South Africa

At a glance

Dates: From 1910-05-31.

Place: South Africa.

Type: sovereign state and country.

What came before

Part of: Southern Africa.

What happened

History Main article: History of South Africa Prehistory Front of Maropeng at the Cradle of Humankind South Africa contains some of the oldest archaeological and human-fossil sites in the world. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] Archaeologists have recovered extensive fossil remains from a series of caves in Gauteng known as the Cradle of Humankind , which has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site . The sites include Sterkfontein , one of the richest sites for hominin fossils in the world,

South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. The country consists of nine provinces, and is bounded to the south by 2,798 kilometres of coastline that stretches along the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; and to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini. South Africa also encloses Lesotho. Covering an area of 1,221,037 square kilometres,