The Origins of Apartheid in South Africa

INTRODUCTION:

The term apartheid (from the Afrikaans word for "apartness") was coined in the 1930s and used as a political slogan of the National Party in the early 1940s, but the policy itself extends back to the beginning of white settlement in South Africa in 1652. After the primarily Afrikaner Nationalists came to power in 1948, the social custom of apartheid was systematized under law. The apartheid was a social and political segregation of the white rulers from the black locals of South Africa.

ANALYSIS:

Dutch farmers, known as the Boers, settled African lands, taking them from the San and the Khoi Khoi. Eventually, a rising Great Britain noted the rich resources and strategic location of the country. Britain imposed its rule on rebellious Boers, pushing the Boers off their land and eventually sparking the Boer War. Britain employed an overwhelming force to subdue the Boers, who pioneered guerrilla warfare. Ironically, the Boers, now called Afrikaners, triumphed. Britain had granted them political rights which they used to take the government by way of the ballot box. Afrikaners imposed the apartheid system, which intended to keep the races separate. Black Africans were subject to many controls and were expected to work the low-wage jobs. Black resistance along with several other factors resulted in the end of apartheid. The white minority government negotiated a transition to majority rule, which meant black rule. Nelson Mandela was freed from prison ...