Location- southern tip Africa

Border-Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Swaziland

Demographic- black Africa 79.4%, white Africa 9.2%, Coloured 8.8%,and Asia 2.6% Population-49,109,107 people Capital- Pretoria Language- English Religion- Christian Government- South Africa is a constitutional democracy with three-tier system of government and an independent judiciary. History In 1487, the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias became the first European to reach the southernmost point of Africa. Initially named the Cape of Storms, The King of Portugal, John II, renamed it the Cabo da Boa Esperana or Cape of Good Hope, as it led to the riches of India. In 1652, a century and a half after the discovery of the Cape Sea Route, Jan van Riebeeck established a refreshment station at the Cape of Good Hope, at what would become Cape Town, [17] on behalf of the Dutch East India Company. The Dutch transported slaves from Indonesia, Madagascar, and India as labour for the colonists in Cape Town. As they expanded east, the Dutch settlers met the south-westerly expanding Xhosa people in the region of the Fish River. A series of wars, called the Cape Frontier Wars, ensued, mainly caused by conflicting land and livestock interests.The British annexed the Cape Colony in 1806. The British continued the frontier wars against the Xhosa, pushing the eastern frontier eastward through a line of forts established along the Fish River. They consolidated the territory by encouraging British settlement. Due to pressure of abolitionist societies in Britain, the British parliament first stopped its global slave trade with the passage of the Slave Trade Act 1807, then abolished slavery in all its colonies with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833.In the first two decades of the 19th century, the Zulu people grew in power and expanded their territory under their leader,

Shaka. Shakas depredations led indirectly to the Mfecane (Crushing) that devastated the inland plateau in the early 1820s. An offshoot of the Zulu, the Matabele, created an even larger empire under their king Mzilikazi, including large parts of the highveld.During the 1830s, approximately 12,000 Boers, departed from the Cape Colony, where they had been subjected to British control. They migrated to the future Natal, Orange Free State and Transvaal regions. The Boers founded the Boer Republics: the South African Republic (now Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West provinces) and the Orange Free State (Free State). current issuse An estimated 5.7 million people were living with HIV and AIDS in South Africa in 2009, more than in any other country.1 It is believed that in 2008, over 250,000 South Africans died of AIDS.2 National prevalence is around 11%, with some age groups being particularly affected. Almost one-in-three women aged 25-29, and over a quarter of men aged 30-34, are living with HIV.3 HIV prevalence among those aged two and older also varies by province with the Western Cape (3.8%) and Northern Cape (5.9%) being least affected, and Mpumulanga (15.4%) and KwaZulu-Natal (15.8%) at the upper end of the scale. Marking a welcome change from South Africa's history of HIV the South African Government launched a major counselling and testing campaign (HCT) in 2010. By raising awareness of HIV the campaign aims to reduce the HIV incidence rate by 50% by June 2011. Impact upon children and families South Africas HIV and AIDS epidemic has had a devastating effect on children in a number of ways. There were an estimated 280,000 under-15s living with HIV in 2007, a figure that almost doubled since 2001. HIV in South Africa is transmitted predominantly heterosexually between couples, with mother-to-child transmission being the other main infection route. The national transmission rate of HIV from mother to child is approximately 11%.8 In most instances the virus was transmitted from the childs mother. Consequently, the HIV-infected child is born into a family where the virus may have already had a severe impact on health, income, productivity and the ability to care for each other. The age bracket that AIDS most heavily targets younger adults means it is not uncommon for one or more parents to die from AIDS while their offspring are young. The number of premature deaths due to HIV/AIDS has risen significantly over the last decade from 39% to 75% in 2010.The loss of a parent not only has an immense emotional impact on children but for most families can spell financial hardship. One survey on HIVs impact on households found that, 80% of the sample would lose more than half their per capita income with the death of the highest income earner, suggesting a lingering and debilitating shock of death. It is estimated there are between 1.5 and 3 million AIDS orphans where one or both parents are deceased in South Africa, and it is estimated that the HIV/AIDS epidemic has created half of the countrys orphans. Another estimate puts the proportion of maternal orphans those who have lost their mother orphaned by AIDS as over 70%. Orphans may put pressure on older relatives who become their primary carers; they may have to relocate from their familiar neighbourhood; and siblings may be split apart, all of which can harm their development.