This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Geography of South Africa" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR(May 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
Total land borders: 4,862 km Botswana 1,840 km, Lesotho 909 km, Mozambique 491 km, Namibia 967 km, Eswatini 430 km, Zimbabwe 225 km
Highest point
Mafadi 3,450 metres (11,320 ft)
Lowest point
Sea level 0 m
Longest river
Orange River 2,200 kilometres (1,400 mi)
Largest lake
Lake Chrissie
Exclusive economic zone
1,535,538 km2 (592,875 sq mi)
South Africa occupies the southern tip of Africa, its coastline stretching more than 2,850 kilometres (1,770 miles) from the desert border with Namibia on the Atlantic (western) coast southwards around the tip of Africa and then northeast to the border with Mozambique on the Indian (eastern) coast. The low-lying coastal zone is narrow for much of that distance, soon giving way to a mountainous escarpment (Great Escarpment) that separates the coast from the high inland plateau. In some places, notably the province of KwaZulu-Natal in the east, a greater distance separates the coast from the escarpment. Although much of the country is classified as semi-arid, it has considerable variation in climate as well as topography. The total land area is 1,220,813 km2 (471,359 sq mi). It has the 23rd largest Exclusive Economic Zone of 1,535,538 km2 (592,875 sq mi).
The South African central plateau contains only two major rivers: the Limpopo (a stretch of which is shared with Zimbabwe), and the Orange (with its tributary, the Vaal) which runs with a variable flow across the central landscape from east to west, emptying into the Atlantic Ocean at the Namibian border.
The eastern and southern coastal regions are drained by numerous shorter rivers. There are very few coastal rivers along the arid west coast north of 31°30′S.
In such a dry country, dams and irrigation are extremely important: the largest dam is the Gariep on the Orange River.
and 29 Related for: Geography of South Africa information
SouthAfrica occupies the southern tip ofAfrica, its coastline stretching more than 2,850 kilometres (1,770 miles) from the desert border with Namibia...
to the most southerly point, Cape Agulhas in SouthAfrica, 34°51′15″ S, is a distance approximately of 8,000 km (5,000 mi); from Cap-Vert, 17°31′13″W...
African Development Community, and the physical geography definition based on the physical characteristics of the land. Defined by physical geography...
Demonym(s): SouthAfricans ISO country codes: ZA, ZAF, 710 ISO region codes: See ISO 3166-2:ZA Internet country code top-level domain: .za GeographyofSouth Africa...
because of its emblematic flatness. GeographyofSouthAfrica List of Ultras ofAfrica List of mountain ranges ofSouthAfrica Highest mountain peaks of Africa...
valleys. Some ranges in SouthAfrica are relatively isolated, while others are physiographically part of larger geographical ranges such as the Drakensberg...
SouthAfrica, officially the Republic ofSouthAfrica (RSA or R.S.A.), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by 2,798 kilometres...
The climate ofSouthAfrica is determined by SouthAfrica's situation between 22°S and 35°S, in the Southern Hemisphere's subtropical zone, and its location...
president ofSouthAfrica is the head of state and head of government of the Republic ofSouthAfrica. The president directs the executive branch of the government...
especially SouthAfrican English: /əˈpɑːrt(h)eɪt/ ə-PART-(h)ayt, Afrikaans: [aˈpartɦɛit] ; transl. "separateness", lit. 'aparthood') was a system of institutionalised...
administration ofSouthAfrica set aside for black inhabitants ofSouthAfrica and South West Africa (now Namibia), as a part of its policy of apartheid....
generally organized geographically. All telephone numbers are 9 digits long (but always prefixed by 0 for calls within SouthAfrica), except for certain...
This is a list of political parties in SouthAfrica. SouthAfrica is a democratic but one-party dominant state with the African National Congress as the...
There are eleven official names ofSouthAfrica, one in each of its 12 official languages. The number is surpassed only by India. These languages include...
population ofSouthAfrica is about 62 million people of diverse origins, cultures, languages, and religions. The SouthAfrican National Census of 2022 was...
Human Geography at the National Geographic Society African & Middle Eastern Reading Room from the United States Library of Congress AfricaSouthof the...
SouthAfrica is divided into nine provinces. On the eve of the 1994 general election, SouthAfrica's former homelands, known as Bantustans, were reintegrated...
borrowing of the South Khoekhoe !Orakobab or Khoemana word ǃ’Aukarob "Hardveld") is a semi-desert natural region ofSouthAfrica. No exact definition of what...
Empire and as parts of the British East Africa Protectorate and German East Africa. In broader linguistic and geographic interpretations, the term encompasses...
The economy ofSouthAfrica is a mixed economy, emerging market, and upper-middle-income economy, one of only eight such countries in Africa. The economy...
A list of current public holidays in SouthAfrica: In gold, the National Day The Public Holidays Act (Act No 36 of 1994) states that whenever a public...
Waterloo SouthAfrica portal Geography portal List of slums Urbanization in Africa Murray, Colin (1987). "Displaced Urbanization: SouthAfrica's Rural Slums"...
The SouthAfricanGeographical Journal is the official journal of the Society ofSouthAfrican Geographers. The journal was established in 1917. The South...
Republic ofSouthAfrica is a unitary parliamentary democratic republic. The President ofSouthAfrica serves both as head of state and as head of government...
Global Information
