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South Africa |
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Pretoria |
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54 001 953 (2014) |
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1 219 090 km2 470 693 mi2 |
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3 408 m 11 181 ft Njesuthi |
Dutch traders landed at the southern tip of modern day South Africa in 1652 and established a stopover point on the spice route between the Netherlands and the Far East, founding the city of Cape Town. After the British seized the Cape of Good Hope area in 1806, many of the Dutch settlers (Afrikaners, called "Boers" (farmers) by the British) trekked north to found their own republics in lands taken from the indigenous black inhabitants. The discovery of diamonds (1867) and gold (1886) spurred wealth and immigration and intensified the subjugation of the native inhabitants. The Afrikaners resisted British encroachments but were defeated in the Second South African War (1899-1902); however, the British and the Afrikaners, ruled together beginning in 1910 under the Union of South Africa, which became a republic in 1961 after a whites-only referendum. In 1948, the Afrikaner-dominated National Party was voted into power and instituted a policy of apartheid - the separate development of the races - which favored the white minority at the expense of the black majority. The African National Congress (ANC) led the opposition to apartheid and many top ANC leaders, such as Nelson MANDELA, spent decades in South Africa's prisons. Internal protests and insurgency, as well as boycotts by some Western nations and institutions, led to the regime's eventual willingness to negotiate a peaceful transition to majority rule. The first multi-racial elections in 1994 following the end of apartheid ushered in majority rule under an ANC-led government. South Africa since then has struggled to address apartheid-era imbalances in decent housing, education, and health care. ANC infighting came to a head in 2008 when President Thabo MBEKI was recalled by Parliament, and Deputy President Kgalema MOTLANTHE, succeeded him as interim president. Jacob ZUMA became president after the ANC won general elections in 2009; he was reelected in 2014. |
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Africa Southern Africa Southern Africa, at the southern tip of the continent of Africa
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1 219 090 km2 470 693 mi2 |
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 54 001 953 |
 +1.58% |
 50.9 % |
 49.1 % |
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0-14 29.5 % |
15-64 65.4 % |
65+ 5 % |
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 44.30 / km2 114.73 / mi2 |
 64.30% 34 722 176 |
 36% 19 279 777 |
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 54.74 yrs |
 58.83 Years |
56.82 Years |
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 South Africa
Republic
Bicameral Parliament consists of the National Council of Provinces (90 seats; 10-member delegations appointed by each of the 9 provincial legislatures to serve 5-year terms; note - this council has special powers to protect regional interests, including safeguarding cultural and linguistic traditions among ethnic minorities) and the National Assembly (400 seats; members directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by proportional representation vote to serve 5-year terms)
Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North West, Western Cape |
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beds/1,000 population (2005) |
physicians/1,000 population (2013) |
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universal |
South African National Defense Force (SANDF) South African Army, South African Navy (SAN), South African Air Force (SAAF), South African Military Health Services (2013) |
 South Africa is a middle-income, emerging market with an abundant supply of natural resources; well-developed financial, legal, communications, energy, and transport sectors; and a stock exchange that is Africa’s largest and among the top 20 in the world. ++ Even though the country's modern infrastructure supports a relatively efficient distribution of goods to major urban centers throughout the region, unstable electricity supplies retard growth. Economic growth has decelerated in recent years, slowing to just 1.5% in 2014. Unemployment, poverty, and inequality - among the highest in the world - remain a challenge. Official unemployment is roughly 25% of the work force, and runs significantly higher among black youth. Eskom, the state-run power company, is building three new power stations and is installing new power demand management programs to improve power grid reliability. Load shedding and resulting rolling blackouts gripped many parts of South Africa in late 2014 and early 2015 because of electricity supply constraints that resulted from technical problems at some generation units, unavoidable planned maintenance, and an accident at a power station in Mpumalanga province. The rolling black outs were the worst the country faced since 2008. Construction delays at two additional plants, however, mean South Africa will continue to operate on a razor thin margin; economists judge that growth cannot exceed 3% until electrical supply problems are resolved. ++ South Africa's economic policy has focused on controlling inflation; however, the country faces structural constraints that also limit economic growth, such as skills shortages, declining global competitiveness and frequent work stoppages due to strike action. The current government faces growing pressure from urban constituencies to improve the delivery of basic services to low-income areas and to increase job growth.
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464 173 mi |
13 040 mi |
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country code - 27 the SAT-3/WASC and SAFE fiber-optic submarine cable systems connect South Africa to Europe and Asia |
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.za |
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FM 347 (plus 243 repeaters) shortwave 1 (1998) |
9.26 kt per capita |
μg/m3 |
kt CO2 equivalent |
kt CO2 equivalent |
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kg of oil equivalent per capita |
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Enjoy !!! LEON ROSSOUW email: leonrossouw@me.com |
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This wiki might help to use the full potential of Groenkloof weather website. The info section explains the hard and software and connections used.(In the menu bar under the sub menus Weather station and Groenkloof Weather) Weather data updates every minute.(for both the mobile and desktop sites) There is a mobile page with current conditions, forecast, forecast map, station history (with drop down menu for today, yesterday, month, year etc. showing all parameters) and lastly a graph with drop down menu for time period and parameter. (Very useful for quick references ) One can switch to the desktop page using the link in bottom right hand corner and vice versa. The desktop version is where very detailed weather info is available. ( Useful for more in depth detail ) It is divided in “blocks” The sunrise/sunset times and day length is shown. Moon with dates of full moon, new moon etc. The current block shows weather values in easy to read numerical format and updates every minute. “Live gauges” updates every minute and when the curser is hovered over a parameter it will show the min and max values and the time when this occurred. In the forecast maps one can use the menu bar top left of block to choose from windy or dark sky maps. Within the map one can choose from different parameters like wind, temperature, rain, thunder, clouds, pressure etc. Then station data is shown with now, max, min values and drop down menu for different time periods. There is also a history block where one can choose different parameters and a trends block with 1,3,6,12,24 hrs etc trends. Next is a forecast meteogram which is dynamic and moving the cursor over it will show all weather parameters at that point. Then easy to read forecast with drop down the default using the Norwegian institute of meteorology values. (seems to be most accurate) Next is rainfall for today, this month, this year (from January) Drop down gives more options like seasonal (from September) etc. Rain balance is the stations values measured against 100 year rain data for Pretoria obtained from SA weather services. Next is graph with several drop down options and a day pie graph where one can pick dates and parameters. In extremes one can pick a parameter like absolute temperature, precipitation etc. to see max/min value dates and times. There is a air quality block click within block for more info. Map to show location of station. Webcam with view from Herbert Baker Street updates every 5 minutes. For aviation enthusiasts Cloud height time to sunset and density altitude. Then SA weather warnings from SA weather services, lightning detection and fire danger index. Followed by calendar, earthquakes and astronomical events. World weather...shows current conditions in few world cities. Database: data is stored every 5 mins and available data runs from January 2014. The menu at the top is really self explanatory and here there are countless information, statistics etc. Enjoy!! Leon :leonrossouw@me.com P.S. since August 2021 I have added Solar, Uv sensors, Air Quality, soil moisture and lightning detection.
