Hi there!
Inauguro qui una nuova sezione in vista degli imminenti esami, chiamata Culture drops, "gocce di cultura". Inserirò in questa sede i riassunti dei brani di civiltà da preparare per l'esame orale.

South Africa



South Africa has different climatic zones: a Mediterranean zone in the South West, with warm summers and cool winters, a desert zone in the North, with temperatures of about 40°C, and -North East of Cape Town- the coldest winters, with temperatures below zero (-6°C).

South Africa is the largest producer of gold and diamonds in the world, as well as one of the most important producers of wine.

The population of South Africa is mostly black, namely 90%. 10% of the population is white, of different origins. They are mainly the descendants of Dutch, German and English colonists. Some of them speak English, others speak Afrikaans, a mixture of Dutch and English.

People who visit South Africa can't miss Kruger National Park: it is one of the largest game parks in the world, and it is even bigger than Wales. Here you can meet the "Big Five": lions, leopards, elephants, rhinos and buffalo.


APARTHEID

Apartheid was a form of government that was abolished only in 1994. The word is Afrikaans and means "separated": indeed Apartheid is based on racial discrimination. Black people couldn't go to the same school, to the same restaurants, to the same hospitals as white people. They couldn't even work together.
Nelson Mandela did a lot to abolish it. When he was a young man, he went to university and became a lawyer. Then he joined the ANC, a political party that helped black people with their legal problems, until he was arrested and sent to prison in 1964. He stayed in prison for a very long time, 27 years, and he was released only in 1990.
In 1993 he won the Nobel Prize for peace and in 1994 he became the first black President of South Africa.


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