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<\/a>It is bounded to the south by 2,798 kilometers (1,739 mi) of coastline of Southern Africa stretching along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighboring countries of Namibia<\/a>, Botswana<\/a>, and Zimbabwe<\/a>; and to the east and northeast by Mozambique<\/a> and Eswatini<\/a> (former Swaziland); and it surrounds the enclaved country of Lesotho<\/a>. It is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World, and the most populous country located entirely south of the equator. South Africa is a biodiversity hotspot, with a diversity of unique biomes and plant and animal life.<\/p>\n South Africa is a multiethnic society encompassing a wide variety of cultures, languages, and religions. Its pluralistic makeup is reflected in the constitution’s recognition of 11 official languages, the fourth-highest number in the world. According to the 2011 census, the two most spoken first languages are Zulu (22.7%) and Xhosa (16.0%). The two next ones are of European origin: Afrikaans (13.5%) developed from Dutch and serves as the first language of most Coloured and White South Africans; English (9.6%) reflects the legacy of British colonialism, and is commonly used in public and commercial life. The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup d’\u00e9tat, and regular elections have been held for almost a century. However, the vast majority of black South Africans were not enfranchised until 1994.<\/p>\n During the 20th century, the black majority sought to claim more rights from the dominant white minority, which played a large role in the country’s recent history and politics. The National Party<\/a> imposed apartheid<\/a> in 1948, institutionalizing previous racial segregation. After a long and sometimes violent struggle<\/a> by the African National Congress (ANC)<\/a> and other anti-apartheid activists both inside and outside the country, the repeal of discriminatory laws began in the mid-1980s. Since 1994, all ethnic and linguistic groups have held political representation in the country’s liberal democracy, which comprises a parliamentary republic and nine provinces. South Africa is often referred to as the “rainbow nation” to describe the country’s multicultural diversity, especially in the wake of apartheid.<\/p>\n South Africa is a developing country. It has been classified by the World Bank as a newly industrialized country, with the second-largest economy in Africa, and the 32nd-largest in the world. South Africa also has the most UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Africa. The country is a middle power in international affairs; it maintains significant regional influence and is a member of both the Commonwealth of Nations<\/a> and G20<\/a>. However, crime, poverty and inequality remain widespread, with about a quarter of the population unemployed and living on less than US$1.25 a day. Moreover, climate change is an important issue for South Africa: it is a major contributor to climate change as the 14th largest emitter of greenhouse gases as of 2018 (in large part due to its coal industry), and is vulnerable to many of its impacts, because of its water-insecure environment and vulnerable communities.<\/p>\n South Africa contains some of the oldest archaeological and human-fossil sites in the world. Archaeologists have recovered extensive fossil remains from a series of caves in Gauteng Province<\/a>. The area, a UNESCO World Heritage site, has been branded “the Cradle of Humankind”. The sites include Sterkfontein<\/a>, one of the richest sites for hominin fossils in the world. Other sites include Swartkrans<\/a>, Gondolin Cave<\/a>, Kromdraai<\/a>, Coopers Cave<\/a> and Malapa<\/a>. Raymond Dart<\/a> identified the first hominin fossil discovered in Africa, the Taung Child<\/a> (found near Taung<\/a>) in 1924. Further hominin remains have come from the sites of Makapansgat<\/a> in Limpopo Province<\/a>, Cornelia<\/a> and Florisbad<\/a> in the Free State Province<\/a>, Border Cave<\/a> in KwaZulu-Natal Province<\/a>, Klasies River Mouth<\/a> in Eastern Cape Province and Pinnacle Point<\/a>, Elandsfontein<\/a> and Die Kelders Cave in Western Cape Province<\/a>.<\/p>\n These finds suggest that various hominid species existed in South Africa from about three million years ago, starting with Australopithecus africanus<\/a>. There followed species including Australopithecus sediba<\/a>, Homo ergaster<\/a>, Homo erectus<\/a>, Homo rhodesiensis<\/a>, Homo helmei<\/a>, Homo naledi<\/a> and modern humans (Homo sapiens). Modern humans have inhabited Southern Africa for at least 170,000 years.