The History. Review on South Africa, General

South Africa has a population is 44 million people. Most of them live in the cities.

The San, (Bushmen) and Khoekhoe, (Hottentots), tribes were the first people who lived here. That was thousands of years before there was written history, of this area.

When the white settlers arrived, they brought small pox and other diseases, the Bushmen left and the Hottentots all died.

At the same time the settlers arrived a Bantu Tribe moved down from the north.

That is when the fighting began about who South Africa belongs to. Clearly neither group were insidious people.

The people are made up of Africans 79%, White 10%, Mixed Races 9 % and Indians 2.5 %. The other people who live here come from other countries.

The Africans do not share the same culture or language, (there are 11 languages spoken, but only nine of them are recognized as official.

Most of the White population are the decedents of the British, Dutch, German and Huguenots, (a sect that was expelled from France).

This does not count the squatters, (who came from other countries), and are migrant workers. They live in camps on land that was once vacant.

The larger cities are Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Pretoria, (the capital), Port Elizabeth, Pietermaritzburg, East London, Bloemfontein, and the towns of the Orange Free State Goldfields.

The Boer War was fought between the Afrikanders and the English. The English won, but the Africander were not happy.

The Indian community were treated badly, and were expelled. Mahatma Gandhi left in 1914.

Botha and Smuts turned the country into a semi-dictatorship.

The Nationalist Party won in the 1948 election. They refused to hold another election.

Apartheid became official government ideology.

South Africa became a pariah and isolated from most countries in the World.

The Nationalist held out as long as the could but were forced to hold an election in 1994.

De Klerk lifted restrictions on 33 opposition groups, including the ANC, the PAC and the Communist Party, at the opening of Parliament. On February 11 Nelson Mandela, (who apposed apartheid), was released after being held for 27 years in prison.

South Africa's first democratic election was held on April 26-29 1994, with victory going to the ANC in an alliance with the Communist Party and Cosatu.

Nelson Mandela was sworn in as President on May 10 with FW de Klerk and the ANC's Thabo Mbeki as Deputy Presidents.

They now are a democratic country. Their Currency is the South African Rand.

The Religious afflictions are Protestant, Catholic, Muslim, Hindu and Jewish.

Thank you for reading my review.

©LL2004