Table of Contents
Introduction
South Africa was introduced as a country on May 31, 1961, and is located in the continent of Africa. The country is well know for multiple of reasons like the Table Mountain, a iconic landmark and is one of the oldest mountains in the world which has more than 2,200 species of plants, 70 percent of which are endemic, the first successful heart transplant was accomplished in the Cape Town hospital and was performed by Dr. Christiaan Barnard, etc.
Those were just a few reasons why South Africa is such a popular country but it has been known to be a diverse place too; However, South Africa wasn’t always a peaceful and amazing country at the beginning, it was controlled by the Dutch and British which changed the form of South Africa. “The main reason people fought over South Africa was that of the resources the country had that most don’t. Even though South Africa had a slow start, it ended up being an independent country”(document 4).
South Africa isn’t just rich with resources but their country is such a diverse place because of the people, a large number of people speak different languages, there is a variety for religions, and there are numerous ethnic groups.
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“South Africa has been around for a long time which explains all of the languages spoken in the country, the language Nguni comes from a group of Bantu people, swat comes from a group of clans, Ndebele comes from people who are sometimes referred to as the amaNdebele, Xhosa comes from Bantu-speaking groups that were the ancestors of the Nguni, Zulu is the most spoken language that comes from Bantu, pedi is a dialect version Sepedi, etc” (document 2). So many languages can only mean one thing which is diversity; however, it doesn’t end there.
There are countless amounts of religions like Islam, Hindu, Christian, Catholic, etc. In the beginning, Europeans tried to convey Africans that Christianity was the greatest religion which caused Christianity to be popular in South Africa until this time.
Additionally, there are more than 55 ethnic groups in just South African alone, the groups consist of Afrikaners, Tswana people, Venda people, Mpondo people, Nama people, Balete people, Malagasy people, and abundance more. Overall, these 3 major details that have made up South Africa influenced the Europeans to take control.
Having independence is rough to receive but due to Britain being such a dominant country it was easy for them to have South Africa and the reasons were because of resources, to protect the trade route to the east and to take over Cape town for themselves.
It took a while for South Africa to become a country;However since a large amount of gold, diamonds, etc. were found on the land, Britain decided to keep it all to themselves which meant South Africa would be able to grab the attention of many trading countries because South Africa had items no other place or was difficult to get while at the same time, Britain’s economy grew at the same time.
Also, they wanted to protect the east trade route because of the East Indian company. The East Indian company was huge during its time. The East Indian company made ships travel with more than 1 million dollars worth of items. Due to having more protection lead them to finding Cape town.
The British government immigrated to Cape Town for the reason of the Napoleonic wars. Most settlers wanted to gain power and take over Cape Town because of the rich soil not many places had. Additionally, a great amount of settlers had made a significant contribution to agriculture by planting maize, rye, and barley. Also, many settlers discovered wool that later became a very popular/demanding trade. Lastly, the settlers made a significant contribution to business and the economy which produced new towns such as Grahamstown and Port Elizabeth. Both new cities ended up growing rapidly. Overall, in South Africa’s case, having a dominant country take over had its pros and cons.
Agriculture was major for South Africa since it helped the economy increase because most grew / sold different items like maize, wheat, sugarcane, sorghum, peanuts, citrus, fruits, and tobacco, while animals were able to provide people with wool/food which meant more money and the forest industry helped the economy grow even more because everyone needs certain wood material/items.
Having demanding resources was great because there would also be business. Being able to sell what everyone needed meant profit since most places/countries weren’t able to provide their people with items South Africa had
Also, wool was the most item demanded which made people have animals that gave wool and food so they can provide for people and themselves.
Lastly, the forest industry was able to supply people with mining pulpwood for paper and board mills, and building timbers mostly sufficient for a construction industry that primarily uses brick, concrete, and steel. Overall, each little thing was able to help the economy grow simply by selling.
Many people might say Europeans were cruel, disrespectful and demanding;however the europeans influenced South Africa in economy, religion, and politics. Without the influence of Europe, South Africa would be completely different, less diversity, not much knowledge about agriculture, less knowledge about transportation, and much more.
Europeans didn’t just changes many perspectives for the africans but were able to help and build a better and stronger economy. The Europeans were able to grow, sell, and trade items South Africans never knew they had/were able to make.
Additionally, the Europeans brought and inspired a new religion and tried to convince Africans into thinking Christianity was the greatest religion out there by telling them god told them and that it was all explained in the bible.
Lastly, since Britain gave South Africa their independence, South Africa’s government become strong and were prepared with anything. Overall, if these 3 influences were to never been introduced to South Africa, the country would have been completely different.
Conclusion
In conclusion, South Africa developed and grow mostly because Europeans in many ways. From having a strong economy from growing, trading and selling to creating new towns and finding unknown resources, without the Europeans, South Africa wouldn’t be as strong today even though there were ups and downs throughout their history.
