南非(South Africa)
正式名称南非共和国（Republic of South Africa）
旧称南非联邦（Union of South Africa）
非洲大陆最南端的国家。境内有赖索托王国。面积1,219,080平方公里。人口43,586,000（2001）。首都︰普勒多利亚（行政）；开普敦（立法）；布隆方丹（司法）。3/4的人口为黑非洲人︰他们包括祖鲁人、科萨人、索托人和茨瓦纳人，1/8为白人以及其余多为混血种人和印度人後裔。语言︰阿非利堪斯语；英语和九种班图诸语言（以上皆为官方语）。宗教︰基督教和传统信仰。货币︰兰特（R）。南非有三个主要自然地理区︰广阔的内陆高原、周围多山的半圆形大断崖和狭长的海岸平原。属温和的亚热带气候。南非是世界最大的黄金生产国，也是煤、金刚石、铂和钒的主要生产国和出口国。政府形式为共和国，两院制。国家元首暨政府首脑为总统。
在石器时代，桑人和科伊科伊人作为猎人和食物采集者生活在南非各地，到欧洲人来到此地的时代，发展了一种游牧文化。到14世纪讲班图语的民族定居在此，并建立了采金和采铜业以及活跃的东非贸易。1652年荷兰人在好望角建立殖民地。荷兰殖民者被称为布尔人，後来又因其讲阿非利堪斯语而被称为阿非利堪人；1795年，英国军队攻陷好望角，1830年代，为了逃脱英国人统治，荷兰殖民者向北大迁徙，并建立橘自由邦和南非共和国（後称特兰斯瓦）两个布尔人共和国。到1902年，英国并吞了这两个共和国（参阅South African War）。1910年开普殖民地、特兰斯瓦、纳塔尔和橘河等英国殖民地合并成为新的南非联邦。1961年独立并自国协退出。在整个20世纪，维护白人对该国黑人多数的统治地位的议题一直在南非政治中占有支配地位。1948年，南非实行正式的种族隔离政策由於遭到世界各国的谴责，1980年代开始拆除种族隔离政策，1989年被废除。1994年举行自由选举。曼德拉成为南非第一位黑人总统。高爱滋病发病率和暴力犯罪使国家的新领导人陷於困境。
English version：
South Africa
Southernmost country on the African continent. The kingdom of Lesotho lies within its boundaries. Area: 470,689 sq mi (1,219,080 sq km). Population (1997 est.): 42,446,000. Capitals: Pretoria, executive; Cape Town, legislative; Bloemfontein, judicial. Three-fourths of the population are black Africans: they include the Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho, and Tswana; one-eighth are whites, and most of the remainder are of mixed race or Indian descent. Languages: Afrikaans, English, and nine Bantu languages (all official). Religions: Christianity, traditional beliefs. Currency: rand. South Africa has three major zones: the broad interior plateau, the surrounding mountainous Great Escarpment, and a narrow belt of coastal plain. It has a temperate subtropical climate. It is the world's largest producer of gold and a leading producer and exporter of coal, diamonds, platinum, and vanadium. It is a republic with two legislative houses; its head of state and government is the president. San and Khoikhoi roamed the area as hunters and gatherers in the Stone Age, and the latter had developed a pastoralist culture by the time of European contact. By the 14th century, Bantu-speaking peoples had settled in the area and developed gold and copper mining and an active East African trade. In 1652 the Dutch established a colony at the Cape of Good Hope; the Dutch settlers became known as Boers and later as Afrikaners, after their Afrikaans language. In 1795 British forces captured the Cape, and in 1830, to escape British rule, Dutch settlers made the Great Trek northward and established the independent Boer republics of Orange Free State and the South African Republic (later the Transvaal region), which the British annexed as colonies by 1902 (see South African War). In 1910 the British colonies of Cape Colony, Transvaal, Natal, and Orange River were unified into the new Union of South Africa. It became independent and withdrew from the Commonwealth in 1961. Throughout the 20th century South African politics were dominated by the question of maintaining white supremacy over the country's black majority, and in 1948 South Africa formally instituted apartheid. Faced by increasing worldwide condemnation, it began dismantling the policy in the 1980s and ended it in 1989. In free elections in 1994, Nelson Mandela became the country's first black president. High rates of AIDS and violent crime beset the nation's new leadership.
