James Baquet

South Africa is, as the name implies, located at the southern tip of the African continent. To the west is the Atlantic Ocean; to the east, the Indian. South across a strait is Antarctica.

Things are a little different to the north. Moving west to east, the map shows Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, as well as Swaziland. South Africa also entirely surrounds the tiny kingdom of Lesotho. (Lesotho ranks number 138 among 196 nations in area; Swaziland is number 154.)

South Africa should not be confused with “southern Africa,” a geographical region analogous to four others — northern, eastern, central and western Africa — and which usually includes the nation of South Africa (the region’s largest) and the afore-mentioned states as well as Angola, Malawi and Zambia.

South Africa also ranks fairly high globally in area and population: It is the world’s 24th largest in area and 25th largest in population. As such, it dominates the region of southern Africa. It is not only the southernmost country in Africa, but also the southernmost in the eastern hemisphere.

South African society is multiethnic, with 11 languages officially recognized in its constitution (the third largest number of official languages after Bolivia and India). One of these, Afrikaans, derives from Dutch, which is the language of most white South Africans and those of mixed ancestry (referred to as “colored”). English is also commonly used in public life, though it ranks only fourth as a mother tongue. The other nine languages are spoken by individual tribal groups.

This diversity led to a policy called apartheid, which institutionalized the country’s practices of segregation between whites and blacks. This discriminatory system held sway for over four decades. After it was abolished — due largely to the efforts of Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress — disenfranchised blacks were given the vote for the first time, and the black majority has been recovering its rights.

Today South Africa’s economy is Africa’s second-largest, and 34th in the world.

Vocabulary:

Which word above means:

1. denied the right to vote

2. made formal; turned into law

3. more powerful than

4. comes from

5. denying rights to some, but not others

6. having many kinds of people

7. largest group

8. separation of people

9. corresponding to

10. got rid of; made void