South Africa's rich history is overshadowed by its colonial heritage and the Apartheid era. South Africa has a dominant historical, social, economic, political background. A long racial conflict between the white minority and the black majority has played a major role in South Africa's history and politics.
Independence: May 31, 1910, as Union of South Africa, self-governing British dominion and sovereignty recognized May 1, 1934, under Britain's Statute of Westminster.
South Africa, on the continent's southern tip, is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the west and by the Indian Ocean on the south and east. South Africa is bordered by Namibia to the northwest, by Botswana and Zimbabwe to the north, and by Mozambique and Swaziland to the northeast and east.
South Africa's tourism industry is in the process of blossoming from a state of near-invisibility in 1992 to employing 9% of the country's workforce, accounting for $9.2bn in revenues and contributing 8.2% of GDP in 2006, with visitor numbers swelling from roughly 1m in 1992 to 8.4m in 2006.
South Africa is divided into nine provinces, each possessing its own democratically elected state legislature, premier and executive council. Some powers have been devolved to provincial authorities to encourage competition; however provincial law is subject to national law and, in cases where the two conflict, precedence is given to national law.
The most significant change occurred in South African long history at late nineties. After a long struggle and series of violence a stable peace was finally brokered in 1990. The domestic situation was far from resolved. Violent responses to black protests increased commitment to a revolutionary struggle, and the United Nations finally imposed economic and political sanctions.
Despite the scars of the past and the enormous problems ahead, South Africa today is immeasurably more optimistic and relaxed than it was a few years ago. The international community has embraced the new South Africa and the ANC's apparently sincere desire to create a truly non-racial nation.
The prehistory and history of South Africa span nearly the entire known existence of human beings and their ancestors - some three million years or more - and include the wandering of small bands of hominins through the savanna, the inception of herding and farming as ways of life, and the construction of large urban centres.
The San people were the first settlers; the Khoikhoi and Bantu-speaking tribes followed. The Dutch East India Company landed the first European settlers on the Cape of Good Hope in 1652, launching a colony that by the end of the 18th century numbered only about 15,000.
The Republic of South Africa has a central government and nine provincially based governments. Executive leadership is in the person of the president, elected by the National Assembly, which in turn is elected by proportional representation, with the National Council of Provinces representing South Africa’s nine regions.
Thabo Mbeki: South Africa’s President is currently in his second five-year term, following his ruling ANC gaining almost 70% of the vote in the April 2004 general election.
South African forces fought on the Allied side in World Wars I and II and participated in the postwar UN force in Korea. South Africa was a founding member of the League of Nations and in 1927 established a Department of External Affairs with diplomatic missions in the main west European countries and in the United States.
The year 1994 marked a watershed in South Africa's international relations, as it was welcomed into regional and international organizations, such as the UN, the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the Nonaligned Movement, and many others.
