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Southern Africa, southernmost region of the African continent, comprising the countries of Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The island nation of Madagascar is excluded because of its distinct language and cultural heritage.
South Africa's unique social and political history has generated a rich variety of literatures, with themes spanning pre-colonial life, the days of apartheid, and the lives of people in the "new South Africa".
The first modern humans are believed to have inhabited South Africa more than 100,000 years ago. [1] In 1999, UNESCO designated the region the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage site. [2] South Africa's first known inhabitants have been referred to as the Khoisan, the Khwe and the San.
Some of the prominent cultures of South Africa include the Khoikhoi and San culture, Zulu, Ndebele, Xhosa, and Sotho cultures among other cultures. These cultures blend beautifully to give the country its unique identity on the globe.
Yet, South Africa is making steady progress in erasing some of these historic disparities and their consequences. Daily life is better for most of its people, and culture and the arts, which sometimes were forced into exile, are flourishing in the free climate of the postapartheid era.
The oldest building in the country, Cape Town’s Castle of Good Hope, houses the Castle Military Museum, which has a fabulous collection of weaponry from the Cape Frontier and Anglo-Boer wars. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela is the most important figure in South Africa’s recent history.
The natural beauty of Southern Africa is in sharp contrast to its human history and the current political and social situations. Its history is rife with sad stories of the slave trade, colonialism, tribal warfare, genocide, poverty, and apartheid.
Learn about the history of South Africa, its origins, and its development. View South Africa facts related to its religion, language, and the system of apartheid. Updated: 11/21/2023.
Pre-colonial history of Southern Africa. South Africa has one of the longest sequences of human development in the world. It begins with two million years old hominid fossils. Human Origins. South African scientists have been actively involved in the study of human origins since 1925 when Raymond Dart identified the Taung child as an infant ...
History, African Studies. The South Africa Reader is an extraordinarily rich guide to the history, culture, and politics of South Africa. With more than eighty absorbing selections, the...