Republic of South Africa
Southern Africa
Rainbow · Wild · Dramatic
South Africa (officially Republic of South Africa) is a country located in Southern Africa. Its capital city is Pretoria / Cape Town / Bloemfontein, with other major cities including Cape Town and Johannesburg. With a population of approximately 60.0M, the main language spoken is 11 official languages. The country covers an area of 1,221,037 km². The official currency is the South African rand (R). Traffic drives on the left side.
South Africa has three capitals: Pretoria (executive), Cape Town (legislative), and Bloemfontein (judicial).
Pretoria / Cape Town / Bloemfontein serves as the political, cultural and economic heart of South Africa, positioned in Southern Africa. As the seat of government and often the most populous city, it concentrates the country's main institutions, universities and cultural landmarks. Beyond the capital, major cities include Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban — each a hub of regional culture, economy and history. South Africa has three capitals dividing legislative, executive and judicial functions between Pretoria, Cape Town and Bloemfontein — an arrangement dating from the compromises of the 1910 Act of Union — making Pretoria's Union Buildings, designed by Herbert Baker and set on an amphitheatre of terraced gardens, the seat of presidential power in a country that also holds parliamentary sessions 1,400 kilometres away.
With a population of approximately 60.0M, South Africa is a vibrant society with a rich mix of traditions and communities. The official language is 11 official languages, which reflects the country's cultural heritage and connects it with a wide international community. Internationally, South Africa is reached via the dialling code +27. South Africa's 11 official languages include Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans and eight others, and the country's negotiated transition from apartheid produced a constitutional architecture that the post-colonial world has studied as a model of managed transformation.
South Africa spans 1,221,037 km², in the Southern Africa subregion of Africa. Geographically centred around 29.0°S, 24.0°E, the country offers a diverse range of landscapes shaped by its location, climate and geology. Road traffic follows the left-hand rule, in line with surrounding Africa convention.
The official currency is the South African rand (R), used for everyday transactions and commerce throughout the country. South Africa's economy is shaped by its geography, natural resources and trade relationships. Business and daily life operate under UTC+02:00, aligning the country with its regional neighbours.
The emblematic dish of South Africa is Braai / Braaivleis. Food culture in South Africa is deeply tied to local identity — shared meals and markets are central to daily life and social gatherings across the country.
Rugby / Cricket / Football holds a special place in the heart of South Africa's national identity. The Springboks' 1995 Rugby World Cup victory on home soil, with Nelson Mandela presenting the trophy to captain Francois Pienaar wearing jersey number 6, was a moment of such calculated symbolic weight — Mandela had worn the same jersey — that it was credited with temporarily unifying a country still raw from apartheid.
The highest point in South Africa is Injasuti, rising to 3,408 metres above sea level. The Cape Floristic Region around the Western Cape is one of six global floral kingdoms and the smallest, yet contains over 9,000 plant species — more per square kilometre than the Amazon — including fynbos, a shrubland that requires periodic fire to regenerate and exists nowhere else on Earth.