South Africa

COUNTRY
South Africa
Government	Commonwealth Realm
Population	10,341,000 (as of 1940)
Major cities	Cape Town (capital) Alexander Bay Durban East London Johannesburg Port Elizabeth Pretoria
Native cultures	Zulu

South Africa is a country at the tip of the African continent. It was known as the Union of South Africa from 1910 to 1961 and was formed by the merging of four territories: the Cape, Natal, the Transvaal, and the Orange Free State. South Africa was first settled in the 1600s by the Dutch, and subsequently in the 1800s by the British. Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the British fought a number of heated conflicts to subdue the indigenous peoples and the descendants of Dutch settlers (known as Afrikaners or Boers).

South Africa received autonomous dominion status within the British Empire in 1910 under Afrikaner statesman Jan Christiaan Smuts and his political supporters, known as the United Party. Smuts was ousted from government after World War II in favour of diehard Afrikaner nationalists that became known for implementing a harsh system of racial segregation (apartheid) and severing the country's remaining ties to Britain.

Adventures in South Africa

In 1930, Indiana Jones assisted British Intelligence in forging a fake artifact with cuneiform writing as bait to lure out the Sky Pirates and mysterious organization Enterprise Ventures International, Limited. The cube was placed within a shipment of diamonds aboard a train traveling through South Africa. Intended to reach Amsterdam, the train never even made it to Cape Town as it was attacked and the cargo stolen, not by EVIL, but by a group of Germans led by Colonel Hans Stumpf.

Aside from this, Indiana Jones had also encountered a number of South Africans on his many exploits:

Serving with the British army during World War I, Jan Christiaan Smuts was thwarted by the Phantom Train as he led an Allied expedition into German-ruled Tanzania. Jones and the 25th Frontiersman Battalion were tasked to find it.

In 1935, Jones encountered a team of Afrikaner Ivory Hunters in Ceylon, hired as mercenaries by Albrecht Von Beck to accompany him on his quest for the Mirror of Dreams. Most of them were killed by Jones when they attempted to prevent him from locating the Heart of Kouru Watu.

Three years later, in 1938, Jones had an unpleasant confrontation with another South African, this time a rogue archaeologist known as Theo Van Aaken. Van Aaken was known for pilfering artifacts from dig sites, something which made him an enemy in the eyes of his American counterpart. Eventually, his personal vendetta against Jones proved to be his undoing; Van Aaken was rewarded with nothing but a bullet by Indiana's enemies.

Notable South Africans

• Theo Van Aaken
• Karl Geller
• Ivory Hunters
• Jan Christiaan Smuts
• Ulye Troika
• Christian Vlotman

Appearances

• Indiana Jones and the Sky Pirates

Sources

• Raiders of the Lost Ark Game
• Indiana Jones and the Lands of Adventure
• Indiana Jones and the Sky Pirates and Other Tales
• Indiana Jones Magic & Mysticism: The Dark Continent

External links

• South Africa on Wikipedia