Introduction|Number 1.
South Africa, a beautiful warm country filled with great stories and people, a place that is one of the most developed countries in all of Africa with an amazing population of 55.5 million people, making up slightly more than 5% of the total population of Africa, and not only does it share borders with other nations, but the vast open waters of the Indian and South Atlantic Ocean.
Number 2.
Now if you ask somebody to name the capital of South Africa, most people will probably answer "Johannesburg" because it's one of the biggest cities, and it just seems like the right thing to say and even though It's the largest and most financially important city in all of South Africa, answer is not actually, correct ,the truth is in fact South Africa has three official capital cities Pretoria for example is the administrative side, Bloemfontein has control of the judicial side of South Africa and as for cape town, it's the legislative capital of South Africa.
Number 3.
South Africa is also quite a multi-ethnic and multicultural society, it has one of the most diversified cultures and languages in the entire world. In history there's been a lot of problems over race and culture within the country, the nation has 11 official languages recognized in the constitution, those are Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu, being one of the most spoken languages and as for South Africa.It definitely has a record because there is no other country in the world that has as many official languages as South Africa.
Number 4.
Also considered a treasure trove for Archaeologists and Paleontologists, the country alone has produced some of the world's oldest and most valuable fossils today and of course about a fifth of the world's gold comes from mines in South Africa. And speaking about digging and moving Earth around to find these treasures, let's talk about the ground itself. Every year, South Africa moves about two inches farther away from South America and this is a subtle continuation of what is known as the Continental Drift.
Number 5.
Now when it comes to health and sciences, the doctors of South Africa have done something that nobody else has, and that is the first-ever heart transplant, carried out in the country. This was done at the Groote Schuur Hospital , Cape Town in 1967 . The operation was conducted by Surgeon Christian barnard and even though the patient died 18 days later, it was considered a success. This is because he died from double pneumonia but his body had not rejected the heart and from that moment on it pays the whole new pathway into Heart surgery which is helping millions of people.
Number 6.
Now one thing about South Africa is there are some beaches that you can go and hang out with penguins, which is strange to most people because when they think of penguins, they assume they really like the cold.
Believe it or not, there are various breeding colonies of African penguins also known as the jackass-penguins, they are usually found on the western coast of South Africa and one of the most famous places to visit these birds is in Boulders Beach, which is just south of Cape Town.
Number 7.
With over 6 billion trees, Johannesburg is considered to have the largest man made forests on the entire planet. Originally Johannesburg was considered a grassland, but they changed that relatively quick. This is because trees were planted in the 19th century in order to provide wood for the growing mining industry.
Number 8.
One amazing thing that I always loved about South Africa is if you look at the map, you will find something very odd about it. And that is the country known as Lesotho, which is completely landlocked and surrounded by the entire country of South Africa, and although it is its own country if you look on a map and talk to some people, some people will say it should have just been part of the country.
Number 9.
One of the really interesting things that is a coincidence within South Africa, It's the only country in the world to have two Nobel Peace Prize winners who had houses on the same street. In Vilakazi, Soweto, Johannesburg, the Nobel Prize winners that lived on that street where Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Number 10.
However, South Africa is not just a place of science and opportunity, it's also a place of sports with soccer or football, however you want to pronounce it, being one of the most popular sports within the country.
South Africa was the first African country to host the FIFA world Soccer Cup in 2010, but that's not the only sport it can pull a record from, it is only the second country in the world to have hosted Cricket Rugby Union and soccer world cups after England, and not only that, but there is one other thing that the country could be really proud of.
Number 11.
It is the only country in the entire world to build Nuclear weapons and to voluntarily dismantle its own nuclear weapons program, and to this day there is no country that has ever done it on a voluntary basis.
Number 12.
South Africa may be on the southern tip of Africa, but it accounts for almost 25% of the GDP of the entire African continent, its economy is twice the size of Algeria, which comes in second of GDP
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Some great facts. Makes me remember why I'm still here and haven't left the continent yet. There's so much richness here and I feel like we miss out on it because of all the garbage we're fed in the media. We have so much to be proud of.
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Proudly South African are we! Loved the history lesson @stefan.steynberg :)
Excellent reminder of things to be proud of, love the positive drive you have here @stefan.steynberg - Proudly South African.
Awesome post about our special country! Upvoted and resteemed.
What a cool post, really enjoyed reading it, thanks! I had no idea Jo'burg had so many trees! I also didn't know about the capital cities! - From a fellow South African in Durban :)
Very nice post.
What an incredible post about our beautiful country. Thank you for sharing!
I love my country. thank [email protected] you have just reminded me.
We have 3 capitals???
I never knew that.
Now I'm smarter, thanks
Wonderful post @stefan.steynberg. Thank you for making South Africa proud!
These are some interest facts, thank you for sharing:)
awesome post!! I am saving to visit South Africa atm. It has been on my bucket list for a long time :)
There's always so much negative news about SA but your post highlights the good... great things about the rainbow nation. Thank you for the reminder. Proud South African!
Fantastic post, way to fly the South African flag :)