List Of Southern African Countries And Capitals

Southern African countries are among the sub-divided regions in Africa located in the southernmost part of the African continent, which is variably defined by geopolitics or geography and home to several countries. Southern Africa region holds up a total of 20 countries such as Botswana, Eswatini (Swaziland), Malawi, Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, Lesotho, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Zambia, although, Angola is also known as a Central African country, and Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe was known as East African Countries, but speaking from a political point of view, the region happens to be unipolar with South Africa as the first regional power.

LIST OF COUNTRIES IN SOUTHERN AFRICA AND CAPITALS

Here is the list of countries in Southern Africa with their Capitals. There are 20 countries in Southern African and their capitals are listed below:

About Countries In Southern African

• History

The settlement of the Bantu indigenes who were agriculturist and herdsmen making use of iron were discovered in the south of the River Limpopo by the 4th or 5th century CE, at this moment absorbing and displacing the real speakers of Khoisan.  They migrated slowly to the South, and the original iron-works in the KwaZulu-Natal province Modern-day are noted to be the date from around 1050. The Xhosa people were the southernmost group, whose language integrates certain traits of linguistics from the original Khoi-San people, touching the Great fish river in the modern-day Eastern Cape Province.

The Mapungubwe Kingdom was the first notable state in Southern African which has its capital as Mapungubwe. In the 12th Century, CE was when the country came into existence, and its wealth was gotten from the trade control in Ivory from the valley of Limpopo, mountains of the Northern Transvaal copper, Zimbabwe plateau gold between the Zambezi River and the Limpopo River, Swahili Merchants at Chibuene. Later on, in the 13th century, Mapungubwe was dumped.

The dry stack stone brickwork technology was also made use of to manufacture smaller compounds in the area. Great Zimbabwe prospered in the process of trade with the Sofala and Swahili Kilwa. The development of great Zimbabwe is equivalent to the development of kilwa as it was a significant source of Gold.

Another geographical description for the Southern African region is the portion of the south Cunene and Zambezi Rivers which is South Africa, Lesotho, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Eswatini, and the Mozambique parts which are located at the south of the River Zambezi. This definition is frequently made use of in South Africa for Natural sciences, most especially, guide or tutor books such as Roberts Birds of Southern Africa.

United Nations scheme of geographic regions and the Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU)

Five states in total make up Southern Africa according to the United Nations System of geographical areas, and these countries include; Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, and Eswatini.

Established in the year 1969 was the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) which is comprised of five states in the United Nation Southern African region.

• Southern African Development Community (SADC)

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) was founded in the year 1980 to make possible the regional co-operation as it includes Angola, Lesotho, Democratic Republic of Congo, Botswana, Madagascar, Eswatini, Malawi, Comoros, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and Zambia.

The Southern African Region is at times reckoning to include other territories which are as follows;

• Angola – A Central African Country according to the UN system
• Comoros – An Eastern Africa Country in the UN Scheme or system
• Madagascar – An Eastern Africa Country in the UN Scheme or system
• Malawi – An Eastern Africa Country in the UN Scheme or system
• Mayotte – An Eastern Africa Country in the UN Scheme or system
• Mauritius – An Eastern Africa Country in the UN Scheme or system
• Mozambique – An Eastern Africa Country in the UN Scheme or system
• Réunion – An Eastern Africa Country in the UN Scheme or system
• Seychelles – An Eastern Africa Country in the UN Scheme or system
• Zambia – An Eastern Africa Country in the UN Scheme or system
• Zimbabwe – An Eastern Africa Country in the UN Scheme or system

The Democratic Republic of Congo, and Tanzania, which are more often reckoned in Eastern Africa, respectively, are most of the time included in Southern Africa as they tend to be a SADC member.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania, though more commonly reckoned in Central and Eastern Africa, respectively, are occasionally included in Southern Africa as they are SADC members.

