Geography of South Africa:
Capitals: Pretoria, Cape Town and Bloemfontein
Population: 48 million (2015)
Coordinates: 29°00′S 24°00′E
Area: 1,219,089 square kilometres
Large Mountainous Areas: Drakensberg
Largest River: Orange and Limpopo
Bordered by: Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe
Oceans: Atlantic and Pacific Ocean
South Africa is made up out of a variety of mountain areas and flatland, hosting a number of plateaus. With a coastline that stretches more than 2500 km, there are three major geographic regions: ''African plateau, where the population is spread out, the ''Great Escarpment'', known as the highest point at Drakensberg Mountains and lastly the third region contains narrow and fertile valleys along the coastal plans'' (Briney'). Furthermore South Africa has access to both the Atlantic and Pacific/indian Ocean with other large bodies of water like the orange river, where the origin of diamond discovery was found. With large areas of grassland occupying South Africa, a vast variety of wildlife is present, living and eating within South Africa's nature. Through the many mountainous areas, South Africa was rich in valuable rocks including the ''Precambrian rocks'', which later was the source for gold and ''Kimberlite'', the source for diamonds.
Through the special rocks South Africa's geography had, the mineral revolution started. The findings of natural minerals including: silver, gold, diamonds, coal and copper + more, lead to a huge mining industry, increasing the demand for workforce. The discovery of diamonds led to a huge increase of prospectors coming into Kimberly (origin of the mining industry for diamonds) in the year 1867 and the demands of mining operations created consequences for the workers on the mines, which were to be low wages and poor working conditions. The process of finding natural minerals was intense and to keep workers on site, owners would keep the workers in enclosed compounds in exchange for essentials like food, shelter or alternatively cheap alcohol, yet this was not the reality because the compounds were filled with disease and death. The process of finding the minerals was mentally and physically tough with several stages of extraction, which would sometimes be done through explosions to break up the rock, to cutting and cleaning the minerals.
The mineral revolution started in the 1870's and affected South Africa in many different aspects. Politically by the British taking over the control of diamond fields and influencing and introducing the apartheid system, socially by increasing more cultures and decreasing the native culture by immigrating different nationalities into the country as well as a growth in population, leading to a vast amount of spread in disease due to mining and economically by the economy transforming into and industrial and commercial approach, emerging new industries of food and natural minerals such as steel and iron. ''Railways were greatly expanded to link towns to each other and to the countryside, and ports such as Durban and Cape Town were expanded to cope with increasing immigration and commercial activity, greatly stimulated development in South Africa because of the mass migration to towns and the increasing urban demand for rural procedure prompted the developments of South Africa's transport and communications infrastructure'' (Mbeki). Not only did the discovery of natural minerals lead to the mineral revolution and later on the industrial revolution and urbanisation but also lead to expansion of technology and development as a country itself.
By 1900, a pattern was established in industrialised cities of white people being thought of as more superior and impacting the work and life quality terribly for the black people. At the start of the mineral revolution, 19th century, major discrimination was evident, stimulating the industrialisation in South Africa to grow because of the unequal power distribution, which was more labour for less money. The highly valued minerals, found in South Africa's rocks, grew the demand for access of the minerals, increasing the South African GDP per capita by 10 times between the 1930's to 1970's. By 1994, the end o the apartheid era, South Africa was the source of one-half of the GDP of sub-sahara Africa, still having most of the income go to foreign investors. In the 20th century the gold ming grew rapidly and this lead to the gold production expanding world wide.
The natural minerals found in South Africa's geography were worth a lot especially because they were rare findings in the African area and could be exchanged in trade, accessed through the Pacific/Atlantic Ocean. Most extraction companies were foreign owned because of the large profits they made but foreigners and white people dominated the countries economy entirely because of the status they held. Where the capital was present, natural minerals weren't, therefore international companies and individuals traveled to South Africa to get their capital invested in the natural minerals since major industries were booming. The demand for goods was growing day by day, especially in a world filled with emerging economies, specifically Asia and the Middle East. Governments across the world wanted deals with South Africa, like China who bid access to millions of tons of resources in exchange for infrastructure investments. Other countries also wanted to participate in trade and resulted in deals between South Africa and Brazil, the Middle Was and India. From 2000-2008 the flow of foreign investment was 9 to 62 billion U.S dollars in South Africa. Through these new investments, South Africa has improved their tourism, textile, construction, banking and technological industries.
Through the start of the mineral revolution, which lead to the industrial revolution, South Africa was transformed. Cities got urbanised and new technology was invited. Apartheid was introduced yet demolished, causing the ''second'' industrial revolution in South Africa, which took place in the 20th century. The geographical location lead to findings of natural resources which now, like gold, produce more than 10% of the world's gold and storing more than 50% of gold reserves in the world. Expansions in other industries like agriculture also were present and encouraged trade between Europe and the eastern hemisphere of the world.
South Africa’s mineral-rich geographical location affected the the South African industrial revolution in many different ways mainly because it was the starting point of the mineral revolution which lead to great growth in South Africa’s economy, leading back to the industrial revolution. Through the wealth earned by the discoveries of the natural resources (gold, diamonds, silver, coal etc…) the country faced great developments such as urbanisation but also suffered through political and social instability and unequal rights for some the population. Since the findings of the natural minerals, South Africa till this day is changing locally by new jobs, new systems, new technologies etc…, and internationally by attracting foreign capitol through the high demand for the high-valued natural minerals from the start of the mineral revolution, during the industrial revolution and till now in the 21st century.