<\/p>\n Settlements of Bantu-speaking peoples, who were iron-using agriculturists and herdsmen, were already present south of the Limpopo River<\/a> (now the northern border with Botswana and Zimbabwe) by the 4th or 5th century CE. They displaced, conquered, and absorbed the original Khoisan speakers, the Khoikhoi<\/a> and San<\/a> peoples.<\/p>\n The Bantu slowly moved south. The earliest ironworks in modern-day KwaZulu-Natal Province are believed to date from around 1050. The southernmost group was the Xhosa people, whose language incorporates certain linguistic traits from the earlier Khoisan people. The Xhosa reached the Great Fish River<\/a>, in today’s Eastern Cape Province. As they migrated, these larger Iron Age populations displaced or assimilated earlier peoples.<\/p>\n In 1487, the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias<\/a> led the first European voyage to land in southern Africa. On 4 December, he landed at Walfisch Bay<\/a> (now known as Walvis Bay in present-day Namibia). This was south of the furthest point reached in 1485 by his predecessor, the Portuguese navigator Diogo C\u00e3o<\/a> (Cape Cross, north of the bay). Dias continued down the western coast of southern Africa.<\/p>\n After 8 January 1488, prevented by storms from proceeding along the coast, he sailed out of sight of land and passed the southernmost point of Africa without seeing it. He reached as far up the eastern coast of Africa as, what he called, Rio do Infante, probably the present-day Groot River<\/a>, in May 1488, but on his return he saw the Cape, which he first named Cabo das Tormentas (‘Cape of Storms’). His King, John II<\/a>, renamed the point Cabo da Boa Esperan\u00e7a, or Cape of Good Hope<\/a>, as it led to the riches of the East Indies<\/a>.<\/p>\n By the early 17th century, Portugal’s maritime power was starting to decline, and English and Dutch merchants competed to oust Lisbon from its lucrative monopoly on the spice trade. Representatives of the British East India Company<\/a> did call sporadically at the Cape in search of provisions as early as 1601, but later came to favor Ascension Island<\/a> and St. Helena<\/a> as alternative ports of refuge. Dutch interest was aroused after 1647, when two employees of the Dutch East India Company (VOC)<\/a> were shipwrecked at the Cape for several months. The sailors were able to survive by obtaining fresh water and meat from the natives. They also sowed vegetables in the fertile soil. Upon their return to Holland, they reported favorably on the Cape’s potential as a “warehouse and garden” for provisions to stock passing ships for long voyages.<\/p>\n In 1652, a century and a half after the discovery of the Cape sea route, Jan van Riebeeck<\/a> established a victualling station at the Cape of Good Hope, at what would become Cape Town, on behalf of the Dutch East India Company. In time, the Cape became home to a large population of vrijlieden, also known as vrijburgers (lit.\u2009’free citizens’), former company employees who stayed in Dutch territories overseas after serving their contracts. Dutch traders also brought thousands of enslaved people to the fledgling colony from Indonesia<\/a>, Madagascar<\/a>, and parts of eastern Africa. Some of the earliest mixed race communities in the country were formed between vrijburgers, enslaved people, and indigenous peoples. This led to the development of a new ethnic group, the Cape Coloureds<\/a>, most of whom adopted the Dutch language and Christian faith.<\/p>\n The eastward expansion of Dutch colonists ushered in a series of wars with the southwesterly migrating Xhosa tribe, known as the Xhosa Wars<\/a>, as both sides competed for the pastureland near the Great Fish River, which the colonists required to graze their cattle. Vrijburgers who became independent farmers on the frontier were known as Boers<\/a>, with some adopting semi-nomadic lifestyles being denoted as trekboers<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Boers formed loose militias, which they termed commandos, and forged alliances with Khoisan peoples to repel Xhosa raids. Both sides launched bloody but inconclusive offensives, and sporadic violence, often accompanied by livestock theft, remained common for several decades.