• Geography

The topography of Southern Africa is diverse, ranging from the grasslands and forest to deserts. This Southern African region has both mountains and low-lying coastal areas. Speaking of Natural resources, the Southern Africa region has the world’s most abundant resources which include the platinum group elements which are, vanadium, chromium, cobalt, gold, titanium, copper, iron, and diamonds.

• Economy

The Southern Africa region is different from the rest of Africa, with some of its main exports include diamond, gold, platinum, copper, cobalt, and uranium, but the region instead share some of the problems of the rest of Africa. After the colonial period has left its impact on the development over history, and today, corruption, poverty, and HIV/AIDS tend to be some of the most significant factors drawing back the economic growth of this region. The pursuit of political and economic constancy is an essential factor for the growth of the Southern African region, as being demonstrated by the SADC. Concerning financial strength, South Africa happens to be the dominant power of the Southern African area. South Africa’s GDP alone is estimated up to about 35 billion USD which is by far more significant than all other Country’s GDP present in the Southern Africa region.

In general terms, agriculture, mining, and tourism sector dominate the Southern African countries’ economy, aside from South Africa which has a full grown and prosperous financial sector, construction sector, and retail sector. Johannesburg, South Africa is notably the home for the regional offices of global banks for the Southern African region.

• Environment

The Southern African region has widely diversified ecoregions which include bushveld, grassland, karoo, riparian zones, and savannah. Even though a significant disturbance has taken place in some part from the loss of habitat due to the overpopulation of humans or the export-based improvement, there remains a considerable number of various wildlife species, which includes impaa, lion, white rhino, African leopard, blue wildebeest, kudu, elephant, and vervet monkey. This region has complex plateaus that establish huge mountain structures along the border of South African. However, the environmental issue faced by this region is air pollution and desertification.

• Culture and People

The Southern African region happens to be the home to numerous different cultures and people. This region was at ancient times populated by native or indigenous Africans San, pygmies, Khoikhoi in widely detached concentrations. Following the Bantu people’s expansion which bordered the previous aboriginal people of Africa to the more controlled areas of the region, the major ethnic groups found in this region includes the Xhosa, Tsonga, Zulu, Swazi, Southern Ndebele, Northern Ndebele, Sotho, Shona, and Tswana, while, Balunda, Mbundu, Chaga, Shona, Ovimbudu, and Sukuma, speak the Bantu languages. The colonization process and settings led to a considerable population of the Native European which are Afrikaner, Portuguese Africans, British, etc. and the Asian origin which includes Indian South Africans, Cape Malays, and lots more, in numerous southern African countries.

• Agriculture and food security

Major key factors threatening food security system within the Southern African regions includes political destabilization, droughts, bad governance, growth in population, poverty, urbanization, crippled economic growth, trade terms, insufficient agricultural policies, resource degradation, and increased rate of the HIV/AIDS virus.

However, the above-listed factors tend to vary from one country to the other, for instance, the Democratic Republic of Congo notably has a favorable climatic and physical condition but functions below it capabilities in the provision of foods due to the poor governance and political instability of the country.

The Data gotten on food insecurity and Agricultural production trends most especially in terms of the availability of food for the Southern Africa region is readily made available through the FEWS NET (Famine Early warning systems network and SADC (Southern African development community, food, Agriculture and Natural resources directorate (FARN). The data derived may not capture fully the reality of a region with substantial urban populations and where the insecurity of foods goes beyond the per capita availability to the issues of pass marks and dietary adequacy.

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• HOW MANY LANGUAGES IN SOUTH AFRICA
• TOP 10 MOST EXPENSIVE CITIES IN AFRICA
• Top 10 Best Places To Live In Africa
• TOP 10 HIGHEST PAYING JOBS IN SOUTH AFRICA

Conclusion On List Of Southern African Countries And Capitals

The Southern African region is notably including countries from the other areas if looked at from a geopolitical view, but concerning the decision of the UN, these countries are purely Southern African countries as they are unipolar with Southern Africa.

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