South Africa

Résumé du document

South Africa is a land of scenic beauty with cloud topped mountains, steep-sided valleys and vast dusty plains. A wealth of minerals is buried in South Africa's rocks. It was the discovery of diamonds and gold that attracted a rush of European fortune-hunters in the 19th century. The Europeans conquered the Africans or occupied their lands. They dug mines and made South Africa the richest and most developed country in the continent. South Africa has an area of 1, 127, 000 sq km2 and has a population of 40.774.000 of which 76% is black, 13% is white, 8.5% is colored and 2.5% Asians. The official languages are English and Afrikaans. Its capital is Cape Town.

Extraits

[...] It is an Afrikaans word. It was first introduced in the early 20th century exactly in 1948. For black people, apartheid meant that they had no voting rights, no relations with whites; they had to live townships which are ghettos between blacks and whites around big white cities, they had social and economical discriminations and finally, they needed passbooks, meaning if blacks and coloured wanted to work in white areas they needed to have one. They were only allowed to go to shops reserved for blacks. [...]

[...] A wealth of minerals is buried in South Africa's rocks. It was the discovery of diamonds and gold that attracted a rush of European fortune-hunters in the 19th century. The Europeans conquered the African peoples, or bought their lands. They dug mines and made South Africa the richest and most highly developed country in the continent. South Africa has an area of sq km2 and has a population of of which 76% is black is white is coloured and the rest, Asians is The official languages are English and Afrikaans. [...]

[...] He asked people not to vote, he urged people to boy-cot the elections in 1989 when Mr De Klerk presented himself. Desmond Tutu said that he and his followers were saving their country from destruction and moral destruction. That they were not interested in Mr De Klerk's elections but in freedom. After years of war and battle fighting against apartheid, it was brought to an end thanks from the black people's resistance. The ANC stands for the African National Congress. One of the main leaders / member was Nelson Mandela. [...]

[...] The first free elections were held in 1994 making Mandela SA's first black president in 1994. After being elected Mandela set up Truth and Reconciliation Commission”. This was set up for people who had committed crimes related to apartheid, they were asked to confess themselves about their crimes. If a person was confessed, he would not be punished. South Africa were in the Commonwealth but withdrew themselves in 1961 because of the criticism of apartheid made by the other countries of the commonwealth. [...]

[...] The Northwest of the plateau is the Transvaal maize and tobacco. Elephants, lions, leopards and great herds of antelopes and zebras live on Transvaal's thorny scrub and are protected in the Kruger National Park. Many of South Africa's rivers run dry during the summer. This means they cannot be used for transport or hydroelectric power, but their water can be stored to provide irrigation for crops. In 1652 1700 the Dutch, French and German Protestants settled in the Cape of Good Hope. [...]