SOUTH AFRICA - THREE CAPITALS
FAST FACTS
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA - PRETORIA, CAPE TOWN, AND BLOEMFONTEIN
• Bones found in South Africa help support the theory that modern humans originated in Africa. Fossilized bones from hominids dating back between 4.5 and 2.5 million years were found in limestone caves some 50 km northwest of Johannesburg. In the Sterkfontein Caves, there was also evidence that humans used stone tools two million years ago and made fire 1.8 million years ago.
• The first Europeans settlers were Dutch traders on the Europe-Far East spice route who founded Cape Colony (now Cape Town) in 1652. The British seized Cape Colony in 1795 and a few years later the Dutch farmers (boers) fled north to claim lands and establish the Orange Free State and the Transvaal.
• For nearly 50 years, there was a state of apartheid – white minority rule – in South Africa. When the Afrikaaner Nationalist Party came to power in 1948 their policy of apartheid (separateness) segregated blacks and whites, forced hundreds of thousands of people to resettle in black ‘homelands’, and imprisoned, killed or sent opponents into exile.
• SA has three capital cities: Pretoria is the Executive Capital, Cape Town the Legislative Capital and Bloemfontein the judicial Capital.
- • There are six countries that South Africa shares its borders with. These include Zimbabwe, Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho, Namibia, and Mozambique. You can also go from one country to another while traveling.
• The world’s largest themed resort hotel in the world – The Palace of the Lost City – is found in South Africa. Surrounding the Palace is a 25 hectare manmade botanical jungle with almost 2 million plants, trees and shrubs.
• Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first president has six different names in South Africa. At birth, he was Rolihlahla Mandela. On his first day of school, his teacher gave him the name Nelson, following the custom back in the 1920s to give all children English names as English colonials ‘couldn’t’ pronounce African names. When he was 16 he was given the name of Dalibhunga (‘creator or founder of the council’) during a traditional rites of passage ceremony. South Africans commonly call him Madiba, which is the name of the Thembu clan to which he belongs, or simply Tata or Khulu, the Xhosa words for ‘father’ and ‘grandfather’.
• South Africa is the only country in the entire world that has voluntarily abandoned its nuclear weapons programme.
• Table Mountain, one of the iconic landmarks of South Africa, is one of the oldest mountains in the world and has more than 2,200 species of plants, 70 percent of which are endemic.
- • The national animal of South Africa is the Springbok, the only southern African gazelle.You can spot them on open bush and grassland by water. The Springbok is also the emblem and nickname of the South African national rugby team.
• There are 11 official languages, each with equal status, in South Africa
isiZulu (the most commonly spoken), Afrikaans, isiXhosa (2nd most common), siSwati, Sesotho, Xitsonga, Sepedi, isiNdebele, Setswana, Tshivenda, and English, which is the language of business, politics and the media. There are also a large number of other, non-official languages. Most Africans speak more than one language.
• The meandering 850km road through Cape Winelands is the world’s longest wine route.
• Route 62 runs between Cape Town, Constantia to Port Elizabeth, via Oudtshoorn and the Garden Route, embracing 350 years of wine making as it passes classic Cape-Dutch homesteads, green mountains, 200 cellars and miles and miles of vines.
- • The world’s largest diamond was found in the Premier Mine in Pretoria, South Africa on 25 January 1905. The 3,106-carat stone weighed 1.33 pounds and was called the ‘Cullinan’ after the owner of the mine. It was later cut into nine large stones and about 100 smaller ones; the largest, the 530.2 carat Cullinan I or Great Star of Africa, is the world’s largest colourless cut diamond and can be seen on top of the Queen of England’s Septre with the Cross in the Tower of London.
• The first successful heart transplant was in a Cape Town hospital
by Dr Christiaan Barnard on 3 December 1967. Additionally, the CAT (Computed Axial Tomography) Scan, isused in hospitals to produce 3D images of the human body’s internal structures to detect disease, was developed by South African physicist Allan Cormack and British colleague Godfrey Hounsfield. They shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine in 1979.
• South Africa was once the world’s number one producer of gold
• South Africa Has Eleven Official Languages. One of the most impressive facts about South Africa is that it has eleven official languages, and English is one of them.
• South Africa is now the only country in the world to have hosted the Soccer, Cricket and Rugby World Cup!
• South Africa has one of the world’s most luxurious trains. Up to 72 passengers can travel in lavish wood-panelled Rovos trains; the Royal Suites occupy half a carriage and have full-sized bathrooms, separate shower, permanent double bed and two armchairs.
• In 2006, South Africa became the first African country and the fifth country in the world to recognize same-sex marriage.
• An Important part of the culture Is ceremonial clothing
• Ceremonial clothing plays a crucial role in the culture. The clothing will also vary, depending on the marital status of the person and their age.
- • A mixture of African, Dutch, French, and Malay, among others, have influenced South African cuisine through the decades. Boerewors is a rich, spicy sausage that originates from both South Africa and Namibia. The name means ‘farmer sausage’.