South Africa Collaborative Project.

Table of contents:

Culture–

Languages, p.3

Music, p.5

Animals–

Kruger national park, p.7

Wildlife sanctuaries, p.9

Geography–

Climate,p.11

The jewish coomunity,p.13

 The apartheid–

Sexual violence, p.15

Coloureds, p.17

Famous people–

Nelson Mandela, p.19

Nathaniel Isaacs, p.21

Culture

Languages:

South Africa has 11 official languages.

they have about 34 historically established languages. Thirty are living languages, and four extinct Khoesan languages.

For centuries South Africa’s official languages were European – Dutch, English, Afrikaans. African languages, spoken by at least 80% of the people, were ignored.

according to the most recent research the average South African speaks 2.84 languages when the averege in the world is 1.5.

 and a lot of south african languages use “click consonants” which are speech sounds you mostly make with your tongue and teeth.

Culture

Music:

South Africa has a vibrant music scene with a wide variety of genres and styles.

until quite recently, there were two totally different music scenes in South Africa. One was the music of the whites, which had its roots in European music. The other was the music of the black population, born of a long ethnic tradition.

These days, the two groups are influenced by each other and by music from all around the world. The blend that arises from these diverse cultural influences is evident in all music forms. A good example is Kwaito which is a mixture of house music, R&B, Jamaican raggae and American hip-hop. Yet the language, lyrics and the style of dancing and dressing are distinct to South African townships.

Animals

kruger national park:

Kruger National Park is the biggest park in South Africa. it is 19,485 sq.km(about the size of israel!), and one of the biggest national parks in the world.

there are 147 mammals , 507 birds, 114 reptiles ,34 amphibians and 49 fish species who found their home there!

In the 1800’s hunters hunted in the area of the park, wild animals were decimated and disease killed thousands of them. that is until The president of the Transvaal Boer Republic ,Paul Kruger, made a critical decision and started to save areas for protecting games from hunting and taking care of them.

in 1927 the park was opened to tourism and has since then attracted over 1 million visitors.

Animals

Wildlife sanctuaries:

Sanctuaries in South Africa focus on the conservation of rare, vulnerable or endangered animals. They are an excellent destination for people who like observing, helping and learning about some of the most fascinating animals, from birds and mammals to raptors and reptiles.

These sanctuaries play a major role in the reservation of wildlife in South Africa ,protecting and connecting between humans and wildlife animals.

Unfortunately, some places that call themselves sanctuaries are not.

which is why its important to research before donating/ volunteering at one.

Geography

Climate:

South Africa’s climate generally ranges from Mediterranean in the southwestern corner of South Africa to temperate in the interior plateau, and subtropical in the northeast.

Most of the country has warm, sunny days and cool nights. Rainfall generally occurs during summer (November through March), although in the southwest, around Cape Town, rainfall occurs in winter (June to August).

It has a wider variety of climates than most other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, and it has lower average temperatures than other countries within this range of latitude, like Australia, because much of the interior of South Africa is at higher elevation.

Geography

The Jewish community:

The Jews of South Africa are  the largest Jewish community in the continent of Africa. Most being Ashkenazi jewish.

There are around 70,000 jews in south Africa, most of them orthodox.

jews started to arrive in the 19th century with the british empire. the community grew with its peak in 1970 with 120,000 jews in south africa.

The most common languages spoken in the Jewish community are Hebrew, English and Yiddish.

Most Jews live in Johannesburg with around 50,000 jews and cape town with 15,000 jews there.

black

Sexual violence:

The rate of sexual violence in South Africa is among the highest in the world.

It is estimated that over 40% of women get raped in south Africa and In recent research it was found that one in four men admitted to raping a woman and about half admitted to raping more than 1 person.

During 2015-2016, there were 51,895 crimes of a sexual nature reported to the South African Police Service.

women’s groups in South Africa estimate that a woman is raped every 26 seconds, the South African police estimates that a woman is raped every 36 seconds. In comparison it is estimated that every 73 seconds a woman is raped in the us when the us has a populatin almost 6 times bigger.

Black

Coloureds:

Coloureds are a multiracial ethnic group native to Southern Africa who have ancestry from more than one of the various populations inhabiting the region, primarily between Western European men and Khoisan or mixed-race women in the Cape Colony from the 17th century onwards.

Coloureds are to be mostly found in the western part of South Africa. In Cape Town, they form 45.4% of the total population.

 in nearly all social indicators – from average income to rates of HIV infection – coloureds as a group still rank between blacks and whites.

coloureds are torn between white and black, but embraced totally by neither, a racial group of complexities and stratifications defined, in law, only by negatives.

Famous pepole

Nelson Mandela:

Nelson Mandela was born in 1918 in Mavezo South Africa, he was the leader of the movement that cancelled the Apartheid (the white minority that ruled the black majority, without giving them any rights or treating them as equal.)

Mandela is famous for his long fight for freedom and rights for black people, at first his protests failed.

As a result of this failure he organized violent protests That led to his arrest and trial. He was sent to prison for 27 years.

Although his punishment he never stopped fighting

in 1993 he won Nobel Prize for peace.

between the years 1994-1998 mandela served as the first black president of south africa.

Mandela passed away in 2013 as a hero, forever remembered.

Famous people

Charlize theron:

Charlize Theron was born in Benoni, South Africa, the only child of Gerda and Charles Theron.

On  june 21st 1991, when she was 15 years old, her alcoholic father, threatened Charlize and her mother,                                 physically attacking her mother and pointing a gun at both of them. Theron’s mother retrieved her own handgun, and killed him.

Theron is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, an American Cinematheque Award, and the Silver Bear for Best Actress. Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2016, and she is one of the world’s highest-paid actresses, as of 2019.