The Northern Cape is by far South Africa’s largest province, taking up almost a third of the country’s land area: a total of 361 830 square kilometres, making it slightly smaller than Japan. The province lies on the western Atlantic coastline of South Africa, sharing borders with the Western Cape to the south, the Eastern Cape to the southeast the Free State to the east and North West to the northeast. Its international neighbours are Namibia and Botswana, to the north. The capital of the Northern Cape is Kimberley.

Apart from a narrow strip of winter rainfall area along the coast, the province is a semi-arid region with little rainfall in summer. The weather conditions are extreme - cold and frosty in winter, with extremely high temperatures in summer.

The largest part of the province falls within the Nama-Karoo biome, with a vegetation of low shrubland and grass, and trees limited to water courses.

The area is known worldwide its spectacular annual explosion of spring flowers which, for a short period every year, attracts thousands of tourists. This biome contains a number of fascinating plants, including the elephant's trunk (halfmens or "half-man"), tree aloe (kokerboom) and a variety of succulents.

Economy
The Northern Cape is the least economically active province in South Africa, with the lowest economic growth and the smallest contribution to national GDP. The region’s economy grew by only 3.3% in 2007, and 3.7% in 2006. With an economy worth R44.2-billion, the Northern Cape contributed only 2.2% to national GDP in 2007.

Unlike other provinces, mining and quarrying is the largest industry, making up nearly a quarter (24.6% in 2005) of the Northern Cape economy. This is followed by the finance, real estate and business services industry (12.9.%) and wholesale and retail trade, hotels and restaurants (11%). The construction has the smallest contribution, at 1.5% in 2007.

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