Party in South West Africa (now Namibia) that advocated immediate independence from South Africa. Founded in 1960, it used diplomacy to attain its goals until 1966, when it turned to armed struggle. Led by Sam Nujoma and backed by the Angolan ruling party and the Soviet Union, SWAPO used Angola as a base for launching guerrilla attacks. From 1978 South Africa made periodic retaliatory strikes into Angola. That same year the UN recognized SWAPO as the Namibian people's sole representative. South Africa finally accepted a UN resolution requiring the withdrawal of South African troops in Namibia and the holding of free elections in 1988
A country of southern Africa on the Atlantic and Indian oceans. Originally inhabited by the San and Khoikhoin, the region was settled by various Bantu peoples c. 1500. European settlement began with the Dutch in the mid-17th century. The region passed to Great Britain in 1814 but was hotly contested by descendants of the Dutch settlers in the Boer War (1899-1902), in which Britain took possession of the entire territory, creating the Union of South Africa in 1910. South Africa declared itself a republic in 1961, severed ties with the British Commonwealth, and further consolidated the apartheid system, which was repealed beginning in 1989. An interim constitution ending white rule was adopted in 1993, and the first multiracial elections were held in 1994. Pretoria is the administrative capital; Cape Town, the legislative capital; and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital. Johannesburg is the largest city. Population: 40,436,000. South African adj. & n. a country in southern Africa south of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe. Population: 43,586,000 (2001). Capitals: Pretoria and Cape Town. Largest city: Johannesburg. Until the 1990s, the country was ruled by an all-white government using the system of apartheid, which separated people of different races and gave no political rights to black people. In 1994 the African National Congress ( ANC), led by Nelson Mandela, won South Africa's first fully democratic election and became the government. South Africa's best-known products are gold and diamonds
a republic at the southernmost part of Africa; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1910; first European settlers were Dutch (known as Boers)