History & Culture in South Africa

South Africa has been inhabited by people for thousands of years. Initially in the history the Bantu people migrated to the area. Today many people in South Africa speak some form of Bantu language. In 1488 the first Europeans came to South Africa were Portuguese. After a long time, in 1652 the Dutch East India Company established a small deal at the Cape of Good Hope. A lot of Europeans moved in overtime including Germans, French and Dutch settlers. These people are known as the Afrikaners.

In 1948 the National Party was voted into power. They began a policy called apartheid. This was when public was separated based on their completion. Especially white people and black people were divided and the white people use to rule the land. In 1961, South Africa became an independent country.

The African National Congress pushed for the end to racism and the equal the treatment of black South Africans. Nelson Mandela was a leader of the African National Congress. He spent 27 years in prison when fighting for equal rights. In 1994 racism was terminated and black people were allowed to vote.

Facts
1. South Africa is home to some of the oldest archaeological sites in the world. Out of them many have been found in Gauteng Province located in the northeast region.
2. South Africa was first contracted by Portuguese explorers from Europe, but later it was colonized by the Dutch. 
3. Cape Town was occupied by Great Britain between 1795 to 1803, to keep the French away from taking control.
4. The South African wars took place between 1879 to 1915. Including the below
- The Anglo-Boer War
- The Anglo-Zulu War
- The Basotho Gun War
- The 9th Frontier War
5. These war occurred due to tension among European colonial powers, indigenous Africans, and settlers in the region. Most of them were trying to gain and keep control of the country, and get profit from the discovery of diamonds and gold. 
6. Officially South Africa has 11 official languages, with some spoken more than others comparatively. 
7. Almost 80 % of South Africa’s population are Christian. 
8. The country has developed into a major wine producer which is also a part of South Africa tour packages. 
9. South Africa hosted the FIFA world cup in 2010.

South Africa is known as the Rainbow Nation which states the country’s cultural and ethnic diversity. Population in South Africa is one of the most complex and different in the world. Out of 51.7 million South Africans, around 41 million are black, 4.5 million are colored and about 1.3 million are Indians or Asian. Around 51.3% are female and 48.7% are male.  Middle class people who are mostly white but whose ranks include growing number of people of color, have similar lifestyles in many aspects to that of the people found in Western Europe, North America and Australia. 

Indians in South Africa maintain their cultural heritage, languages and religious beliefs, being either Christian, Hindu or Muslim and communicating English and Indian languages like Hindi, Telugu, Tamil or Gujarati are used as second languages and are used less frequently.

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