Afrikaans is a very cool language. It is descended from Dutch which was spoken by Dutch and Flemish immigrants to South Africa. Many of these people started in the Cape, but would then move on to other areas of South Africa. One province in South Africa known now as Free State, was once an independent country called Orange Free State which was controlled by the Afrikaners.
Eventually the Afrikaans countries joined with the English speaking countries in Southern Africa to form the modern Republic of South Africa. But it took a while for languages other than English and Dutch to get proper recognition. Afrikaans only became an official language of South Africa in 1925.
