Diversity is the hallmark of South Africa. With an incredible array of contrasts, this country is known for its many ethnicities, breathtaking scenery, and complex and often bloody history.
With the convergence of so many factors that influenced South African history, it is no wonder that South Africa is home to some amazing and surprising historical facts.
1. South Africa Has Three Capital Cities
It is unusual for a country to have more than one capital city. Some countries, such as Benin, Bolivia, and Czechia, have two, but South Africa is the only country with three.
Pretoria is the executive capital, Cape Town is the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein is the judicial capital. South Africa’s complicated past has resulted in its having three capitals.
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Before South Africa was united into a single country, the region was split between territories under British control and those under the Boers’ control. In 1910, these territories were united into the Union of South Africa.
Bloemfontein had been the capital of the Orange Free State, now the province of Free State, Pretoria was the capital of the Transvaal Republic, and Cape Town was the capital of the Cape Colony. As a side note, Lord of the Rings author J. R. R. Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein in 1892.
Having three capitals was a way to compromise and resolve complex issues between the Boers and the British, who had fought two wars in the recent past.
For South Africans, though, Pretoria is usually cited as the capital, while the other two cities play supporting roles.
2. South Africa Is Known For Famous Wines
South Africa has an old and storied wine industry that dates back to 1659—just seven years after the first European settlement, Cape Town, was founded. The original idea was that developing a wine industry would be a way to help ward off scurvy among the many sailors who passed through Cape Town on their way to and from the East Indies.
Wine, of course, is well-loved for its many other properties, and the Mediterranean climate around Cape Town proved to be absolutely ideal for growing grapes and turning them into wine.
Winding through the Winelands is the longest continuous wine route in the world, at 500 miles long.
3. South Africa’s Coastline Has Dangerous Waters
The coastline of South Africa has been the site of numerous maritime disasters. For centuries, high winds, stormy seas, and jagged rocks have been a nightmare for passing ships.
Since the route to India was established by rounding the southern tip of Africa, thousands of ships have run aground or been sent to the bottom of the ocean. The Cape of Good Hope has a notorious reputation for sending boats to their doom, a fact that hearkens back to its original name, “The Cape of Storms.”
The aptly named “Danger Point” near Gansbaai is the location of one of South Africa’s most famous shipwrecks, the HMS Birkenhead, which struck an uncharted rock in 1852. Six hundred forty-three people were on board at the time, and only 193 survived. Many of those who died were the victims of relentless shark attacks. Gansbaai is one of the most well-known spots in the world for encountering white sharks.
This tragic sinking was where the phrase “women and children first” is said to have originated.
4. South Africa Had Some of the Best Fighter Aces
During both world wars and beyond, South Africa produced some of the most successful fighter pilots of all time. During World War I, Andrew Beauchamp-Proctor flew for the Royal Flying Corps (later the Royal Air Force) and scored 54 aerial victories, making him the eighth-highest-scoring fighter ace of the Great War.
In the Second World War, several prominent South Africans made their mark. Obtaining significant fame was Adolph “Sailor” Malan, who commanded Biggin Hill at the height of the Battle of Britain. He is said to have wounded German air ace Werner Mölders during a dogfight and scored at least 30 kills. He survived the war and went on to be a vocal opponent of apartheid in South Africa.
Marmaduke “Pat” Pattle was the highest-scoring RAF ace of the entire war, scoring 51 victories before being shot down and killed in 1941. Many of his kills were scored while flying an obsolete Gloster Gladiator biplane.
5. Two Nobel Peace Prize Winners Lived on the Same Street!
An important part of any tour of Soweto is a trip down Vilakazi Street, for it is on this street that two Nobel Peace Prize winners lived. Both Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu called Vilakazi Street their home at some point.
Desmond Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his fight against apartheid and his work in promoting peace, compassion, respect, and equality. In 1993, Nelson Madela shared the Peace Prize with then president F.W. De Klerk for their work in ending apartheid peacefully.
6. South Africa Had a Gold Rush Too
In 1886, gold was discovered in the Witwatersrand Basin in the Transvaal, and a huge gold rush ensued, giving rise to the birth of the city of Johannesburg, South Africa’s biggest city by population.
The deposits of gold were so plentiful that over the next decades, South Africa came to dominate the world’s gold market in terms of production. At its height in the late 1960s and 1970s, South Africa produced over a thousand tons of gold per year, accounting for far more than half the world’s gold production at the time.
Although the industry has scaled back significantly as gold deposits are deeper and more difficult to access and as South Africa embraces a more diverse economic model, the country still runs many gold mines, including the deepest in the world—the Mponeng gold mine is 2.4 miles deep!
7. Adelaide, South Africa Accidentally Stole From Adelaide, Australia
In the early 1800s, the town of Adelaide was established in the eastern Cape. The fertile landscape also attracted a sizable community of Boers, who brought with them their particular brand of Christianity, the Dutch Reformed Church. They built a huge church that still dominates the Adelaide skyline today.
During the Second Anglo-Boer War, the British used the church to accommodate its garrison. Briefly used as stables, and with a cannon even hoisted into the bell tower, damage to the inside of the church was significant.
Soon after the war was over, and with the church in a state of disrepair, the mayor of Adelaide was pleasantly surprised when two cartloads of prime quality oak arrived in the town. Assuming it was a gift from the British, the wood was used to build a new pulpit and pews for the church.
Two years later, the mayor received a letter from Adelaide in Australia. They were inquiring about the whereabouts of a shipment of timber they had ordered! According to legend, the Australians saw the humor in the mistake and allowed the South Africans to keep the wood, which had already been put to good use!
8. The First Successful Heart Transplant Took Place in Cape Town
On December 3, 1967, history was made in Cape Town’s Groote Schuur Hospital when Christiaan Barnard and his team performed the first human heart transplant. The patient was Lewis Washkansky, and although lung infection and pneumonia claimed his life just 18 days after the transplant, Barnard’s work laid the foundation for what was to become a common medical procedure.
The “Heart of Cape Town Museum” in Groote Schuur honors those who took part in the feat that signaled a new era of medical science.
9. South Africa Possessed Nuclear Weapons
During the decades of apartheid, South Africa was cut off from much of the world economically and politically. White South Africans had a siege mentality, and the government began investing heavily in the development of its own arms industries. As a result, South Africa began to build its own advanced weaponry, and this included nuclear weapons.
With the speculated help of the Israelis and the French, with whom they were on friendly terms, South Africa was able to develop and build several nuclear weapons with uranium enriched at Pelindaba, South Africa’s main nuclear research center.
In 1990, the South African government dismantled their nuclear weapons as it became clear that the country was on a path to democracy and a Black majority government. Thus, South Africa became the first country to give up its nuclear weapons voluntarily.
Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus followed suit with weapons they had inherited from the defunct Soviet Union.
10. South Africa Was the 5th Country to Recognize Same-Sex Marriage, & the Only in Africa
In 1997, South Africa adopted a new constitution that stipulated that there could be no discrimination against individuals based on race, gender, or sexual orientation. In a landmark case in 2005, the Constitutional Court voted unanimously to allow same-sex marriage and gave the government one year to act.
Thus, the Civil Union Act was passed and came into effect in November 2006. South Africa became the fifth country in the world to recognize same-sex marriage and the only country in Africa to do so. The other countries that legalized same-sex marriage before South Africa were the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, and Canada.
Like many countries, South Africa’s history is filled with notable tragedies, happy occurrences, and humorous stories that have become anecdotes. To be sure, much of South Africa’s history has yet to be written, as it lies in the future—a future that will no doubt bring more interesting facts to be written about!
