A Brief History of Apartheid in South Africa

A Brief History of Apartheid in South Africa

Apartheid is not a new thing. Ever since Dutch colonists landed in

1652, "Blacks" and "Whites" have lived apart in South Africa.

Officially started in 1948 when the Afrikaner Nationalist party came

to power, apartheid is a system of racial laws devised to "Preserve

and promote a white majority over a black majority." It has a lot of

opposition and it led to an international boycott of South Africa

because of it.

When the Dutch first landed and established a strong colony there,

they got on relatively peacefully with the natives. Then British and

French landed. Theye wer lured by the prospect of all the gold and

diamonds that were rich in South Africa's mines. They were much more

greedy than the Dutch, pushing the native blacks back, who were

powerless against the invader's guns. Over the years, the races got

even more segregated, having isolated territories. The whites felt

they were far superior to the black people in every way. They took

slaves from black communities, and just dominated the race entirely.

This disgraceful treatment was not without opposition from within the

white race itself. These few people fought (unsuccessfuly) for black

rights. Eventually, this led to interracial relationships. Children

born of these relationships were known as "coloureds" and were

regarded with shame as little better than blacks themselves. They were

particularly in a fix bacause they were never truly accepted into the

black or white communities. In a similar predicament were the Indian

peoples, brought over by the British from their colnies. These were

treasted with only a tiny bit mor...

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...ties were all separated. beaches, hospitals,

toilets, schools -everything. Black men were allowed into white

churches to clean them but not to pray in them. Under no circumstances

were the black people allowed to make use of the white amenties, even

if a black child was run over by a truck, and the closest black

hospital was an hours drive away while the white hospital was just

around the corner, the child would not be admited.

Black human rights were obviously not recognised at all. Imprisonment

without trial was not uncommon, the right to speak publicly and write

for publication was absolutedly forbidden. Because of his activism

against Apartheid, Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. the The black people

were made to suffer this reigeme for a total of 46 years before

Apatheid ended, but racism still continues regardless.