<\/p>\n Great Britain occupied Cape Town between 1795 and 1803 to prevent it from falling under the control of the French First Republic<\/a>, which had invaded the Low Countries<\/a>. After briefly returning to Dutch rule under the Batavian Republic<\/a> in 1803, the Cape was occupied again by the British in 1806. Following the end of the Napoleonic Wars<\/a>, it was formally ceded to Great Britain and became an integral part of the British Empire. British emigration to South Africa began around 1818, subsequently culminating in the arrival of the 1820 Settlers<\/a>. The new colonists were induced to settle for a variety of reasons, namely to increase the size of the European workforce and to bolster frontier regions against Xhosa incursions.<\/p>\n In the first two decades of the 19th century, the Zulu people grew in power and expanded their territory under their leader, Shaka<\/a>. Shaka’s warfare indirectly led to the Mfecane<\/a> (‘crushing’), in which 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 people were killed and the inland plateau was devastated and depopulated in the early 1820s. An offshoot of the Zulu, the Matabele people created a larger empire that included large parts of the highveld<\/a> under their king Mzilikazi<\/a>.<\/p>\n During the early 1800s, many Dutch settlers departed from the Cape Colony<\/a>, where they had been subjected to British control, in a series of migrant groups who came to be known as Voortrekkers<\/a>, meaning “pathfinders” or “pioneers”. They migrated to the future Natal<\/a>, Free State, and Transvaal<\/a> regions. The Boers founded the Boer Republics<\/a>: the South African Republic<\/a> (now Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West<\/a> provinces), the Natalia Republic<\/a> (KwaZulu-Natal), and the Orange Free State<\/a> (Free State).<\/p>\n The discovery of diamonds in 1867 and gold in 1884 in the interior started the Mineral Revolution<\/a> and increased economic growth and immigration. This intensified British efforts to gain control over the indigenous peoples. The struggle to control these important economic resources was a factor in relations between Europeans and the indigenous population and also between the Boers and the British.<\/p>\n On 16 May 1876, President Thomas Fran\u00e7ois Burgers<\/a> of the South African Republic (Transvaal<\/a>) declared war against Sekhukhune<\/a> and the Pedi<\/a>. Sekhukhune managed to defeat the Transvaal army on 1 August 1876. Another attack by the Lydenburg Volunteer Corps was also repulsed. On 16 February 1877, the two parties signed a peace treaty at Botshabelo<\/a>. The Boers’ inability to subdue Sekhukhune and the Pedi led to the departure of Burgers in favor of Paul Kruger<\/a> and the British annexation of the South African Republic (Transvaal) on 12 April 1877 by Theophilus Shepstone<\/a>, secretary for native affairs of Natal. In 1878 and 1879 three British attacks were successfully repelled until Garnet Wolseley<\/a> defeated Sekhukhune in November 1879 with an army of 2,000 British soldiers, Boers and 10,000 Swazis.<\/p>\n The Anglo-Zulu War<\/a> was fought in 1879 between the United Kingdom and the Zulu Kingdom<\/a>. Following Lord Carnarvon<\/a>‘s successful introduction of federation in Canada<\/a>, it was thought that similar political effort, coupled with military campaigns, might succeed with the African kingdoms, tribal areas and Boer republics in South Africa. In 1874, Henry Bartle Frere<\/a> was sent to South Africa as the British High Commissioner to bring such plans into being. Among the obstacles were the presence of the independent states of the Boers, and the Kingdom of Zululand’s army. The Zulu nation defeated the British at the Battle of Isandlwana<\/a>. Eventually, though, the war was lost, resulting in the termination of the Zulu nation’s independence.<\/p>\n The First Boer War<\/a> was a rebellion of Boers against the British rule in the Transvaal that re-established their independence.<\/p>\n The Boer Republics successfully resisted British encroachments during the First Boer War (1880\u20131881) using guerrilla warfare tactics, which were well-suited to local conditions. The British returned with greater numbers, more experience, and new strategy in the Second Boer War<\/a> (1899\u20131902) but suffered heavy casualties through attrition; nonetheless, they were ultimately successful. Over 27,000 Boer women and children died in the British concentration camps.<\/p>\n Within the country, anti-British policies among white South Africans focused on independence. During the Dutch and British colonial years, racial segregation was mostly informal, though some legislation was enacted to control the settlement and movement of indigenous people, including the Native Location Act of 1879 and the system of pass laws<\/a>.