ISO 3166-2:ZA ISO 3166-2:ZA ISO 3166-2:ZA is the entry for South Africa in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions (e.g., provinces or states) of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1. Currently for South Africa, ISO 3166-2 codes are defined for 9 provinces. Each code consists of two parts, separated by a hyphen. The first part is , the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code of South Africa. The second part is two letters. Subdivision names are listed as in the ISO 3166-2 standard published
Za (guilds) The name may have also come, more simply, from the idea of merchants within a guild or association sharing a seat or platform in the marketplace. The earliest "za" came into being in the 12th century, consisting not only of trade guilds, but also guilds of performers and entertainers. Even today, performers of "kabuki" and "noh" are in associations called "za" (see Kabuki-za). The "za" trade guilds appeared as a major force in the 14th century, and lasted in their original forms through the end of the 16th, when other guilds and trade organizations arose and subsumed the "za". While