South Africa has the largest population of people of
European descent in Africa, one of the largest
Indian population outside of
Asia, as well as the largest
Coloured (of mixed European, Asian and African descent) community in Africa, making it one of the most ethnically diverse countries on the continent. Racial and ethnic strife between the black majority and the white minority have played a large part in the country's
history and
politics. The
National Party began introducing the policy of
apartheid after winning the general election of
1948; however, it was the same party under the leadership of
F.W. de Klerk who started to dismantle it in
1990 after a long struggle by the black majority, as well as many white, coloured and Indian South Africans.
The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a
coup d'état, and regular free and fair elections have been held since
1994, making it a
regional power and among the most stable and
liberal democracies in Africa.
South Africa is ranked as an upper-middle income economy by the
World Bank. It has the second largest economy in Africa after
Nigeria, and the 34th-largest in the world. By
purchasing power parity, South Africa has the
7th highest per capita income in Africa. Although being the second largest economy, South Africa has the most sophisticated economy in the continent, with modern infrastructure common throughout the country. The country is considered to be a
newly industrialized country according to the
World Bank classifications.
Johannesburg was established in 1886, following the discovery of gold, on what had been a farm. Due to the extremely large gold deposits found along the
Witwatersrand, within ten years, the population had grown to over 100,000 inhabitants. A separate city from the late 1970s until 1994,
Soweto is now part of the Greater Johannesburg metropolitan area. An acronym for "South-Western Townships",
Soweto was organised initially as a collection of nondescript settlements on the outskirts of the city, populated mostly by African labourers working in the gold mining industry.
Soweto, although eventually incorporated into Johannesburg, had been explicitly separated as a residential area for blacks only—no whites allowed—who were not permitted to live in other "white-designated" areas of Johannesburg. Another region,
Lenasia, is predominantly populated by English-speaking Indo-South Africans (people of
Indian and
South Asian descent). These areas were, in previous decades, designated as non-white areas, in accordance with the segregationist policies of the time—known as
apartheid. Johannesburg would go on to be one of the host cities of the official tournament of the
2010 FIFA World Cup—and it hosted the
final. (Full article...)
...that there are more than 2,000
shipwrecks, dating back at least 500 years, off the South African coast. More than one of these, including the
Waratah (pictured), simply vanished without a trace.
...that Dr.
Christiaan Barnard, at
Groote Schuur Hospital in
Cape Town, performed the first human heart transplant in the world in 1967. He was also the first to do a "piggyback" transplant in 1971, and he was the first to do a heart-lung transplant.
...that The vast majority of South African coal exports are shipped through the
Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT). With the capacity to export 79.4 mmst annually, RBCT is the world's largest coal export facility
This is a
Good article, an article that meets a core set of high editorial standards.
"Mannenberg" is a
Cape jazz song by South African musician
Abdullah Ibrahim, first recorded in 1974. Driven into exile by the
apartheid government, Ibrahim had been living in Europe and the United States during the 1960s and '70s, making brief visits to South Africa to record music. After a successful 1974 collaboration with producer
Rashid Vally and a band that included
Basil Coetzee and
Robbie Jansen, Ibrahim began to record another album with these three collaborators and a backing band assembled by Coetzee. The song was recorded during a session of improvisation, and includes a saxophone solo by Coetzee, which led to him receiving the sobriquet "Manenberg".
The piece incorporates elements of several other musical styles, including marabi, ticky-draai, and langarm, and became a landmark in the development of the genre of Cape jazz. The song has been described as having a beautiful melody and catchy beat, conveying themes of "freedom and cultural identity." It was released under Ibrahim's former name Dollar Brand on the 1974 vinyl album Mannenberg – Is Where It's Happening. Named after the township of
Manenberg, it was an instant hit, selling tens of thousands of copies within a few months of its release. It later became
identified with the struggle against apartheid, partly due to Jansen and Coetzee playing it at rallies against the government, and was among the movement's most popular songs in the 1980s. The piece has been covered by other musicians, and has been included on several jazz collections. (Full article...)
It is important that in the process of change, existing institutions of value and means of production are not destroyed. The fabric of society, however critical one may be of its present structures, should be adopted and modified where required, but not destroyed.
Image 2Statue of Bartolomeu Dias at the High Commission of South Africa in London. He was the first European navigator to sail around the southernmost tip of Africa. (from History of South Africa)
Image 36Boer Voortrekkers depicted in an early artist's rendition (from History of South Africa)
Image 37The
British Empire is red on the map, at its territorial zenith in the late 1910s and early 1920s. (
India highlighted in purple.) South Africa, bottom centre, lies between both halves of the Empire. (from History of South Africa)
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