<\/p>\n Eight years after the end of the Second Boer War and after four years of negotiation, an act of the British Parliament (South Africa Act 1909<\/a>) granted nominal independence, while creating the Union of South Africa<\/a> on 31 May 1910. The Union was a dominion that included the former territories of the Cape, Transvaal and Natal colonies, as well as the Orange Free State republic.<\/p>\n The Natives’ Land Act of 1913<\/a> severely restricted the ownership of land by blacks; at that stage they controlled only seven percent of the country. The amount of land reserved for indigenous peoples was later marginally increased.<\/p>\n In 1931, the union was fully sovereign from the United Kingdom with the passage of the Statute of Westminster, which abolished the last powers of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to legislate on the country. In 1934, the South African Party and National Party merged to form the United Party, seeking reconciliation between Afrikaners and English-speaking whites. In 1939, the party split over the entry of the Union into World War II as an ally of the United Kingdom, a move which the National Party followers strongly opposed.<\/p>\n In 1948, the National Party was elected to power. It strengthened the racial segregation begun under Dutch and British colonial rule. Taking Canada’s Indian Act as a framework, the nationalist government classified all peoples into three races and developed rights and limitations for each. The white minority (less than 20%) controlled the vastly larger black majority. The legally institutionalized segregation became known as apartheid.<\/p>\n While whites enjoyed the highest standard of living in all of Africa, comparable to First World Western nations, the black majority remained disadvantaged by almost every standard, including income, education, housing, and life expectancy. The Freedom Charter, adopted in 1955 by the Congress Alliance, demanded a non-racial society and an end to discrimination.<\/p>\n On 31 May 1961, the country became a republic following a referendum (only open to white voters) which narrowly passed; the British-dominated Natal province largely voted against the proposal. Queen Elizabeth II lost the title Queen of South Africa, and the last Governor-General, Charles Robberts Swart<\/a>, became State President. As a concession to the Westminster system, the appointment of the president remained an appointment by parliament, and virtually powerless until P. W. Botha’s<\/a> Constitution Act of 1983<\/a>, which eliminated the office of Prime Minister and instated a near-unique “strong presidency” responsible to parliament. Pressured by other Commonwealth of Nations countries, South Africa withdrew from the organization in 1961 and rejoined it only in 1994.<\/p>\n Despite opposition both within and outside the country, the government legislated for a continuation of apartheid. The security forces cracked down on internal dissent, and violence became widespread, with anti-apartheid organizations such as the African National Congress (ANC), the Azanian People’s Organisation (AZAPO)<\/a>, and the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC)<\/a> carrying out guerrilla warfare and urban sabotage. The three rival resistance movements also engaged in occasional inter-factional clashes as they jockeyed for domestic influence. Apartheid became increasingly controversial, and several countries began to boycott business with the South African government because of its racial policies. These measures were later extended to international sanctions and the divestment of holdings by foreign investors.<\/p>\n In the late 1970s, South Africa initiated a program of nuclear weapons development<\/a>. In the following decade, it produced six deliverable nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n The Mahlabatini Declaration of Faith<\/a>, signed by Mangosuthu Buthelezi<\/a> and Harry Schwarz<\/a> in 1974, enshrined the principles of peaceful transition of power and equality for all, the first of such agreements by black and white political leaders in South Africa. Ultimately, FW de Klerk<\/a> opened bilateral discussions with Nelson Mandela<\/a> in 1993 for a transition of policies and government.<\/p>\n In 1990, the National Party government took the first step towards dismantling discrimination when it lifted the ban on the ANC and other political organizations. It released Nelson Mandela from prison after 27 years’ serving a sentence for sabotage. A negotiation process<\/a> followed. With approval from the white electorate in a 1992 referendum, the government continued negotiations to end apartheid. South Africa also destroyed its nuclear arsenal and acceded to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty<\/a>. South Africa held its first universal elections in 1994, which the ANC won by an overwhelming majority. It has been in power ever since. The country rejoined the Commonwealth of Nations and became a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).