordle!

<a href="http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/3027203/South_Africa"



<span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Click here to see a Google Earth Tour of South Africa!

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Bibliography [] [] [] [] <span style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 129.75pt; tabstops: 129.75pt;">[] []

<span style="color: #ff33cc; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif'; font-size: 24pt;">We hope you enjoyed our presentation!