The parliamentary republic at the southern tip of Africa with the capital cities of Pretoria (government), Cape Town (parliament) and Bloemfontain (judiciary) covers 1,221,037 km². South Africa borders the Indian Ocean to the south and south-east, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe to the north, Mozambique to the north-east and Eswatini (Swaziland until 2018) to the east. The Kingdom of Lesotho is surrounded by South Africa as an enclave.
South Africa was a Dutch colony from 1652 and a British colony from 1797 (with interruptions) until 1910. After the end of the Second World War, the white minority population expanded the apartheid structures in an authoritarian manner under the political leadership of the National Party. Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) was elected South Africa's first black president in 1994 and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end apartheid.
![]()
The Wine lexicon helps me to keep up to date and refresh my knowledge. Thank you for this Lexicon that will never end in terms of topicality! That's what makes it so exciting to come back often.
Thorsten Rahn
Restaurantleiter, Sommelier, Weindozent und Autor; Dresden