Final Multi-Media Project

Tyler Stanley
HIWD 320
October 19, 2017
 The country of South Africa has been a pleasure to research over the course of this
semester, and I hope you all have enjoyed reading and interacting with my blogs as much as I
have with yours. South Africa is incredibly diverse when it comes to its geography and its
culture as well. These are the two aspects of South Africa that I feel I focused on the most over
this semester, with some politics sprinkled in. As I entered the course I found that there was an
idea in my head of what South Africa looked like and what the culture was like. As Americans,
when it comes to knowledge of South Africa we may only know certain buzzwords such as
Mandela or apartheid, but in reality there is so much more to this country than apartheid and
even the great Nelson Mandela, and to reduce this country down to just these factors would be
doing it a great disservice. Now, on to what I have learned about this country:
Appearance-wise, South
Africa is much more
diverse than many people
realize. It is easy to
believe that simply
because this country is
located in Africa that it is
all deserts and no
greenery. This could not
be more opposite of the
truth, as South Africa is
home to a fairly temperate
climate, boasting coastline
bordering both the
Atlantic and Indian
oceans.1 Along with this
temperate climate comes
Figure 1http://www.maphill.com/south-africa/3d-maps/flag-map/satellite-outside/ large amounts of forested
land as well. According to
the South African Government, forest lands cover over 40 million ha of the countrys land
surface area.2 Currently as of 2017, South Africa is home to about 56.5 million people, which is
roughly 1/6 the size of the United States population.3 It has a coastline of about 1800 miles and a
land area of about 1,200,000 square kilometers.4 Along with all of this, it is also home to a large
number of towering mountains, as well as rolling hills and plains. It has as diverse of a landscape
as a country could ask for, and it is very beautiful.

1
Marya. "South Africa: Facts." Brand South Africa. September 30, 2017. Accessed October 19, 2017.
https://www.brandsouthafrica.com/tourism-south-africa/travel/south-africa-fast-facts.
2
"Forestry." Forestry | South African Government. Accessed October 19, 2017. https://www.gov.za/about-
sa/forestry.
3
Marya. "South Africa: Facts." Brand South Africa. September 30, 2017. Accessed October 19, 2017.
https://www.brandsouthafrica.com/tourism-south-africa/travel/south-africa-fast-facts.
4
Ibid.
 South Africa has a very diverse history, and when it comes to ancient culture, South
Africa is not going without. From ancient tribes that are still alive today, to cave paintings that
literally paint a picture into the past, the country is lucky to have the history that it does and still
be able to explore and learn about
it. Figure 2 pictured on the right
shows a photo taken by the
Bradshaw Foundation, a
foundation committed to
preserving and archiving this
beautiful cave art that is pictured
as well as many others like it. This
rock art was painted by the San, an
early group of humans living in
the South Africa region.
According to the Bradshaw
Foundation, the San rock art is
one of the most complex and
sophisticated of all the world's Figure 2
symbolic arts. Far from a general http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/south_africa/south_africa_gallery.php
view of life, the art focuses on a
particular part of San experience: the spirit world journeys and experiences of San shamans.5
This helps to describe this beautiful art, as it does not simply show hunting or other practices, but
has very descriptive and artistic concepts, such as animals standing with the posture of humans,
and photos like the one pictured above, where it is hard to make out what exactly is being
portrayed.
Along with the various arts comes the social and culture structure of South Africa, which
has morphed many times throughout many years. As far as religion goes, South Africa is a
predominantly Christian nation, which is incredible news to any Christian who might have
thought otherwise. This does not mean, however, that it is without other religions or cultures, as
described here when sahistory.org said, South Africa is called the rainbow nation because of its
variety of people, cultures and religions. The people follow many spiritual traditions and
religious faiths. In South Africa the constitution protects freedom of religion. Everyone is free to
follow whatever faith they want to, or not to follow one at all.6 It is very similar to the United
States because of this freedom of religion, however, it was not always this way due to the dark
cloud of apartheid that hangs over the history of this country. I made it a focus to try to bring up
the positive issues when referencing South Africa, but it is important that apartheid be
recognized and acknowledged as part of the countrys history, and it has made great strides since

5
Foundation, Bradshaw. "Bradshaw Foundation Field Trip to the Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa."
Bradshaw Foundation. Accessed October 20, 2017.
http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/south_africa/south_africa_gallery.php.
6
"African Traditional Religion." South African History Online. February 08, 2017. Accessed October 20, 2017.
http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/african-traditional-religion.
the end of apartheid. It should be mentioned that Christianity was introduced in South Africa in
1488, but missions to the country did not begin until about a decade later.7

Figure 3 http://www.worldfortravel.com/2015/07/06/the-heavenly-table-mountain-cape-town-south-africa/

In conclusion, South Africa has crown to be what is arguably the crown jewel of nations
in Africa, boasting a strong economy and strong country as a whole. It has grown out of being
just a nation of natural resources shelling out coal, diamonds, and other precious metals, as its
business sector has expanded greatly, thus making it a major hub of world trade. It is not just the
future of South Africa that is great, however, because its past helped to shape it and make it what
it is, just like the past of any other country. I am very thankful and grateful for the opportunity to
study this great nation throughout the semester and I thank you all for reading my blogs week
after week, I hope you learned something as I have learned so much from all of you and your
weekly discussions.

7
South Africa The Arrival of Christianity - Flags, Maps, Economy, History, Climate, Natural Resources, Current
Issues, International Agreements, Population, Social Statistics, Political System. Accessed October 20, 2017.
https://photius.com/countries/south_africa/society/south_africa_society_the_arrival_of_chris~2450.html.
 Bibliography
South Africa The Arrival of Christianity - Flags, Maps, Economy, History, Climate, Natural
Resources, Current Issues, International Agreements, Population, Social Statistics,
Political System. Accessed October 20, 2017.
https://photius.com/countries/south_africa/society/south_africa_society_the_arrival_of_c
hris~2450.html.

"African Traditional Religion." South African History Online. February 08, 2017. Accessed
October 20, 2017. http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/african-traditional-religion.

"Forestry." Forestry | South African Government. Accessed October 19, 2017.

https://www.gov.za/about-sa/forestry.

Foundation, Bradshaw. "Bradshaw Foundation Field Trip to the Drakensberg Mountains in

South Africa." Bradshaw Foundation. Accessed October 20, 2017.
http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/south_africa/south_africa_gallery.php.

Marya. "South Africa: Facts." Brand South Africa. September 30, 2017. Accessed October 19,
2017. https://www.brandsouthafrica.com/tourism-south-africa/travel/south-africa-fast-
facts.

Conway-Smith, Erin. "20 years since apartheid: What's changed in South Africa, and what
hasn't." Public Radio International. April 27, 2014. Accessed October 13, 2017.
https://www.pri.org/stories/2014-04-27/20-years-apartheid-whats-changed-south-africa-
and-what-hasnt.

"From the First Contact Between the Europeans and the Africans." English Department of Oran.
November 21, 2012. Accessed September 29, 2017.
https://english4oran.wordpress.com/2012/11/21/from-the-first-contact-between-the-europeans-
and-the-africans/.