50 Facts About South Africa That Sound Made Up (But Are True)

South Africa has three capitals, twelve official languages and a whole country sitting inside it. It is home to the deepest mine on Earth, the scar of the biggest known asteroid impact and more than half of all the rhinos on the planet. Here are 50 facts about its map, coasts, mountains, mines, wildlife and people, each checked against a source listed below.

CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
0:33 Where in the world is South Africa?
3:38 Three capitals, twelve languages
6:52 Two oceans and the Cape
10:30 Mountains, deserts and an asteroid scar
14:01 Gold, diamonds and the deepest mines
17:23 Wild South Africa
20:33 History and people
24:30 Which fact surprised you most?

Which fact surprised you most? Drop the number below.

SOURCES (fact number: website)
1 britannica.com, gov.za, statssa.gov.za, gcis.gov.za · 2 gov.za, gcis.gov.za, britannica.com · 3 guinnessworldrecords.com, britannica.com, gov.za · 4 sanparks.org, IHO S-23, iho.int · 5 gov.za, ramsar.org, sun.ac.za, sanap.ac.za · 6 gov.za · 7 statssa.gov.za, gov.za · 8 gov.za · 9 statssa.gov.za, gov.za, concourt.org.za · 10 gov.za, acts.co.za, statssa.gov.za, sanews.gov.za, gcis.gov.za · 11 statssa.gov.za, gcis.gov.za · 12 statssa.gov.za · 13 gov.za · 14 gov.za · 15 saeon.ac.za, shark.co.za, PLOS ONE, SAEON, britannica.com · 16 shark.co.za, nationalgeographic.com, iol.co.za · 17 whc.unesco.org, sanbi.org, iucn.org · 18 sanparks.org, uct.ac.za, sanbi.org, new7wonders.com, sanews.gov.za, capetown.travel, ametsoc.org, weather.com · 19 sanews.gov.za, groundup.news, solardaily.com · 20 birdlife.org, birdlife.org.za, sanparks.org · 21 saveourseas.com, saeon.ac.za, sciencealert.com · 22 whc.unesco.org, rochester.edu, curtin.edu.au, sciencealert.com, smithsonianmag.com · 23 whc.unesco.org, britannica.com, news24.com · 24 worldwaterfalldatabase.com, guinnessworldrecords.com, infobae.com · 25 britannica.com, southafrica.net · 26 britannica.com, gcro.ac.za, hot1027.co.za · 27 sanparks.org, britannica.com · 28 skao.int, saao.ac.za · 29 sahistory.org.za, dailymaverick.co.za, wits.ac.za · 30 britannica.com, Springer (Frimmel), srk.com, businessday.co.za, gold.org · 31 harmony.co.za, guinnessworldrecords.com, engineeringnews.co.za, britannica.com · 32 usgs.gov, businessday.co.za, Springer (Frimmel) · 33 guinnessworldrecords.com, earthmagazine.org, rct.uk, petradiamonds.com · 34 britannica.com, southafrica.net, news24.com · 35 usgs.gov, britannica.com · 36 sanparks.org, southafrica.net · 37 sanparks.org, southafrica.net, koedoe.co.za, Afr. J. Wildl. Res. · 38 rhinos.org, iucn.org · 39 sanparks.org, dailymaverick.co.za, southafrica.net · 40 sanparks.org, southafrica.net · 41 tfcaportal.org, southafrica.net · 42 dirco.gov.za, nwpg.gov.za, britannica.com · 43 whc.unesco.org, wits.ac.za, southafrica.net, sanews.gov.za, popular-archaeology.com, aa.com.tr · 44 wits.ac.za, eLife (2017), sciencedaily.com, ucl.ac.uk · 45 Nature (2018), cnrs.fr, nih.gov · 46 whc.unesco.org, artsandculture.google.com, metmuseum.org, popular-archaeology.com · 47 whc.unesco.org, guinnessworldrecords.com, nelsonmandela.org · 48 uct.ac.za · 49 joburg.org.za, southafrica.net, sanews.gov.za, nobelprize.org · 50 world.rugby, rugbyworldcup.com, guinnessworldrecords.com

MAPS AND TERRAIN
Maps: Natural Earth (public domain), including province borders. National parks and places: © OpenStreetMap contributors, Open Database License, openstreetmap.org/copyright; some coordinates from Wikidata (CC0). All graphics in this video are our own; no third-party photos or footage.

Terrain: Terrain Tiles on AWS (Registry of Open Data). Required attribution:
* ArcticDEM terrain data DEM(s) were created from DigitalGlobe, Inc., imagery and funded under National Science Foundation awards 1043681, 1559691, and 1542736;
* Australia terrain data © Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) 2017;
* Austria terrain data © offene Daten Österreichs – Digitales Geländemodell (DGM) Österreich;
* Canada terrain data contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada;
* Europe terrain data produced using Copernicus data and information funded by the European Union - EU-DEM layers;
* Global ETOPO1 terrain data U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
* Mexico terrain data source: INEGI, Continental relief, 2016;
* New Zealand terrain data Copyright 2011 Crown copyright (c) Land Information New Zealand and the New Zealand Government (All rights reserved);
* Norway terrain data © Kartverket;
* United Kingdom terrain data © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2015. All rights reserved;
* United States 3DEP (formerly NED) and global GMTED2010 and SRTM terrain data courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey.

Narration: AI voice (ElevenLabs). Research, script and graphics: The Map Shelf. Spotted a mistake? Tell us in the comments and we will correct it in the pinned comment.
Impressum (legal notice): on the channel page, in the About section.

#SouthAfrica #Geography #Africa