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For the country in this region, see South Africa. The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa
     Southern Africa (UN subregion)      geographic, including above      Southern African Development Community (SADC)
     Southern Africa (UN subregion)      geographic, including above      Southern African Development Community (SADC)

Southern Africa is the southernmost region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. A subregion is a conceptual unit which derives from a larger Region or Continent and is usually based on location The Southern African Development Community ( SADC) is an Inter-governmental organization. South is one of Cardinal directions and is opposite to the North. The article is about the geographic sense of the term For other uses including Regions and Regional, see Region (disambiguation. A continent is one of several large Landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by Convention rather than any strict criteria with seven regions Geography (from Greek γεωγραφία - geografia) is the study of the Earth and its lands features inhabitants and phenomena Geopolitics is the study that analyzes Geography, History and Social science with reference to Spatial politics and patterns at various scales Within the region are numerous territories – including the Republic of South Africa, a successor country to the Union of South Africa. The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa In Political geography and International politics, a country is a Political division of a geographical entity } The Union of South Africa is the historic predecessor to the present-day state of the Republic of South Africa.

Contents

Definitions and usage

In the UN scheme of geographic regions, five countries constitute Southern Africa:

The region is often reckoned to include other territories:

The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania, though more commonly reckoned in Central and Eastern Africa respectively, are occasionally included in Southern Africa. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (République démocratique du Congo often referred to as DR Congo, DRC or RDC, and formerly known or referred to Tanzania ˌtænzəˈniːə officially the United Republic of Tanzania (Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya Apropos, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) was established in 1980 to facilitate co-operation in the region, which includes all of the above except Comoros (totalling 15 members). The Southern African Development Community ( SADC) is an Inter-governmental organization.

The Southern African Customs Union (SACU), created in 1969, comprises the five countries in the UN subregion of Southern Africa. Southern African Customs Union ( SACU) is a Customs union among five countries of Southern Africa.

The term Southern Africa was also used to refer to South Africa and the "independent" Bantustans that were re-incorporated into South Africa following the end of Apartheid in 1994. A bantustan or more commonly black african homeland or simply homeland, was territory set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South-West Year 1994 ( MCMXCIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar)

Another geographic delineation for the region is the portion of Africa south of the Cunene and Zambezi rivers – that is, South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and the southern half of Mozambique. The Cunene River (sometimes transliterated Kunene) is a River in Southwest Africa. The Zambezi (also spelled Zambesi) is the fourth-longest River in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa This definition is most commonly used in South Africa.

Geography

A composite satellite image of southern Africa.
A composite satellite image of southern Africa.

The terrain of Southern Africa is varied, ranging from forest and grasslands to deserts. The region has both low-lying coastal areas, and mountains.

In terms of natural resources, the region has the world's largest resources of platinum and the platinum group elements, chromium, vanadium, and cobalt, as well as uranium, gold, titanium, iron and diamonds. Platinum (ˈplætɪnəm is a Chemical element with the Atomic symbol Pt and an Atomic number of 78 Chromium (ˈkroʊmiəm is a Chemical element which has the symbol Cr and Atomic number 24 Vanadium (vəˈneɪdiəm is a Chemical element that has the symbol V and Atomic number 23 Cobalt (ˈkoʊbɒlt is a hard lustrous silver-grey Metal, a Chemical element with symbol Co. Uranium (jʊˈreɪniəm is a silvery-gray Metallic Chemical element in the Gold (ˈɡoʊld is a Chemical element with the symbol Au (from its Latin name aurum) and Atomic number 79 Titanium (taɪˈteɪniəm is a Chemical element with the symbol Ti and Atomic number 22 Iron (ˈаɪɚn is a Chemical element with the symbol Fe (ferrum and Atomic number 26 In Mineralogy, diamond is the allotrope of carbon where the carbon atoms are arranged in

Economy

The region is distinct from the rest of Africa, with some of its main exports including platinum, diamonds, gold, and uranium, but it is similar in that it shares some of the problems of the rest of the continent. In Economics, an export is any good or Commodity, Transported from one country to another country in a Legitimate fashion While colonialism has left its mark on the development over the course of history, today poverty, corruption, and HIV/AIDS are some of the biggest factors impeding economic growth. See Colony and Colonization for examples of colonialism which do not refer to Western colonialism Poverty (also called penury) is deprivation of common necessities that determine the quality of life including food clothing shelter and safe Drinking water, and Political corruption is the use of governmental powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain Human immunodeficiency virus ( HIV) is a Lentivirus (a member of the Retrovirus family that can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome The pursuit of economic and political stability is an important part of the region's goals, as demonstrated by the SADC. Economics is the social science that studies the production distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions

