Country

South Africa

Also Known As Republic of South Africa

Southern Africa

South Africa occupies the southern tip of the African continent, bordered by Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Eswatini, and entirely surrounding the enclaved kingdom of Lesotho, with coastlines on both the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meeting near the Cape of Good Hope. The four British colonies of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State were joined as the self-governing Union of South Africa in 1910; full sovereign equality with Britain followed under the 1931 Statute of Westminster, a republic was declared in 1961, and the country first held fully democratic, non-racial elections in 1994, ending the apartheid system of racial segregation. Uniquely among the countries in this atlas, it has three capital cities, one for each branch of national government.

Facts

Capital

Pretoria (executive), Cape Town (legislative) and Bloemfontein (judicial) 2

A deliberate three-way split among the executive, legislative and judicial branches, dating to the 1910 Act of Union compromise among the founding colonies, not a single seat of government.

Population

63,419,000 2

Britannica 2026 estimate.

Population Estimate Year

2026 2

Area (sq km)

1,220,813 2

Independence or Founding Year

1910 2

Four British colonies (Cape, Natal, Transvaal, Orange Free State) united as the self-governing Union of South Africa on 31 May 1910. Full sovereign independence followed under the 1931 Statute of Westminster, a republic was declared in 1961, and the country first held fully democratic elections open to all races in 1994; 1910 is recorded here as the founding of the unified state, with the later milestones kept in this note rather than silently picked over.

Classification

Sovereignty Status

UN Member State 1

Learn More

Three Capitals, One Compromise

This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.

South Africa's three capital cities are not an accident of history so much as a deliberately engineered compromise. When the Cape Colony, Natal, the Transvaal and the Orange Free State negotiated their union into a single self-governing dominion in 1910, each of the four founding colonies had its own claim to prestige and none was willing to see a rival colony's capital become the capital of the whole country. The solution split the government itself three ways: Pretoria, the former Transvaal capital, took the executive branch and the seat of the presidency; Cape Town, the oldest European settlement and legislative center under Cape rule, kept Parliament; Bloemfontein, the former Orange Free State capital, was given the judiciary and the Supreme Court of Appeal. No single city won, which was exactly the arrangement four proud, recently rival colonies could agree to. More than a century later, after a republic, an end to apartheid and a fully democratic constitution, the three-way split has outlived every government that has governed under it.

From Union to Democracy

This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.

Four dates matter to the question of when South Africa truly became the country it is today, and each answers a different part of it. 1910 is when the Union of South Africa formed, joining four British colonies into one self-governing dominion, though still under the British crown and, for its Black majority, under no meaningful political rights at all. 1931 is when the Statute of Westminster gave the Union full legislative sovereignty equal to Britain's own, ending the last formal colonial subordination while leaving the domestic racial order untouched. 1961 is when a republic was declared, cutting the last constitutional tie to the British monarchy, again without extending the franchise. Only 1994, with the country's first election open to citizens of every race, ending the apartheid system that had governed since 1948, produced a South Africa whose government could claim to represent the whole population it governed. This atlas records 1910 as the founding of the unified state, but the honest history of South African independence is really the history of all four dates together.

South Africa

Cities

FAQs

Why does South Africa have three capital cities?

Pretoria is the executive capital, Cape Town the legislative capital and Bloemfontein the judicial capital.

South Africa divides its national government among three capitals instead of placing it in one city. Pretoria is the executive capital, hosting the Union Buildings and the offices of the President and Cabinet. Cape Town is the legislative capital, home to the Parliament of South Africa. Bloemfontein is the judicial capital, hosting the Supreme Court of Appeal.

Connections

Associated With

Bloemfontein

Source Bloemfontein (Wikipedia)

Cape Peninsula

Cape Town

Source Cape Town (Wikipedia)

Drakensberg

Durban

Source Durban (Wikipedia)

Eastern Cape

Eastern Cape is a province of South Africa.

Source Eastern Cape (Wikipedia)

Free State

Free State is a province of South Africa.

Source Free State (Wikipedia)

Gauteng

Gauteng is a province of South Africa.

Source Gauteng (Wikipedia)

Gqeberha

Source Gqeberha (Wikipedia)

Johannesburg

Source Johannesburg (Wikipedia)

Kruger National Park

Source Kruger National Park (Wikipedia)

KwaZulu-Natal

KwaZulu-Natal is a province of South Africa.

Source KwaZulu-Natal (Wikipedia)

Pretoria

Source Pretoria (Wikipedia)

Southern Africa

South Africa is one of the five states of the narrow UN Geoscheme definition of Southern Africa.

Source Encyclopaedia Britannica

Soweto

Source Soweto (Wikipedia)

Sub-Saharan Africa

Source Sub-Saharan Africa (Wikipedia)

Table Mountain National Park

Table Mountain National Park is in Cape Town, South Africa.

Source Table Mountain National Park (Wikipedia)

Tugela Falls

Western Cape

Western Cape is a province of South Africa.

Source Western Cape (Wikipedia)

Bordered By Water

Table Bay

Has Capital

Bloemfontein

Source Bloemfontein (Wikipedia)

Cape Town

Cape Town is South Africa's legislative capital, seat of Parliament; South Africa has three capitals, Pretoria (executive) and Bloemfontein (judicial) are the other two, neither yet covered in this atlas.

Source Cape Town (Wikipedia)

Pretoria

Source Pretoria (Wikipedia)

Long-Form Articles

From Union to Democracy

Three Capitals, One Compromise

Rivers Through Territory

Limpopo River

Orange River

The Orange flows westwards through South Africa to the Atlantic Ocean.

Source Orange River (Wikipedia)

Vaal River

In the Other Atlases

Nationals Include

Auberon Herbert, 9th Baron Lucas

Also in Agriculture and Farming Atlas: a national of this subject.

Source Wikidata: Auberon Herbert, 9th Baron Lucas

Athol Fugard

Also in Arts and Music Atlas: a national of this subject.

Source Wikidata: Athol Fugard

Brett Murray

Also in Arts and Music Atlas: a national of this subject.

Source Getty Research Institute, Union List of Artist Names: Getty ULAN record for Brett MurrayRecord display

Quote, Record display

Murray, Brett (South African sculptor, born 1961)

Esther Mahlangu

Also in Arts and Music Atlas: a national of this subject.

Source Wikidata: Esther Mahlangu

Igshaan Adams

Also in Arts and Music Atlas: a national of this subject.

Source Wikidata: Igshaan Adams

Irma Stern

Also in Arts and Music Atlas: a national of this subject.

Source Wikidata: Irma Stern

Miriam Makeba

Also in Arts and Music Atlas: a national of this subject.

Elon Musk

Also in Business Atlas: a national of this subject.

Source Wikidata: Elon Musk

Mark Shuttleworth

Also in Business Atlas: a national of this subject.

Patrice Motsepe

Also in Business Atlas: a national of this subject.

Source Wikidata: Patrice Motsepe

Anriette Esterhuysen

Also in Computing Atlas: a national of this subject.

Nancy Hafkin

Also in Computing Atlas: a national of this subject.

Rapelang Rabana

Also in Computing Atlas: a national of this subject.

Seymour Papert

Also in Education Atlas: a national of this subject.

Gavin Hood

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a national of this subject.

Source Gavin Hood (Wikipedia)

Kevin Carter

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a national of this subject.

Pippa Ehrlich

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a national of this subject.

Stanley Dorfman

Also in Film and Media Atlas: a national of this subject.

Source Stanley Dorfman (Wikipedia)

Albert van der Sandt Centlivres