Happy Independence Day South Africa

“A chattering bird builds no nest” - South African Proverb

(South Africa flag (1994-Present))

South Africa is located in southern Africa.

(Map of where South Africa is located)

Its capitals are Pretoria, Bloemfontein, and Cape Town. Its largest city is Johannesburg. Its official languages are Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Venda, Xhosa, and Zulu. The country is 471,443 square miles. South Africa is 89% African, 8.4% European, and 2.5% Asian. 79.8% practice Christianity, 1.5% practice Islam, 1.2% practice Hinduism, 0.3% practice traditional African religions, 0.2% practice Judaism, and 17.1% are athiest. The total population is 54,956,900. The climate is temperate. South Africa is a unitary parliamentary republic.

(One of South Africa’s capitals, Cape Town)

South African cuisine consists of heavily meat based dishes.

(South African cuisine)

The major style of music is South Africa is called Kwaito.

(South Africans performing Kwaito music)

South Africa’s most popular sports are soccer, rugby, and cricket.

(South Africa’s soccer team)

Some of the earliest humans inhabited South Africa.

(Ancient South African architecture)

In the 4th century Bantu speaking people inhabited South Africa.

(A Bantu man)

The Xhosa people inhabited the region in 1050 and began making iron.

(The Xhosa people)

In 1487 the Portuguese came to South Africa. In 1601 the British came to South Africa.

(A painting of the British coming to South Africa)

In 1647 the Dutch came to South Africa. The Dutch constructed a refreshment station at Cape Town. The Dutch transported slaves from Indonesia, Madagascar, and India as labour for the colonists in Cape Town. As the Dutch continued to take more land in South Africa a war started between them and the Xhosa tribe.

(A painting of the Dutch coming to South Africa)

In 1795 Great Britain officially colonized South Africa. In 1803 the British gave it to the Dutch. In 1806 the British took South Africa again. They continued the wars against the Xhosa.

(A painting of the Xhosa war)

In 1820 the British, Dutch, German, French and Flemish divided South Africa into their own colonised sections. The Xhosa, Zulu, and Sotho tribes continued to fight against the colonizers. The leader of the Zulus, Shaka Zulu, led his tribe against the colonizers mostly against the British.

(A drawing of Shaka Zulu)

In 1867 diamonds were discovered in South Africa. In 1879 the Anglo-Zulu war started between the British and Zulus. Even though the Zulu Kingdom beat the British in multiple battles, eventually the British won.

(A painting of the Anglo-Zulu war)

Also in 1879 racial segregation was enacted in South Africa. In 1880 began the 1st Boer war between the British and Boers. The British defeated the Boers.

(Boer soldiers)

In 1884 gold was discovered in South Africa. In 1899 began the 2nd Boer war where the Boers were again defeated by the British. In 1910 the Union of South Africa was created and declared independent.

(South African flag (1910-1928))

The Natives' Land Act of 1913 severely restricted the ownership of land by blacks. In 1931 the union was fully sovereign from the United Kingdom.

(South African flag (1928-1994))

In 1934, the South African Party and National Party merged to form the United Party. 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. In 1948 the National Party was elected to power. The Nationalist Government classified all peoples into three races and developed rights and limitations for each. The white minority controlled the vastly larger black majority. This became known as Apartheid.

(An Apartheid sign)

The black majority remained disadvantaged by almost every standard, including income, education, housing, and life expectancy. In 1961 the country became a republic. Charles Robberts Swart became State President.

(Charles Robberts Swart)

The security forces of the government harshly oppressed resistance movements, and violence became widespread, with anti apartheid activists using strikes, marches, protests, and sabotage by bombing and other means.

(White South African police attacking anti Apartheid protestors)

The African National Congress was a major resistance movement.

(ANC flag)

In 1963 key ANC figure Nelson Mandela was put in prison for conspiracy to sabotage the government.

(Nelson Mandela)

In the late 1970’s South Africa began making nuclear weapons. In 1990 the National Party government took the first step towards dismantling discrimination when it lifted the ban on the African National Congress and other political organisations. It released Nelson Mandela from prison after 27 years serving a sentence for sabotage.

(Nelson (Left) and Winnie (Right) Mandela)

In 1993 F. W. de Klerk opened bilateral discussions with Nelson Mandela for a transition of policies and government. South Africa also destroyed its nuclear arsenal and acceded to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. South Africa held its first universal elections in 1994, which the ANC won by an overwhelming majority. Nelson Mandela won the election.

(Nelson Mandela)

April 27th, 1994 is called “Freedom Day” and is celebrated throughout South Africa.

(South African flag (1994-Present))

In a 2006 survey, the South African Migration Project concluded that South Africans are more opposed to immigration than anywhere else in the world. In 2008 riots left over sixty people dead. The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions estimates over 100,000 people were driven from their homes. The targets were mainly migrants and refugees seeking asylum, but a third of the victims were South African citizens.

(2008 riots)

In 2009 Jacob Zuma became president of South Africa. In the 2014 election Zuma won again.

(Jacob Zuma)

Today marks the 106th anniversary of South Africa’s independence and we would all like to say happy independence day South Africa.

Videos of South Africa’s independence and Freedom Day

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=png6cUURZB8  “Nelson Mandela Released From Prison - 1990”
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJiXu4q__VU  “President Nelson Mandela Inauguration Speech May 10, 1994”
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syXCQFzqSBA  “South Africa Independence Day 31 May 1961. Ons Vir Jou Suid Afrika. At Thy Will South Africa.”
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4Z_VpzVlLE  “South African Independence Day Picnic - New York”

        

(P.S. sorry for the late post)