2. Position in the world
 The Republic of South Africa is a country
located at the southern tip of Africa, with a
2,798 kilometres coastline on the Atlantic and
Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia,
Botswana and Zimbabwe; to the east are
Mozambique and Swaziland; while Lesotho is
an independent country wholly surrounded by
South African territory.

3. Languages
 South Africa has eleven official languages: Afrikaans, English,
Ndebele, Northern South, Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga,
Venda, Xhosa and Zulu. In this regard it is third only to Bolivia
and India in number. While all the languages are formally equal,
some languages are spoken more than others. According to the
2001 National Census, the three most spoken first home
languages are Zulu (23.8%), Xhosa (17.6%) and Afrikaans
(13.3%). Despite the fact that English is recognised as the
language of commerce and science, it was spoken by only 8.2%
of South Africans at home in 2001, an even lower percentage
than in 1996 (8.6%).
 Many white South Africans also speak other European
languages, such as Portuguese (also spoken by black Angolans
and Mozambicans), German, and Greek, while some Asians and
Indians in South Africa speak South Asian languages, such as
Tamil, Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu and Telugu. French is still widely
spoken by French South Africans especially in places like
Franschhoek, where many South Africans are of French origin.
South African French is spoken by less than 10,000 individuals.
Congolese French is also spoken in South Africa by migrants.

4. Geography
 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 ,South Africa is
the 25th-largest country in the world and is comparable in
size to Colombia. Njesuthi in the Drakensberg at 3,408 m is
the highest peak in South Africa.
 The interior of South Africa is a vast, flat, and sparsely
populated scrubland, the Karoo, which is drier towards the
northwest along the Namib desert. In contrast, the eastern
coastline is lush and well-watered, which produces a climate
similar to the tropics.
 To the north of Johannesburg, the altitude drops beyond
the escarpment of the Highveld, and turns into the lower
lying Bushveld, an area of mixed dry forest and an
abundance of wildlife. East of the Highveld, beyond the
eastern escarpment, the Lowveld stretches towards the
Indian Ocean. It has particularly high temperatures, and is
also the location of extended subtropical agriculture.

5. Satellite picture of South
Africa
The Drakensberg
mountains, the highest
mountain range in South
Africa

6. Government and politics
 South Africa has three capital cities: Cape
Town, the largest of the three, is the
legislative capital; Pretoria is the
administrative capital; and Bloemfontein is the
judicial capital. South Africa has a bicameral
parliament: the National Council of Provinces
(the upper house) has 90 members, while the
National Assembly (the lower house) has 400
members.
The Union Buildings
in Pretoria are the
home of the South
African executive

7. Largest Metropolitan areas in South Africa
Annual
Code Rank City Population Province
Growth Rate
JHB 1 Johannesburg 8,837,000 Gauteng 2.47%
CPT 2 Cape Town 3,653,000 Western Cape 1.43%
ETH 3 Durban 3,192,000 Kwazulu-Natal 1.36%
EKU 4 Germiston 2,724,229 Gauteng 1.36%
TSH 5 Pretoria 2,450,000 Gauteng 1.41%
NMA 6 Port Elizabeth 1,572,000 Eastern Cape 0.41%
JHB 7 Vereeniging 1,074,000 Gauteng 0.41%
EC125 8 East London 958,000 Eastern Cape 0.32%
FS172 9 Bloemfontein 752,906 Free State 0.21%
GT421 10 Vanderbijlpark 650,867 Gauteng 0.13%