South Africa
Colleen Keen and Cecil Keen 2/9/02
These are notes taken while Colleen and Cecil Keen made a PowerPoint based presentation to members of the Project Africa Seminar at Macalester College.
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Preliminary Remarks
South Africa is amazingly rich in resources and the question to be answered is, “why isn’t South Africa another USA?
The answers may lie in the USA Constitution. The protections of rights (albeit until until the 1960s.) There is also federal oversight in the constitution that isn’t in South Africa. Also, the strength of having one language. Language may be the most important unifier in a country.
In South Africa there are 11 languages. Also, take into consideration the fact that there is no one tribe in South Africa. There are many tribes.
The Apartheid system became legally entrenched in 1948, and once it was in it was difficult to get rid ot it. No means available.
AS teachers we can grab on to an idea like that and tie many ramifications to it. This is an example of a law being translated to space.. You can see it in the landscape.
Location of South Africa: tropics to the temperate zone
Wide range of climatic zones. Compare the areas of Minnesota to South Africa:
Minnesota= 84,402 sq. miles
South Africa 471,011 sq. miles
Population is 43.6 million in South Africa, while Minnesota’s population is about 4.3 million.
Population is concentrated along the coast and in the northern regions (slightly eastern)
Physical Geog
South Africa is a saucer shaped, bounding escarpment (a barrier) as you look to the North.
The escarpment influences the climatic conditions (dry for a long way in once past the mountain barrier).
Significant highland in the eastern regions and in the south cape area. The interior is very high as a plateau.
Natural vegetation: savannah in the north and FynBos (fine bush) in the south
Summer drought is typical
Cape Fold Mtns. is a very significant feature
There is no grid pattern to the development as in the USA at this location. It is “meets and bounds”. The Cape Flats show this.
Vegetation: sixth floral growing region in the world. The wine growing region is on the east.
Once across the Mts. you enter “The Karoo” and the Great Karoo. Here you see rain shadow effect. It is here you count the number of acres per sheep, not other way around. You also see things like “locomotive graveyards” (similar to the “aircraft graveyards” in the US southwest). This area is just beyond the Mts. and not up in the Kalahari. The Karoo is semi arid, but like all of those areas you get 200 and 500 year floods.
High Veld
Moving NE towards Johannesburg you enter the High veld (Orange Free State and north). This is sweet grass, so cattle are abundant. Further north you get to the Tropic of Capricorn . Just beyond you see the Limpopo River. And further towards the Botswana border you get to farmland.
Going East you cross the Drakensberg which are layered Mts. with large monuments and cliffs. As you come down you see the Valley of a Thousand Hills. If you had a picture of 25 years ago and one now, you could easily see that is filling with people now.
Indians are used for labor in cane fields. The cane is fired in August to clear and kill snakes.
Along the Kwazulu Natal Coast onc ecan see long beaches and low rolling hills with farms.
Land use
Climate Connection: Field crops are in northern region. Timber is on east near coast. Livestock is nearly everywhere except in rugged Mts.
Fruits and Vegetables are very important. Vine types are produced in the cape. As you move north along coast you will find pineapples and other similar fruits.
Mineral Wealth is where South Africa’s strength lies.
The figures below show the percent (rounded) of world supply.
Manganese 80
Chrome 68
Platinum 55
Vanadium 45
Vermiculite 40
Gold 39
Titanium 31
Coal 11
Diamonds 8
Oil none--striking feature!
Johannesburg is the city of “mine dumps”, a ramification of the minertal wealth legacy.
Economic Indicators
GNP $3310
unemployment is 30%
Social Indicators
pop growth 0.26
Life expect male=47.64 female=48.56
Infant mortality is 60.33 (per thousand live births)
it has a high death rate and high out migration rate
South African Summary
rich in minerals
good industrial base
most industrialized country in Africa
skilled workers
But...
legacy of segregation and uneven dist. of wealth
can the past be erased from the landscape?
History
1652 1st European settlement at Cape Town
Dutch East India Company did not intend to set up a colony,it only wanted a stopping point for water and vegetables and fruit. Capetown exists because a wreck had found fresh water there. Settlement soon spread out from Capetown. Dutch left a remarkable cultural imprint on South Africa. In architecture, there are lift gables which aren’t functional, windmills dot the landscape, other aspects of the European Dutch legacy may be view in housing style and some public buildings.
Historical Geography
British took over in 1795, lost it and took over again in 1806. British spread out along the coast. Dutch hated the British and trekked in land (1836 Boers --Dutch farmers-- went inland on the great trek).
1899 Afrikaans (Dutch) were inland
1910 British set up the countries from the north into Union of South Africa
Geographic Expression of political ideology: Land Acts of 1913, 1936 reserved land for “natives” and you begin to see Apartheid
1948 and subsequent laws changed informal segregation to rigid segregation
What imprint is left behind (Apartheid: geog. separation of race) on three scales:
1. Scale 1--The laws