Environmental factors

The region has a wide diversity of ecoregions including grassland, bushveld, karoo, savanna and riparian zones. Grasslands (also called greenswards) are areas where the Vegetation is dominated by Grasses ( Poaceae) and other Herbaceous (non-woody The Bushveld is a tropical savanna Ecoregion of Southern Africa that encompasses most of Limpopo Province and part of the North West Province The Karoo (a Khoisan word of uncertain etymology) is a semi- Desert region of South Africa. A savanna or savannah is a Tropical or Subtropical Grassland or Woodland Ecosystem. "Riparian" redirects here For the legal doctrine see " Riparian water rights. Even though considerable disturbance has occurred in some regions from habitat loss due to human overpopulation, and there remain significant numbers of various wildlife species, including White Rhino, lion, leopard, impala, kudu, blue Wildebeest, Vervet monkey and elephant. Overpopulation refers to a condition where an Organism 's numbers exceed the Carrying capacity of its Habitat. Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants animals and other organisms The White Rhinoceros or Square-lipped rhinoceros ( Ceratotherium simum) is one of the five species of Rhinoceros that still exist and is one of the few The lion ( Panthera leo) is a member of the family Felidae and one of four Big cats in the Genus Panthera. The leopard (lɛpɚd Panthera pardus) is an Old World Mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four roaring An impala ( Aepyceros melampus Greek αιπος aipos "high" κερος ceros "horn" + melas "black" pous Kudu is an alternate spelling for kuzu the Japanese word for the plant Kudzu. The Blue Wildebeest ( Connochaetes taurinus) is a large Ungulate mammal of the Bovid family and one of two species of Wildebeest. Elephants ( family: Elephantidae) are large land Mammals of the order Proboscidea.

Culture and peoples

Southern Africa is home to many cultures and peoples. It was once populated by San, Namaqua and Pygmies in widely-dispersed concentrations. The Bushmen, San, Sho, Basarwa, ǃKung or Khwe are indigenous people of southern Africa that spans most areas of South Africa Nama (in older sources also called Namaqua) are an African Ethnic group of South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. Pygmies (singular Pygmy) refers to a member of any human group whose adult males grow to less than 150 cm (4 feet 11 inches in average height or less than 155 cm Due to the Bantu expansion which edged the previous peoples to the more remote areas of the region, the majority of ethnic groups in this region, including the Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi, Ndebele, Tswana, Sotho, and Shona people, BaLunda, Mbundu, Kikuyu and Luo, speak languages which share common Bantu language traits. The Bantu expansion was a millennia-long series of migrations of speakers of the original proto- Bantu language group The Zulu ( IsiZulu: amaZulu) are the largest South African ethnic group of an estimated 10-11 million people who live mainly in the province of KwaZulu-Natal See also Xhosa language The Xhosa (ǁʰɔsɑ( people are speakers of Bantu languages living in south-east South Africa, and in the last two The Swazi are a Bantu -speaking people in southeastern Africa, chiefly in Swaziland and South Africa and some in Mozambique, who speak Tswana ( Motswana, plural Batswana) is the name of a Southern African people The Basotho people have lived in Southern Africa since around the fifteenth century. Shona (ˈʃoʊnə is the name collectively given to several groups of people in Zimbabwe and southern Mozambique. The BaLunda ( Balunda, Lunda also spelled Luunda and Ruund) arose in what is now DR Congo along the Kalanyi River and formed The Mbundu people are the second largest ethnic group in Angola. There is also a town in Kiambu district called Kikuyu, and a species of Pennisetum grass native to the Kenyan highlands named Kikuyu The Bantu languages (technically Narrow Bantu languages) constitute a grouping belonging to the Niger-Congo family The process of colonization and settling resulted in a significant population of European (Afrikaners, Anglo-Africans, Portuguese Africans, etc. The term Afrikaner people refers to white Afrikaans -speaking people who have been established in Southern Africa since the 17th century and are mainly of northwestern Anglo-Africans are people of primarily Sub-Saharan Africa whose first language is English. Portuguese Africans (luso-africanos are Portuguese people born or permantely settled in Africa (they should not be confused with Afro-Portuguese, Portuguese ) and Indian descent (Cape Malays, Koreans, Tamils, etc. The Cape Malay community is an Ethnic group or Community in South Africa, taking its name from what is now known as the Western Cape of Koreans in Africa form a very small population estimated at only 7900 people as of 2005 Tamil South Africans are South Africans of Tamil descent Amongst the language groups represented among the Indian immigrants who came from India to Natal ) in many southern African countries.

See also

The history of Africa begins with the first emergence of Homo sapiens in East Africa, continuing into its modern present as a patchwork of Sub-Saharan Africa is a geographical term used to describe the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara, or those African countries
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