Apartheid in South Africa
The History of Apartheid in South Africa Apartheid was a system employed by the dominantly white government that held the people of Africa apart for over half a century, and is only now being uplifted. It literally means 'apartness', and that states a lot about the system itself. The basis of it was to classify all the different people of Africa into races - of which there were four basic ones: White (European and Caucasian), Black (any native African), Indian (Pakistani and Indian) and Coloured (A mix of any of the above). Furthermore, these were sub-divided even more. Apartheid officially came into use in 1948, when the National Party came into power, by a slim margin, but the history of discrimination goes much further back than that, to the beginning of the European settlement of South Africa in the 1600's. The East India Trading Company set up a post at Cape of Good Hope to supply passing ships with fruits, vegetables and meat. The post was not meant to be a settlement, but those posted there built homes, cultivated crops, and got 'settled in'. The natives of the are understandably disliked strangers invading their land. The East India Company tried to keep the tension at a minimum, and limited the amount of land
The Boers surrendered in 1902, but they never forgot or forgave the British for their treatment. Anyone suspected of communism was either imprisoned for life or executed - this became a handy tool for getting rid of opposition. They preferred a one-party system where the English-speaking population would have most of their rights removed, and where the natives would be stripped of their rights completely. The rooms were small, and often as many as 10 people were crammed into a small four-room house. In June of 1991 the laws that separated people by race were repealed, along with the restrictions of black land ownership. Most of the Boers were eager to make peace and a former Boer general, Louis Botha was elected as prime minister. The people living on the land were not African citizens and had no rights or parliamentary representation. Mingling of the races was strictly prohibited, so that they would not learn to understand each other, for ignorance breeds mistrust, which breeds hate. In 1899, after several incidents planned to increase the tensions, war broke out. No one could own a house, only rent them from the gov!ernment. The white population had the 'luxury' of 1 doctor per 400 people, and infant mortality was only 2%. Universities and schools were strictly white or black, with the white universities getting most of the funding and the good teachers.
Common topics in this essay:
National Party,
British Empire,
South Africa,
India Company,
Nationalist Party,
Africa Apartheid,
Nelson Mandela,
Cape Hope,
African Republic,
South Africans',
south africa,
national party,
united party,
east india,
east india company,
people africa,
india company,
infant mortality,
war broke,
nelson mandela,
party won,
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Acceptance Essays
