The Bushman and a number of Bantu speaking groups were the first to settle on the southern tip of Africa thousands of years ago. The Dutch East India Company then settled at the Cape in 1652 to establish a stopping point en route to India. The area became a permanent settlement and with increasing competition for land and the ultimate1806 British occupation of the Cape, the Dutch (Boers or Afrikaners) eventually headed into the interior. Both the Boer and British expansion led to several wars with the indigenous people, and later between each other as the two groups fought for control of the diamond industry and overall governance in the colony. Although the British were victorious in the Anglo/Boer War, Afrikaner nationalism began to grow and and the National Party took hold of the country in the mid-1900's. The Afrikaner government used its policy of apartheid to increase its control over the black majority and for decades, the blacks in South Africa were victims of oppression and unjust laws. In 1990 President F.W. de Klerk un-banned the African National Congress and Nelson Mandela was freed from decades of imprisonment. Four years later, Mandela was elected president and throughout his term sought to reunite South Africa in a movement for reconciliation. Pledging to continue that policy, Thabo Mbeki has been elected president as the ANC continues to hold political control for its second term.
South Africa has a very diverse population consisting of Blacks, Coloreds, Indians and Whites. There are 11 official languages: English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Xhosa, North Sotho, South Sotho, Tswana, Venda, Swazi, Ndebele, and Shangaan. This nation truly holds 'many worlds in one country'.