<\/a><\/p>\n In post-apartheid South Africa, unemployment remained high. While many blacks have risen to middle or upper classes, the overall unemployment rate of black people worsened between 1994 and 2003 by official metrics, but declined significantly using expanded definitions. Poverty among whites, which was previously rare, increased. In addition, the current government has struggled to achieve the monetary and fiscal discipline to ensure both redistribution of wealth and economic growth. The United Nations (UN) Human Development Index (HDI) of South Africa fell from 1995 to 2005, while it was steadily rising until the mid-1990s, before recovering its 1995 peak in 2013. This is in large part attributable to the South African HIV\/AIDS pandemic<\/a> which saw South African life expectancy fall from a high point of 62.25 years in 1992 to a low of 52.57 in 2005, and the failure of the government to take steps to address the pandemic in its early years.<\/p>\n In May 2008, riots left over 60 people dead. The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions estimated that over 100,000 people were driven from their homes. The targets were mainly legal and illegal migrants, and refugees seeking asylum, but a third of the victims were South African citizens. In a 2006 survey, the South African Migration Project concluded that South Africans are more opposed to immigration than any other national group. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees in 2008 reported over 200,000 refugees applied for asylum in South Africa, almost four times as many as the year before. These people were mainly from Zimbabwe, though many also come from Burundi<\/a>, Democratic Republic of the Congo<\/a>, Rwanda<\/a>, Eritrea<\/a>, Ethiopia<\/a> and Somalia<\/a>. Competition over jobs, business opportunities, public services and housing has led to tension between refugees and host communities. While xenophobia in South Africa<\/a> is still a problem, recent violence has not been as widespread as initially feared. Nevertheless, as South Africa continues to grapple with racial issues, one of the proposed solutions has been to pass legislation, such as the pending Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill<\/a>, to uphold South Africa’s ban on racism and commitment to equality.<\/p>\n South Africa is located at the southernmost region of Africa, with a long coastline that stretches more than 2,500 km (1,553 mi) and along two oceans (the South Atlantic and the Indian). At 1,219,912 km2 (471,011 sq mi), South Africa is the 24th-largest country in the world. It is about the same size as Colombia<\/a>, twice the size of France, three times as big as Japan, four times the size of Italy and five times the size of the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n Mafadi<\/a> in the Drakensberg<\/a> at 3,450 m (11,320 ft) is the highest peak in South Africa.<\/p>\n The interior of South Africa consists of a vast, in most places almost flat, plateau with an altitude of between 1,000 m (3,300 ft) and 2,100 m (6,900 ft), highest in the east and sloping gently downwards towards the west and north, and slightly less noticeably so to the south and south-west. This plateau is surrounded by the Great Escarpment whose eastern, and highest, stretch is known as the Drakensberg.<\/p>\n Detailed geographic information is available elsewhere.<\/a><\/p>\n South Africa has a mixed economy, the second largest in Africa after Nigeria. It also has a relatively high gross domestic product (GDP) per capita compared to other countries in sub-Saharan Africa (US$11,750 at purchasing power parity as of 2012). Despite this, South Africa is still burdened by a relatively high rate of poverty and unemployment, and is also ranked in the top ten countries in the world for income inequality, measured by the Gini coefficient. In 2015, 71 percent of net wealth are held by 10 percent richest of the population, whereas 60 percent of the poorest held only 7 percent of the net wealth.<\/p>\n Unlike most of the world’s poor countries, South Africa does not have a thriving informal economy. Only 15% of South African jobs are in the informal sector, compared with around half in Brazil and India and nearly three-quarters in Indonesia. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) attributes this difference to South Africa’s widespread welfare system. World Bank research shows that South Africa has one of the widest gaps between per capita GDP versus its Human Development Index (HDI) ranking, with only Botswana showing a larger gap.