# Why is South Africa's two-letter country code ZA? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 13, 2011, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-south-africas-two-letter-country-code-za/567456 "2011-01-13T15:15:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-south-africas-two-letter-country-code-za/567456/21 "2011-01-14T15:16:39Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > What’s interesting is that, if you’re a military historian with an interest in the period, you might come across mentions of the _Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek_ (ZAR), sometimes known as “The Transvaal Republic”- one of the Boer Republics involved in the Boer War and later incorporated into the Cape Colonies after the war’s conclusion. > > So as a Military Historian, “ZA” for “South Africa” makes sense, but since most people have better things to do than remember the names of short-lived 19th century republics, it does seem an odd choice for the most part. 😉 Actually I read about the short-lived Boer republics recently and saw their flags on display at the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria, which seems to be an almost sacred place to Afrikanerdom…I guess Afrikaans spelling and grammar was not standardised for a long time so that for many years you couldn’t say definitely whether Boers were speaking Dutch or some other language, or whether they’d spell Suid with an S or a Z. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-south-africas-two-letter-country-code-za/567456/22 "2015-02-09T22:01:32Z")
How many deliveries end up in CA instead of CA? ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-south-africas-two-letter-country-code-za/567456/23 "2015-02-09T22:53:52Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > And I believe Switzerland used to be CH (Canton Helvetica?). [Confoederatio Helvetica](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland) ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-south-africas-two-letter-country-code-za/567456/24 "2015-02-09T22:55:45Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I don’t know about car stickers, but the convention for postal codes calls for two letters. [Here’s a page](http://www.jewishgen.org/InfoFiles/codes.html) I use all the time. WTH is the Neutral Zone? (see your chart) Sounds like something out of Star Trek! ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-south-africas-two-letter-country-code-za/567456/25 "2015-02-09T23:27:06Z")
The Neutral Zone was an ill-defined bit of [territory between Saudi Arabia and Iraq](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi%E2%80%93Iraqi_neutral_zone). Why a bit of desert with no permanent structures got an ISO 3166 code is beyond me though. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-south-africas-two-letter-country-code-za/567456/26 "2015-02-09T23:36:39Z")
Man, here in the far future of 2015 we have a lot fewer zones than I thought we’d have back when I was a kid in the 70s. No phantom zone, no forbidden zone, and now they’ve even abolished the neutral zone! ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-south-africas-two-letter-country-code-za/567456/27 "2015-02-10T01:04:54Z")
> [@lisiate](#): > > The Neutral Zone was an ill-defined bit of [territory between Saudi Arabia and Iraq](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi%E2%80%93Iraqi_neutral_zone). Why a bit of desert with no permanent structures got an ISO 3166 code is beyond me though. Oil. In the Middle East, it’s always about oil. ---
**Author:** ![Arjuna34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Arjuna34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arjuna34)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-south-africas-two-letter-country-code-za/567456/28 "2015-02-10T01:37:58Z")
> [@Canadjun](#): > > WTH is the Neutral Zone? (see your chart) > > Sounds like something out of Star Trek! In addition to the wikipedia link from **lisiate** , there’s also Cecil’s take: [What’s up with the “neutral zones” near Saudi Arabia?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/785/whats-up-with-the-neutral-zones-near-saudi-arabia) Not sure if it’s up to date though. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-south-africas-two-letter-country-code-za/567456/29 "2015-02-10T14:46:50Z")
> [@Arjuna34](#): > > In addition to the wikipedia link from **lisiate** , there’s also Cecil’s take: [What’s up with the “neutral zones” near Saudi Arabia?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/785/whats-up-with-the-neutral-zones-near-saudi-arabia) > > Not sure if it’s up to date though. If you believe Wikipedia, Saudi Arabia registered the appropriate treaty with the U.N. a few months after the column was written. (As noted in the follow-up column at the end, Saudi Arabia and Iraq had negotiated a treaty divvying up the Neutral Zone in 1981, but nobody else was privy to the details until 1991.) So now everyone’s in agreement that it no longer exists. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-south-africas-two-letter-country-code-za/567456.md?page=1)