South Africa Economy, People, Culture and Flag

People of South Africa:

In the around 47 million population of South Africa, 75% are black Africans. They are divided into two major categories: the Nguni and the Sotho. Under the Nguni fall the Ndebele, the Swazi, the Xhosa and Zulu tribes; while the Sotho houses the Tswana, Pedi and Basotho tribes. The white race in the country originates from different parts of Europe – the Dutch and the British being the majority. Then there are also plenty of Asians, of whom Indians are to be found in considerable numbers.

Arts, Culture and Music of South Africa:

• Art: the Bushman or San tribal people had a form of rock painting called as the ‘rock art’ which is a famous art form in South Africa. In fact, contemporary artists have derived inspiration from it. Some of the other popular traditional arts in South Africa are wire art, bead crafts, "T-Bag Design" crafts, African art forms in ceramics and textiles, Porcupine art or the “Raku Art of Africa”, embroidery, toys, Ndebele beadwork, recycled paper handcrafts and jewelry and mirror works.
  
  
  
• Culture: about 75% of the population is made up of black Africans. So, the dominant culture of South Africa belongs to the two broad categories of the blacks are the Nguni and the Sotho. The rest of the population comprises of a mix of whites – who come from different parts pf Europe – and Asians. So, South African culture is a medley of cultures ranging from different regions.
  
  
• Music: given that South Africa is ethnically diverse, ‘South African music’ came into being only with the influx of missionaries into the country. It was they who were the first ones to provide training for music in an organized fashion. The traditional music of South Africa comes under several categories as all of them have distinct origins. So, there is the Sotho-traditional, which is also called the Zulu-traditional, Tsonga-traditional, Zulu a cappella, Pedi-traditional, Afrikaans music and Venda-traditional. The Afrikaans music has Dutch origins with influences from France and Germany.
  
  

The chief instruments of the country are drums like tama talking drums, bougarabou, djembe, water drums and engoma (ngoma); xylophones; mbira; slit gongs; rattles; double bells; stringed instruments like musical bows, harps, Kora and fiddles; then there are also the wind- blown instruments such as flutes and trumpets.

Flag of South Africa:

the South African flag is rectangular in shape and is made up of a very pro-African color scheme. The colors dominating the flag are red, black, white, green and blue. The color distribution in the flag is dependent on the horizontal green “Y” that stretches from the left to the right. This “Y” is edged by thin white borders. The outer sides of the arms and both the sides of the stalk of the “Y” have a have a white border, while the inner arms of the “Y” have a yellow one. Encased by this yellow border is a black isosceles triangle on the left side. The colors red and blue colors appear on either sides of the stalk of the horizontal “Y”: red on the top and blue at the bottom.

Economy of South Africa:

South Africa is a treasure trove of natural wealth; and most of the country’s finances are dependent on these naturally occurring resources. It is also one of the countries where almost all the mineral finds have an immense international market. Some of the natural resources of the country, apart from arable land, are phosphates, natural gas, gold, salt, chromium, vanadium, antimony, copper, coal, Platinum, iron ore, diamonds, manganese, uranium, nickel and tin. So, it is evident that mining is South Africa’s most important industry. There are, however, other important industries like assembling automobiles, metalwork, chemicals, machinery manufacturing, fertilizer, textiles, garments, iron and steel, food packaging and processing and ship repairing. Most of these commodities that are mined and manufactured form a part of the list of export commodities. Given that South Africa has extremely fertile lands, the crop produces sugarcane, corn, fruits, wheat and vegetables.

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