South Africa: The Rainbow Nation

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Anthem	National anthem of South Africa Watch on youtube (with lyrics)
Capital	Pretoria (executive) Bloemfontein (judicial) Cape Town (legislative)
Largest city	Johannesburg
Official language(s)	Sepedi Sesotho Setswana siSwati Tshivenda Xitsonga Afrikaans English isiNdebele isiXhosa isiZulu
Ethnic groups	~ 79.3% Black ~ 9.1% White ~ 9.0% Coloured ~ 2.6% Asian
Demonym(a name for a resident of a locality, often the same as the name of the people's native language)	South African
Government	Constitutional democracy
Area	1,221,037 km2, 471,443 sq mi
Population	~ 49 million
Currency	Rand (ZAR)
Internet TLD	.za

The Republic of South Africa is one of the 54 states of the African continent. Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent after Asia. South Africa is located at the southern tip of Africa and is the 25th-largest country in the world. It has a 2,798 kilometre (1,739 mi) coastline on the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland. Lesotho, which is an independent country, is wholly surrounded(encircled) by South African territory.

South Africa has three capital cities: Cape Town, the largest of the three, is the legislative(making, or having the power to make, a law) capital; Pretoria is the administrative(the part of the government that is entrusted with the execution of laws and the superintendence of public affairs) capital; and Bloemfontein is the judicial(responsible for maintaining the courts of law and for the administration of justice) capital. The largest city in South Africa is Johannesburg with 8,837,000 inhabitants(people who live in a place). Cape Town, the legislative capital, is the second largest city in South Africa with 3,653,000 inhabitants.

South Africa is known for its diversity of cultures and languages. It may be argued that there is no single South African culture because of its ethnic diversity. Today, the diversity in foods from many cultures is enjoyed by all and especially marketed to tourists. In addition to food, music and dance feature prominently.

South Africa is ethnically diverse(various, different). About 79.5% of the South African population is of black African ancestry(descent in a line from a race). This majority still has a substantial number of rural inhabitants who lead largely impoverished(poor, limited) lives. It is among these people, however, that cultural traditions survive most strongly. South Africa also contains the largest European, Indian and racially-mixed communities in Africa. About a quarter of the population is unemployed and lives on less than US $1.25 a day. Members of the middle class are predominantly(most commonly or frequently by a large margin) white but also include growing numbers of black, coloured and Indian people.

South Africa has eleven official languages. According to the 2001 National Census(an official count of members of a population), the three most-widely spoken first languages are Zulu (23.8%), Xhosa (17.6%) and Afrikaans (13.3%). Two of the eleven languages are of European origin(the source or beginning of something): Afrikaans, a language which originated mainly from Dutch is spoken by the majority of white and coloured South Africans, and South African English. Though English has a large role in public and commercial life, it is nevertheless(in spite of what preceded) only the fifth most-widely spoken home language.

South Africa has a wide mix of religions. Many religions are represented in the ethnic and regional diversity of South Africa's population. According to the 2001 National Census, Christians accounted for 79.7% of the population. Muslims accounted for 1.5% of the population, Hindus for about 1.3% and Judaism for 0.2%. 15.1% have no religious affiliation(relationship to, membership, belonging), 2.3% have other religious beliefs and 1.4% were unspecified.

South Africa used to be divided into British and Dutch colonies(a region created by another country and generally ruled by another country). The country finally became a republic in 1961. The legal system is based on Roman-Dutch law and English common law. The country has a bicameral(having two separate legislative chambers) parliament: the National Council of Provinces (the upper house) has 90 members, while the National Assembly (the lower house) has 400 members. Elections for both chambers are held every five years. The government is formed in the National Assembly, which is the lower house. The leader of the majority party in the National Assembly is the President. Since 1994, the African National Congress (ANC) has been the dominant party in South Africa.

South Africa is a well-developed middle-income country. As of 2008, it was ranked 25th in the world in terms of GDP(Gross Domestic Product). Advanced development is significantly(mainly) localised around the main cities. Beyond these economic centres, development is low and poverty is still widespread(affecting a large area). South African exports include corn, diamonds, fruits, gold, metals and minerals, sugar, and wool. Imports include for example machinery and transportation equipment. The country is the largest energy producer and consumer on the continent. Being a popular tourist destination, a substantial amount of income comes from tourism.