Official Name: Republic of South Africa (English).

Area: Africa

Size: 1,221,042 km²

Coastline: 2.798 km

Independence: from the UK 31 May 1910 

Form of Govt.: Multiparty republic

Head of Govt.: President

Capital: Pretoria

Largest City: Johannesburg

Demographics (2005): 44.187.637.   39 /km²

GDP per Capita (2005): $12,161 

Languages: Official languages: Afrikaans, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Southern Sotho, Swati, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu, English

Geography: The country contains a broad centrally depressed plateau as well as a continuous series of mountain ranges known as the Great Escarpment that ring the interior plateau. Inland from the Great Escarpment the central plateau, which comprises the Kalahari Basin, consists of rolling plains that drop to the center and northern interior. The Great Escarpment runs almost continuously unbroken from the Zambezi River in Zimbabwe around the continent's southern edge and arcs northward through Namibia. The principal river is the Orange with its tributaries the Vaal and Caledon.

Climate: South Africa has a temperate climate that is influenced by the warm Agulhas current from Mozambique as well as the Indian Ocean to the east and the cold Benguela current from the Atlantic Ocean on the west coast. Most rainfall occurs as a result of moist warm Indian Ocean air currents while distribution decreases from east to west. Average annual precipitation varies from 400 mm in the east to less than 50 mm in the northwest coastal regions. Average annual precipitation in Cape Town is 510 mm and average temperature ranges are from 9 to 17 degrees in July to 16 to 27 degrees in February.