<\/p>\n After 1994, government policy brought down inflation, stabilized public finances, and some foreign capital was attracted, however growth was still subpar.[164] From 2004 onward, economic growth picked up significantly; both employment and capital formation increased. During the presidency of Jacob Zuma<\/a>, the government increased the role of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Some of the biggest SOEs are Eskom<\/a>, the electric power monopoly, South African Airways (SAA)<\/a>, and Transnet<\/a>, the railroad and ports monopoly. Some of these SOEs have not been profitable, such as SAA, which has required bailouts totaling R30 billion ($2.08 billion) over the 20 years preceding 2015.<\/p>\n Principal international trading partners of South Africa\u2014besides other African countries\u2014include Germany, the United States, China, Japan, the United Kingdom and Spain.<\/p>\n The South African agricultural industry contributes around 10% of formal employment, relatively low compared to other parts of Africa, as well as providing work for casual laborer’s and contributing around 2.6% of GDP for the nation. Due to the aridity of the land, only 13.5% can be used for crop production, and only 3% is considered high potential land.<\/p>\n South Africa is a popular tourist destination, and a substantial amount of revenue comes from tourism.<\/p>\n South Africa has always been a mining powerhouse. Diamond and gold production were in 2013 well down from their peaks, though South Africa is still number five in gold and remains a cornucopia of mineral riches. It is the world’s largest producer of chrome, manganese, platinum, vanadium and vermiculite. It is the second largest producer of ilmenite, palladium, rutile and zirconium. It is also the world’s third largest coal exporter. South Africa is also a huge producer of iron ore; in 2012, it overtook India to become the world’s third-biggest iron ore supplier to China, the world’s largest consumers of iron ore.<\/p>\n The majority of people in South Africa use informal minibus taxis as their main mode of transport. There is an extensive road system including restricted access and use freeways.<\/p>\n In 2000, South Africa had 20,384 km of rail transport, all of it narrow gauge. 20,070 km was 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge (9,090 km of that electrified), with the remaining 314 km 610 mm (2 ft) gauge.<\/p>\n On 2010-06-07 the Gautrain<\/a> opened between Oliver R Tambo International Airport (ORTIA)<\/a> and Sandton<\/a>. This is the first stage of a standard gauge passenger line connecting Johannesburg, Pretoria<\/a> and ORTIA.<\/p>\n Links exist to Botswana<\/a>, Lesotho<\/a>, Namibia, Swaziland<\/a>, and Zimbabwe<\/a>. Railways linking Mozambique<\/a> are under repair.<\/p>\n South Africa has international airports in four cities: Johannesburg, Cape Town<\/a>, Durban<\/a> and Nelspruit<\/a>. The main international airports are in Johannesburg, and to a lesser extent Cape Town. Nelspruit’s international airport mainly serves travelers en route to the Kruger National park.<\/p>\n There are many international airlines travelling to South Africa, giving travelers a healthy number of options. These include British Airways<\/a>, Delta Airline<\/a>s, Ethiopian Airways<\/a>, Kenya Airways<\/a>, Qantas<\/a>, Singapore Airlines<\/a>, South African Airways<\/a>, Swiss International Air Lines<\/a>, Thai Airways<\/a>, Turkish Airlines<\/a>, Virgin Atlantic<\/a>, Air Mauritius<\/a>, Air Botswana<\/a>, Air France<\/a>, KLM<\/a>, Lufthansa<\/a>, Alitalia<\/a>, Malaysia Airlines<\/a> and Qatar Airways.<\/a><\/p>\n The flag of South Africa was designed in March 1994 and adopted on 27 April 1994, at the beginning of South Africa’s 1994 general election, to replace the flag that had been used since 1928.<\/p>\n The flag has horizontal bands of red (on the top) and blue (on the bottom), of equal width, separated by a central green band which splits into a horizontal “Y” shape, the arms of which end at the corners of the hoist side (and follow the flag’s diagonals). The “Y” embraces a black isosceles triangle from which the arms are separated by narrow yellow or gold bands; the red and blue bands are separated from the green band and its arms by narrow white stripes. The stripes at the fly end are in the 5:1:3:1:5 ratio. Three of the flag’s colors were taken from the Flag of the South African Republic<\/a> and the Union Jack<\/a>, while the remaining three colors were taken from the flag of the African National Congress.