Republic of South Africa

trek - a journey by ox wagon (especially an organized migration by a group of settlers)

laager, lager - a camp defended by a circular formation of wagons

biltong - meat that is salted and cut into strips and dried in the sun

PAGAD, People against Gangsterism and Drugs - a terrorist organization in South Africa formed in 1996 to fight drug lords; evolved into a vigilante group with anti-western views closely allied with Qibla; is believed to have ties to Islamic extremists in the Middle East; is suspected of conducting bouts of urban terrorism

Qibla - a small terrorist group of Muslims in South Africa formed in the 1980s; was inspired by Ayatollah Khomeini to create an Islamic state in South Africa

British Commonwealth, Commonwealth of Nations - an association of nations consisting of the United Kingdom and several former British colonies that are now sovereign states but still pay allegiance to the British Crown

KwaZulu-Natal, Natal - a region of eastern South Africa on the Indian Ocean; "Natal was renamed KwaZulu-Natal in 1994"

capital of South Africa, Pretoria - city in the Transvaal; the seat of the executive branch of the government of South Africa

Cape Town - port city in southwestern South Africa; the seat of the legislative branch of the government of South Africa

Johannesburg - city in the northeastern part of South Africa near Pretoria; commercial center for diamond and gold industries

Kimberley - city in central South Africa; center for diamond mining and diamond marketing

Durban - a port city in eastern South Africa on the Indian Ocean; resort and industrial center

Orange Free State, Free State - a province in central South Africa that was colonized by the Boers; named Free State in 1997

Transvaal - a province of northeastern South Africa originally inhabited by Africans who spoke Bantu; colonized by the Boers

Cape Colony, Cape of Good Hope Province, Cape Province - a former province of southern South Africa that was settled by the Dutch in 1652 and ceded to Great Britain in 1814; in 1994 it was split into three new provinces of South Africa

Bloemfontein - the seat of the supreme court

Soweto - a large collection of African townships to the southwest of Johannesburg in South Africa; inhabited solely by Black Africans

Kalahari, Kalahari Desert - a desert in southwestern Africa - largely Botswana

Africa - the second largest continent; located to the south of Europe and bordered to the west by the South Atlantic and to the east by the Indian Ocean

kopje, koppie - a small hill rising up from the African veld

Crocodile River, Limpopo - an African river; flows into the Indian Ocean

Orange River, Orange - a river in South Africa that flows generally westward to the Atlantic Ocean

Sotho - a member of the Bantu people who inhabit Botswana, Lesotho, and northern South Africa and who speak the Sotho languages

Batswana, Bechuana, Tswana - a member of a Bantu people living chiefly in Botswana and western South Africa

South African - a native or inhabitant of South Africa

Xhosa - a member of the Negroid people of southern South Africa

mealie - an ear of corn