There are 5 countries in southern Africa.
You might be surprised to learn that there are five countries in southern Africa. The region’s largest country, South Africa, has a population of over 55 million people and is home to the world’s largest gold mine.
Namibia is one of the oldest countries in Africa and was known as German South West Africa until World War I when it was annexed by the British Empire and renamed Namibia. It gained independence from South Africa in 1990 after nearly 50 years under apartheid rule.
Botswana was formerly known as Bechuanaland but changed its name when it became independent from Great Britain in 1966. It was named for its large number of ethnic groups (Batswana). Botswana’s economy relies heavily on mining diamonds and copper ore; however, tourism is also an important source of income for this relatively small country (population of 2 million).
Lesotho is a landlocked nation bordered by South Africa on three sides: Lesotho shares no international border with any other sovereign state although it does share borders with foreign powers such as China, Mozambique and eSwatini (formerly known as Swaziland). Lesotho’s main language spoken here is Sesotho which means “South Sotho.” Like all other nations within southern Africa it too experienced major problems during its early history because of a lack of resources needed for survival following colonization efforts by European powers including Germany under King Leopold II who established control over vast areas around Lake Tanganyika where they enslaved Africans in order to extract ivory tusks used primarily period throughout Europe but specifically here where his actions would go down forever remembered through history books today due “to good fortune,” according to researchers who uncovered evidence showing how much damage he truly did while living there:
- 100 million acres burned down during the first half-century of rule between 1885-1916 according to reports found later on;
- 75% reduction rate seen among wildlife populations across