Capitals: Pretoria, Cape Town and Bloemfontein
Population: 48 million (2015)
Coordinates: 29°00′S 24°00′E
Area: 1,219,089 square kilometres
Large Mountainous Areas: Drakensberg
Largest River: Orange and Limpopo
Bordered by: Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe
Oceans: Atlantic and Pacific Ocean
South Africa is made up out of a variety of mountain areas and flatland, hosting a number of plateaus. With a coastline that stretches more than 2500 km, there are three major geographic regions: ''African plateau, where the population is spread out, the ''Great Escarpment'', known as the highest point at Drakensberg Mountains and lastly the third region contains narrow and fertile valleys along the coastal plans'' (Briney'). Furthermore South Africa has access to both the Atlantic and Pacific/indian Ocean with other large bodies of water like the orange river, where the origin of diamond discovery was found. With large areas of grassland occupying South Africa, a vast variety of wildlife is present, living and eating within South Africa's nature. Through the many mountainous areas, South Africa was rich in valuable rocks including the ''Precambrian rocks'', which later was the source for gold and ''Kimberlite'', the source for diamonds.
Through the special rocks South Africa's geography had, the mineral revolution started. The findings of natural minerals including: silver, gold, diamonds, coal and copper + more, lead to a huge mining industry, increasing the demand for workforce. The discovery of diamonds led to a huge increase of prospectors coming into Kimberly (origin of the mining industry for diamonds) in the year 1867 and the demands of mining operations created consequences for the workers on the mines, which were to be low wages and poor working conditions. The process of finding natural minerals was intense and to keep workers on site, owners would keep the workers in enclosed compounds in exchange for essentials like food, shelter or alternatively cheap alcohol, yet this was not the reality because the compounds were filled with disease and death. The process of finding the minerals was mentally and physically tough with several stages of extraction, which would sometimes be done through explosions to break up the rock, to cutting and cleaning the minerals.
The mineral revolution started in the 1870's and affected South Africa in many different aspects. Politically by the British taking over the control of diamond fields and influencing and introducing the apartheid system, socially by increasing more cultures and decreasing the native culture by immigrating different nationalities into the country as well as a growth in population, leading to a vast amount of spread in disease due to mining and economically by the economy transforming into and industrial and commercial approach, emerging new industries of food and natural minerals such as steel and iron. ''Railways were greatly expanded to link towns to each other and to the countryside, and ports such as Durban and Cape Town were expanded to cope with increasing immigration and commercial activity, greatly stimulated development in South Africa because of the mass migration to towns and the increasing urban demand for rural procedure prompted the developments of South Africa's transport and communications infrastructure'' (Mbeki). Not only did the discovery of natural minerals lead to the mineral revolution and later on the industrial revolution and urbanisation but also lead to expansion of technology and development as a country itself.
By 1900, a pattern was established in industrialised cities of white people being thought of as more superior and impacting the work and life quality terribly for the black people. At the start of the mineral revolution, 19th century, major discrimination was evident, stimulating the industrialisation in South Africa to grow because of the unequal power distribution, which was more labour for less money. The highly valued minerals, found in South Africa's rocks, grew the demand for access of the minerals, increasing the South African GDP per capita by 10 times between the 1930's to 1970's. By 1994, the end o the apartheid era, South Africa was the source of one-half of the GDP of sub-sahara Africa, still having most of the income go to foreign investors. In the 20th century the gold ming grew rapidly and this lead to the gold production expanding world wide.
The natural minerals found in South Africa's geography were worth a lot especially because they were rare findings in the African area and could be exchanged in trade, accessed through the Pacific/Atlantic Ocean. Most extraction companies were foreign owned because of the large profits they made but foreigners and white people dominated the countries economy entirely because of the status they held. Where the capital was present, natural minerals weren't, therefore international companies and individuals traveled to South Africa to get their capital invested in the natural minerals since major industries were booming. The demand for goods was growing day by day, especially in a world filled with emerging economies, specifically Asia and the Middle East. Governments across the world wanted deals with South Africa, like China who bid access to millions of tons of resources in exchange for infrastructure investments. Other countries also wanted to participate in trade and resulted in deals between South Africa and Brazil, the Middle Was and India. From 2000-2008 the flow of foreign investment was 9 to 62 billion U.S dollars in South Africa. Through these new investments, South Africa has improved their tourism, textile, construction, banking and technological industries.
Through the start of the mineral revolution, which lead to the industrial revolution, South Africa was transformed. Cities got urbanised and new technology was invited. Apartheid was introduced yet demolished, causing the ''second'' industrial revolution in South Africa, which took place in the 20th century. The geographical location lead to findings of natural resources which now, like gold, produce more than 10% of the world's gold and storing more than 50% of gold reserves in the world. Expansions in other industries like agriculture also were present and encouraged trade between Europe and the eastern hemisphere of the world.
South Africa’s mineral-rich geographical location affected the the South African industrial revolution in many different ways mainly because it was the starting point of the mineral revolution which lead to great growth in South Africa’s economy, leading back to the industrial revolution. Through the wealth earned by the discoveries of the natural resources (gold, diamonds, silver, coal etc…) the country faced great developments such as urbanisation but also suffered through political and social instability and unequal rights for some the population. Since the findings of the natural minerals, South Africa till this day is changing locally by new jobs, new systems, new technologies etc…, and internationally by attracting foreign capitol through the high demand for the high-valued natural minerals from the start of the mineral revolution, during the industrial revolution and till now in the 21st century.
A line graph showing how many tons of coal, one of South Africa's main natural resources, is produced and exported in and from South Africa between the years of 1995-2015. The graph shows the constant increase and exports of coal throughout the years. Source: "Coal in South Africa." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 26 May 2016.