The idea of apartheid started in South Africa around the year 1910. This all came
about when Britain took over South Africa. The British thought that whites should be
superior to all other races and that they should live better life styles than anyone that was
not white. The rules of apartheid applied to all non - whites, and not just blacks even
though blacks made up most of South Africa. The British split these non - whites into 3
racial catagories; Africans,Coloureds(those mixed of African and European descent), and
Asians. Under the rules of Apartheid whites had a high standard of living while non -
whites suffered from poverty and were very discriminated against. Apartheid was
especially harsh on blacks. blacks could not vote and it was unheard of for a black person
to be in politics. All non - whites had to carry a passbook that included information such
as place of birth, date of birth, race, place of employment, and tax records. All non -
whites were restricted to live on their designated reserve. The Native Land Act prevented
non - whites from buying or owning land outside their reserve. The Group Areas Act
divided 13 percent of South Africa into 10 homelands for black population. The rest of
south Africa was reserved for whites. Coloureds and Asians lived within the white areas
in segregated towns. Even though whites only took up one fifth of the population they
still owned much more land than the four fifths of non - whites. Only one fourth of the
whites lived on farms while the rest lived in cities. Almost all non - whites lived on farm
areas and their homes were small huts made of sod and grass. They looked sort of like
cone shaped beehives. These areas were called townships. Most blacks would leave their
townships when they were teenagers to find work or to find land for mining.
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