<\/a><\/p>\n At the time of its adoption, the South African flag was the only national flag in the world to comprise six colors in its primary design and without a seal and brocade. The design and colors are a synopsis of principal elements of the country’s flag history.<\/p>\n According to official South African government information, the South African flag is “a synopsis of principal elements of the country’s flag history.” Although different people may attribute personal symbolism to the individual colors or color combinations, “no universal symbolism should be attached to any of the colors.” The only symbolism in the flag is the V or Y shape, which can be interpreted as “the convergence of diverse elements within South African society, taking the road ahead in unity”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The flag has horizontal bands of red (on the top) and blue (on the bottom), of equal width, separated by a central green band which splits into a horizontal “Y” shape, the arms of which end at the corners of the hoist side (and follow the flag’s diagonals). The “Y” embraces a black isosceles triangle from which the arms are separated by narrow yellow or gold bands; the red and blue bands are separated from the green band and its arms by narrow white stripes. The stripes at the fly end are in the 5:1:3:1:5 ratio. Three of the flag’s colors were taken from the Flag of the South African Republic and the Union Jack, while the remaining three colors were taken from the flag of the African National Congress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9502,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[19,66,8,59,5,6,7,31,18,17,20,60],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8697"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/10\/Cape-Town-and-Table-Mountain-300x196.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>History:<\/h2>\n
Prehistory:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/10\/Taung-Child-271x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Bantu Expansion<\/a>:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/10\/Migrations-to-and-within-South-Africa-300x287.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Portuguese Exploration:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/10\/Portuguese-Explorer-Bartolomeu-Dias-Planting-the-Cross-at-Cape-Point-300x199.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Dutch Colonization:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/10\/Jan-van-Riebeeck-Founding-Cape-Town-300x227.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/10\/Boer-Family-in-1886-300x210.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>British Colonization and the Great Trek:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/10\/King-Shaka-kaSenzangakhona-222x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/10\/Boer-Republics-300x150.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/10\/The-Viscount-Wolseley-203x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Boer Wars:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/10\/First-Boer-War-284x300.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Independence:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/10\/Apartheid-Sign-in-English-and-Afrikaans-300x275.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Beginning of Apartheid:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/10\/Durban-Beach-Signage-187x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Republic:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/10\/P.-W.-Botha-225x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>End of Apartheid:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/10\/FW-de-Klerk-and-Nelson-Mandela-300x234.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/10\/Burundian-Refugee-300x200.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Geography:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/10\/South-Africa-Topography-300x277.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Economy:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/10\/South-Africa-Exports-Treemap-300x300.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/10\/Packing-Pears-for-Export-300x231.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Transportation:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/10\/Gautrain-300x199.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Flag of South Africa:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/10\/Flag-of-South-Africa-300x200.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>