Union of South Africa

Union of South Africa
Unie van Zuid-Afrika (Dutch) Unie van Suid-Afrika (Afrikaans)
Dominion of the British Empire (Sovereign after 1931)
1910–1961
Flag (after 1928) Coat of arms
Motto Ex Unitate Vires (Latin: From Unity, Strength)
Anthem "God Save the King / Queen" (until 1957) Die Stem van Suid-Afrika (after 1957) "The Call of South Africa"
Location of the Union of South Africa. South-West Africa shown as disputed area (occupied in 1915, administered as 5th province of the Union under a C-mandate from the League of Nations).
Capital		Cape Town (legislative) Pretoria (administrative) Bloemfontein (judicial) Pietermaritzburg (archival)
Languages		English, Dutch
Government		Constitutional monarchy
Monarch
•	1910-1936	George V
•	1936	Edward VIII
•	1936-1952	George VI
•	1952-1961	Elizabeth II
Governor-General
•	1910-1914	The 1st 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
•	Upper house	Senate
•	Lower house	House of Assembly
History
•	Union	31 May 1910
•	Statute of Westminster	11 December 1931
•	Republic	31 May 1961
Area
•	1961	2,045,320 km² (789,702 sq mi)
Population
•	1961 est.	18,216,000
Density		8.9 /km²  (23.1 /sq mi)
Currency		South African pound
Preceded by Succeeded by Cape Colony Colony of Natal Orange River Colony Transvaal Colony South African Republic Owned by French and British at different points South Africa
Today part of		South Africa  Namibia

The Union of South Africa is the historic predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unification of four previously separate British colonies: Cape Colony, Natal Colony, Transvaal Colony and Orange River Colony. It included the territories formerly part of the Boer republics annexed in 1902, South African Republic and Orange Free State.

Following World War I, the Union of South Africa was granted the administration of the German South-West Africa colony as a League of Nations mandate and it became treated in most respects as if it were another province of the Union, but never was formally annexed.

The Union of South Africa was a dominion of the British Empire, and became sovereign on 11 December 1931. It was governed under a form of constitutional monarchy, with the Crown represented by a governor-general. The Union came to an end when the 1961 constitution was enacted. On 31 May 1961 the country became a republic and left the Commonwealth, under the new name Republic of South Africa.

Unlike Canada and Australia, the Union of South Africa was a unitary state, rather than a federation, with each colony's parliaments being abolished and replaced with provincial councils. A bicameral parliament was created, consisting of a House of Assembly and Senate, and its members were elected mostly by the country's white minority. During the course of the Union the franchise changed on several occasions always to suit the needs of the government of the day. Parliamentary supremacy was a convention of the constitution, inherited from the United Kingdom; save for procedural safeguards in respect of the entrenched sections of franchise and language, the courts were unable to intervene in Parliament's decisions.