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South Africa: map and facts
South Africa is in Southern Africa. It has about 64.7 million people (2025), the 24th largest population. It covers 1,219,602 km², the 24th largest by area. That is about 53 people per km². Its highest point is Mafadi, at 3,450 m. The longest river on its map is the Orange, 2,200 km from source to mouth.
Facts
- Population: 64,747,319 (2025, World Bank)
- Area: 1,219,602 km² (2024, World Bank)
- Capital: Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Pretoria
- Highest point: Mafadi, 3,450 m (Wikidata)
- Forest: 18.8% of the land (2024, World Bank)
Rivers
The longest rivers on the map of South Africa, with the length of each whole river (Wikidata):
- Orange: 2,200 km
- Limpopo: 1,750 km
- Vaal: 1,120 km
- Molopo: 970 km
- Gamtoos: 645 km
- Tugela: 520 km
- Caledon: 480 km
- Gourits: 416 km
- Great Kei: 320 km
- Maputo: 300 km
Also on the map: Marico, Gamka, Auob, Olifants, Pongola, Mogalakwena and Notwane.
Mountains and landscapes
Its highest peaks:
- Thabana Ntlenyana: 3,482 m
- Mafadi: 3,450 m (its highest point)
- Kompasberg: 2,502 m
- Die Berg: 2,331 m
- Seweweekspoort Peak: 2,325 m
- Emlembe: 1,862 m
- Bokkeveldberg: 843 m
Mountain ranges: Drakensberg, Lebombo Mountains and Witwatersrand.
Plateaus, plains, deserts and other regions: Kalahari Desert, Great Karoo, Northern Karoo, Wild Coast and Prince Edward Islands.
Land
Land cover seen from satellites (NASA MODIS, 2024): grassland 43.8%, open shrubland 39.3%, farmland 5.6%, savanna 4.3%, evergreen broadleaf forest 1.6%, bare ground 1.4%.
Landforms, worked out from the height of the land (USGS GMTED2010): plateaus 45.7%, hills 37.5%, mountains 13.8%, plains 2.9%.
Forests covered 18.8% of its land in 2024, up from 16.3% in 1990 (World Bank).
Minerals and fuels
- World #1 in manganese among the countries USGS lists (2025)
- World #1 in chromium among the countries USGS lists (2025)
- World #1 in platinum-group metals among the countries USGS lists (2025)
- World #2 in zircon among the countries USGS lists (2025)
- World #3 in titanium among the countries USGS lists (2025)
- World #4 in fluorspar among the countries USGS lists (2025)
- World #7 in coal among the countries EIA lists (2024)
- World #8 in iron ore among the countries USGS lists (2025)
Neighbours
South Africa shares land borders with Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe on this map.
Explore the map of South Africa
In the game you can zoom into its rivers, mountains, minerals, terrain and forests. Free, with no sign-up.
Sources
India’s boundaries are drawn according to India’s official position, simplified for small-scale maps (data: Natural Earth, India view). Each figure shows its year and source; some are rounded. Data release 2026.2.
- Natural Earth (naturalearthdata.com), public domain. Boundaries follow India's official position (Natural Earth's India point of view). Terms
- GMTED2010 courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey (Danielson and Gesch 2011, USGS Open-File Report 2011-1073). Terms
- Friedl, M., Sulla-Menashe, D. (2022). MODIS/Terra+Aqua Land Cover Type Yearly L3 Global 500m SIN Grid V061. NASA EOSDIS Land Processes DAAC. doi:10.5067/MODIS/MCD12Q1.061. Terms
- The World Bank: World Development Indicators, Population, total (SP.POP.TOTL): UN Population Division, national statistical offices (2025 data, retrieved 2026-10-17). CC BY 4.0. Rounded by Make Me Smarter. Terms
- The World Bank: World Development Indicators, Surface area (AG.SRF.TOTL.K2): FAO (2024 data, retrieved 2026-10-17). CC BY 4.0. Terms
- The World Bank: World Development Indicators, Forest area (% of land area) (AG.LND.FRST.ZS): FAO, FAOSTAT (2024 data, retrieved 2026-10-17). CC BY 4.0. Rounded by Make Me Smarter. Terms
- Wikidata (CC0): names, capitals, peak heights and river lengths, checked by Make Me Smarter. Terms
- Credit: U.S. Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 data release (doi:10.5066/P1WKQ63T). Terms
- Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (2026-09-03). Terms
- Landforms worked out by Make Me Smarter from GMTED2010.
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