Union of South Africa
state in southern Africa from 1910 to 1961, predecessor to the Republic of South Africa / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Union of South Africa is the country that came before the current Republic of South Africa. It was formed on May 31st, 1910 when the British Cape Colony and the Natal Colony unified with the defeated Boer republics of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State. The provinces of the union were called, respectively, as the Cape Province, the Natal Province, the Transvaal Province, and the Orange Free State Province. After World War I, the former German colony of German South West Africa was put under administration of the Union of South Africa as a League of Nations mandate and was treated like another province. It was a Commonwealth realm, which means that it was a constitutional monarchy with the British monarch (king or queen) as the head of state.
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Union of South Africa Unie van Suid-Afrika Unie van Zuid-Afrika | |||||||||||||||
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| 1910–1961 | |||||||||||||||
.svg) Coat of arms
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| Motto: Ex Unitate Vires (Latin: From Unity, Strength) | |||||||||||||||
| Anthem: Die Stem van Suid-Afrika "The Call of South Africa" | |||||||||||||||
 Location of the Union of South Africa. South West Africa shown as disputed area (administered as 5th province of the Union). | |||||||||||||||
| Capital | Cape Town (legislative) Pretoria (administrative) Bloemfontein (judicial) Pietermaritzburg (archival) | ||||||||||||||
| Common languages | Dutch, English, Afrikaans (after 1925) | ||||||||||||||
| Government | Constitutional monarchy | ||||||||||||||
| Monarch | |||||||||||||||
• 1910-1936 | George V | ||||||||||||||
• 1936 | Edward VIII | ||||||||||||||
• 1936-1952 | George VI | ||||||||||||||
• 1952-1961 | Elizabeth II | ||||||||||||||
| Governor-General | |||||||||||||||
• 1910-1914 | The Viscount Gladstone | ||||||||||||||
• 1959-1961 | Charles Robberts Swart | ||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | |||||||||||||||
• 1910-1919 | Louis Botha | ||||||||||||||
• 1919-'24, 1939-1948 | Jan Smuts | ||||||||||||||
• 1924-1939 | J.B.M. Hertzog | ||||||||||||||
• 1948-1954 | D.F. Malan | ||||||||||||||
• 1954-1958 | J.G. Strijdom | ||||||||||||||
• 1958-1961 | H.F. Verwoerd | ||||||||||||||
| Legislature | Parliament | ||||||||||||||
| Senate | |||||||||||||||
| House of Assembly | |||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||
• Union | 31 May 1910 | ||||||||||||||
• Statute of Westminster | 11 December 1931 | ||||||||||||||
• Republic | 31 May 1961 | ||||||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||||||
| 1961 | 2,045,320 km2 (789,700 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||||
• 1961 | 18216000 | ||||||||||||||
| Currency | South African pound | ||||||||||||||
| ISO 3166 code | ZA | ||||||||||||||
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| Today part of |  South Africa Namibia | ||||||||||||||
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The Union of South Africa ended on 31 May 1961, when a new constitution came into effect, transforming the Union of South Africa into a republic, under the name "Republic of South Africa". The South Africa's membership of the Commonwealth of Nations also ended, when it became a republic.
