Interested in South Africa?

My name is spanish/portuguese, but now I am not from one of theses nationalities. On my mothers side my heritage goes as far as when the Voortrekkers and British were fighting in South Africa. On my dad's side it is German which imigrated in the Voortrekkers times to South Africa, so my heritage goes back far in South Africa, I will start posting more about S.A with interesting topics in this read

We have some things in common. I also have German and British ancestors from my father's side. My great great grandfather, born in Hamburg, came to South America before 1860.

I have prommised to give postings about South Africa, well let's start at the beginning, POST 1

The Landing at the Cape

Jan van RiebeeckEuropean settlement in South Africa started in Cape Town, which is why it is still called the Mother City to this day. After the British had decided against establishment of a colony at the Cape of Good Hope, it was the Dutch who realized the strategic and economic importance of the Cape. On a commission for the Dutch-East India Trading company the merchant Jan van Riebeeck anchored in the picturesque bay at the foot of the Table Mountain on April 6, 1652.

All African's are from Africa see map

here is post 2
The Anglo-Boer War
The "Boer War" lasted three years. On the side of the Afrikaners there were 52,000 soldiers fighting against a contingent of 450,000 men under British command. The Afrikaners did initially achieve some spectacular successes, but very soon the tables turned. On March 13, 1900 Bloemfontein was occupied and on the 24th of May, the Orange Free State was declared British territory. Shortly afterwards Johannesburg and Pretoria fell, and on the 1st of September, Transvaal was annexed as a British colony.


Then the Boers started a guerrilla war that was gruelling for everyone involved. The British, under General Lord Kitchener responded with unequalled severity and brutality. The Boer commandos were hunted systematically, the fields devastated, the harvests destroyed. The women and children, who were left destitute and homeless, were kept under horrific conditions in huge concentration camps. In total, more than 27,000 women and children died from famine, exhaustion and disease.

Eventually the Boers realized that any further resistance would demand more senseless sacrifices, and peace negotiations began. On the 31st of May 1902, a peace contract was signed. Both Boer Republics became British Crown Colonies.
pic: Boer prisoners of war

South Africa is a big place, nearly like the USA. There are places where crime is bad and there are places where there is no crime. My farm is far out of the city. I have real bushveld (savanah) as you would see on safari documentaries. We have free raoming wildlife like buck, jackals and smaller animals on our farm. I have no crime here, we can even sleep with our doors unlocked and we do not even bother locking our cars. So the awfull crime you see about south africa on the news is over exagerated. Because for some reason South Africa is always in the spot light. We are very friendly and caring people and always try our best to make tourist feel welcome.

South Africa's population by race
While more than three-quarters of South Africa's population is black African, this category is neither culturally nor linguistically homogenous. Nine of the country's 11 official languages are African, reflecting a variety of ethnic groupings which nonetheless have a great deal in common in terms of background, culture and descent.

I had a feeling this was going to come up. Let's start with the word "apartheid".
The Afrikaans word meaning ‘separation’. Blacks and white were seperated.
Now the big word "Racism".
Racism is a belief that some people have that says one race is better than another. These people are called "racists" and think that people can be split into different groups. This split is usually done on the basis of things that can easily be seen, like the colour of the skin. Since race is something a person inherits from his or her ancestors, this can mean a belief that one person is better than another person because of who the ancestors of those people and their religion.

While most groups of people have some pride in who they are, belief in racism can lead some people to treat other races badly, or try to take away their rights. Many countries in the past have had governments run by racist policies, like Nazi Germany, many United States before the civil rights movement, and South Africa during the apartheid. In these cases, many people lost their freedom or their lives simply because their races were different from those in the government.

No we do not have apartheid anymore at all! For 12 years now. But we stil have racism. Like different tribes in our country for example the Xhosa's and the Zulu's, both black groups of people. They have different believe's and yes they don't like each other.
I quote:
"Even after the agreements are signed,
peacemaking is never finished.
Peace is not a goal to be reached
but a way of life to be lived.
Violence erupts in moments of hatred and rejection,
but peace is created in long years of love and acceptance.
Trust must be built over generations."
Desmond Tutu, God Has a Dream 120

"Peace is not a goal to be reached
but a way of life to be lived."

That's so true!