Zuid-Afrika

Early History

The oldest indigenous people are the San, they are also called: Bushmen. About 2,000 years ago, the pastoral Khoikhoi (called Hottentots by Europeans) settled mainly in the southern coastal region.
Also Bantu-Speakers came to South Africa. These Bantu-speaking groups developed their own complex community organizations. In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias, a Portuguese navigator, became the first European to round the Cape of Good Hope (so named by King John II of Portugal). The diaries of shipwrecked Portuguese sailors attest to a large Bantu-speaking population in present-day KwaZulu-Natal by 1552.

Colonialism and African-European Relations

Although many European ships passed Cape of Good Hope many times on their way to India, and sometimes stopped for food, fresh water or rest, no European settlement was made until 1652, when Jan van Riebeeck and about 90 other persons set up a provisioning station for the Dutch East India Company at Table Bay on the Cape of Good Hope. Soon van Riebeeck began to trade with nearby Khoikhoi, gave Europeans land for farms, and brought Malays as slaves. By 1662, about 250 Europeans were living near the Cape and gradually they moved inland and they found Stellenbosch in 1679. Stellenbosch is a city in the South West of South Africa. In 1689 about 200 refugees (vluchtelingen) from Europe arrived; they made a wine industry and married with the earlier Dutch settlers. By 1707 there were about 1,800 freeholders of European descent in South Africa, and they owned about a 1,000 slaves.

The new South-Africa

Despite obstacles and delays, an interim constitution was completed in 1993, ending nearly three centuries of white rule in South Africa and marking the end of white-minority rule on the African continent. The new government council was formed with blacks in the majority.
In April 1994, days after the Inkatha Freedom party ended an electoral boycott, the republic's first multiracial election was held. The ANC won an overwhelming victory, and Nelson Mandela became president. South Africa rejoined the Commonwealth in 1994 and also relinquished its last hold in Namibia, ceding the exclave of Walvis Bay. This was also the end of the apartheid.

Johannesburg

The history of the town of Johannesburg began in 1886 when four sleepy farms on the Transvaal highland were rudely awakened by some fool yelling 'Gold!' The call prompted thousands of digging hoards to descend on what turned out to be the richest gold-bearing reef ever discovered. Three years later Johannesburg had become the largest town in South Africa - a place full of bars and fortune-hunters of all creeds and kinds. The classic view of Jo'burg - a mine dump in the foreground and skyscrapers in the background - will be retained, however, as some dumps are being preserved as historical monuments.

~47,5 miljoen mensen Zuid Afrika
~29,5 keer zo groot als Nederland
~Totale oppervlakte 1.123.226 km2
~National Anthem is: De stem van Suid-Afrika

Couplet 1:Xhosa

Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika
Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo,
Yizwa imithandazo yethu,
Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho lwayo.

Couplet 2:Sesotho
Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso,
O fedise dintwa le matshwenyeho,
O se boloke, O se boloke setjhaba sa heso,
Setjhaba sa South Afrika - South Afrika.

Couplet 3:Afrikaans
Uit die blou van onse hemel,
Uit die diepte van ons see,
Oor ons ewige gebergtes,
Waar die kranse antwoord gee,

Couplet 4:Engels
Sounds the call to come together,
And united we shall stand,
Let us live and strive for freedom,
In South Africa our land.