The Republic of South Africa The Republic of South Africa has had an interesting history. The country gained its independence from Great Britain on May 10, 1910. At that time the country was a struggling agricultural nation, and now it is a semi-industrialized nation.South Africa is slightly less than twice the size of Texas and has a population of 43,421,021 person, With about 15 million economically active in the work force, the unemployment rate is about 30%. The country started of as predominately agricultural with 1,219,912 sq. km of land. They use 67% of the land as pastures, 10% is arable land, 1% is crops, and 7% is forests and woodland. The environmental hazards are that there are prolonged drought which can be very devastating to the economy and to the people because of starvation. A main natural concern is that South Africa has a lack of important rivers and lakes which require extensive water conservation and control measures. The land is rich in mineral resources such as chrome, platinum, uranium, coal, manganese, phosphates, and iron. South Africa leads the world in production of gold, gem diamonds, antimony, and vanadium. The climate of South Africa has an effect on the crops which the country can grow. The climate is mostly semiarid, and it is subtropical along the east coast. The main agricultural products are corn, wheat, sugarcane, fruits, and vegetables. The main livestock products are beef, poultry, mutton, wool, and dairy products. The economy of South Africa is pretty good for a developing nation. The country is middle income, with an abundant supply of natural resources. The household income or consumption by percentage shows that the lower 10% account for 1.4% of the people, and the higher 10% account for 47.3% of the people. The country has a well developed legal, communications, financial, energy, and transportation section. It also has a stock exchange that ranks in the top ten largest in ...
