Understanding the History of

South Africa & Apartheid

Early HistoryA Time Line

1806 – British seize Cape of Good Hope 1867 – Discovery of Gold 1886 – Discovery of Diamonds 1889 – 1902 – The Boer War (British and

Dutch settlers) 1902 – The beginning of apartheid 1990’s – The end of apartheid

South Africa

Twice the size of Texas

Population Statistics 1996 Population

40, 583, 611

2003 Population 42, 768, 678

Population Growth Rate = .01%

2010 Population 51.19 million

Reasons for Low Population Growth Rate:

Life expectancy = 46 years

50% live below poverty

20% of adults have AIDS

Population by Race

“Colored” is a term used for mixed black, Malayan, and white descent

Asian population is mainly Indian ancestry

74%

14%

3%

9%

BlackWhiteAsianColored

South African Cities Capitals

Pretoria Cape Town –

legislative center Bloemfontein –

judicial center

“Jo’Burg” TodayJohannesburg

Suburb of Jo’Burg

Languages / Provinces

LANGUAGES Afrikaans English Ndebele Pedi Sotho Swazi Tsonga Tswana * Venda Xhosa Zulu

PROVINCES Eastern Cape Free State Gauteng Kwa Zulu – Natal Limpopo Mpumalanga North-West Northern Cape Western Cape

World’s Largest Producer… Gold Platinum Chromium Diamonds

Apartheid

Apartheid = “Separateness”

The separation of races

HendrikVerwoerd

•Prime Minister of South Africa from 1958 until his assassination in 1966•“Architect of Apartheid”

Policies of Apartheid: “policy of good neighbourliness” Moved apartheid to “separate

development” 13% of S. Africa’s land = HOMELANDS The remaining = major mineral areas and

cities were reserved for the Afrikaan population

Rural vs. Urban

• Group Acts of 1950 & 1986

• 1.5 Million Africans were forced from urban areas to rural reservations

• 1961 – Pressure from UN caused South Africa to withdraw from the Commonwealth of Nations

Homelands• “Reservations” or

“Bantustans”• Verwoerd established 9

African groups• Each was to become a

nation within its own homeland

• Africans had rights and freedoms

• Outside the homelands, treated as aliens

• Poor quality land with erosion

• Completely incapable of supporting large populations

Houses in Soweto, a black township.

Umbulwana, Natal in 1982. Called "a black spot" because it is in a "white" area. Eventually demolished and the inhabitants forced to move to identically numbered houses in "resettlement" villages in their designated "homelands.“ Millions of black South Africans were forcibly "resettled" in this way.

Apartheid No Rights for Non-whites• No right to vote• No ownership of land• No right to move freely• No right to free speech• No right to protest the

government

Images of Apartheid

Images of Apartheid

Apartheid separated the whites from

the non-whites

The Pass Book

Needed special permits to live outside of reservations, but not with family

Lived in Townships (the city’s perimeter) Curfew regulations Passbook raids Failure to meet curfew or have passbook

= subject to arrest

Resistance and ProtestsApartheid is Challenged

Nelson Mandela Nelson Mandela

peacefully fought to end apartheid. He served 27 years in prison for such “treason.”

Thousands of other South African non-whites were imprisoned and executed for their resistance against apartheid.

1960 Sharpeville Massacre In 1960, during a

peaceful protest in the city of Sharpeville, 69 people were killed

This massacre ignited additional demonstrations and protests against the unfair treatment of non-whites

Student Uprising: 1976 Black students were

forced to learn in Afrikaans.

Protests against Afrikaans started.

More than 500 black students killed by white policemen.

More than a thousand men, women and children wounded.

By Mzoli Mncanca

Steve Biko A young Black leaderGrave in King Williams Town, South Africa.Died in police detention in 1977. During the inquest into his death, strong evidence was presented that he suffered violent and inhumane treatment during his detention.

1985 Demonstration In 1985 an

International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was organized. The demonstration was held at Langa Township in Uitenhage. The day commemorates the anniversary of the March 21, 1960 massacre.

1985 Demonstration

The message was simple:“Freedom in

Our Lifetime!”

“I was made by the law, a criminal, not because of what I had done, but because of what I stood for, because of what I thought, because of my conscious. Can it be any wonder to anybody that such conditions make a man an outlaw of society?” Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela in Prison

Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in solitary confinement in this cell.

1994

• Reservations abolished and territories reabsorbed into the nation of South Africa

• Apartheid caused major economic hardships on South Africa

• International sanctions• Decreased labor force• Cut investments from countries like U.S.A.

• First multiracial election• Nelson Mandela elected president of South

Africa (1994 – 1999)

A New Government

Nelson Mandela casts the first vote for the new government of South Africa.

On the following slide, you will see a list of Grand Apartheid Laws. After reading through them, choose the one type of law that you think you would have had the hardest time dealing with and would have protested if

you were a native in South Africa.

Write the law down in your journal and explain why you think that law would have affected you the most.

Why do you think that the native South Africans didn’t resist these laws more than they did?

Journal Entry #1

1. THE POPULATION REGISTRATION ACT—grouped every South African into a particular “race” (white, Indian, Coloured, and Black). Only whites could vote. Those lower down on the list had fewer rights.

2. THE MIXED MARRIAGES ACT—made it a crime for any marriage to take place between whites and any other “racial” group. Only 75 marriages between blacks and whites had been recorded before Apartheid began.

3. THE IMMORALITY ACT—made it a crime for any sexual act to be committed between a white person and any other “racial” group. Between 1950-1985, 24,000 people were prosecuted for this crime.

4. THE GROUP AREAS ACT—divided South Africa into different areas where the different “race” groups could live. Of the 3.5 million people who had to leave their homes because of this act, only 2% were white.

5. THE PASS LAWS—made it mandatory for blacks to carry pass books at all times, which allowed them to have permission to be in a white area for a limited amount of time. Without their pass, they were arrested.

Grand Apartheid Laws

Challenges facing South Africa today High rate of unemployment Inequality with a racial overlay Lastly, poverty especially to those who were

disadvantaged before democracy.

In schools : Endemic to rural areas including overcrowding, poor

school infrastructure (including collapsing ceilings and broken windows), high student to teacher ratio, long walk to get to school and lastly, the lack of teaching and learning resources.

Works Cited

The World Factbook 2003: South Africa. www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/sf.html. CIA. 10 April 2004.

Encyclopedia.com. www.encyclopedia.com. HighBeam Research. 10 April 2004.- South Africa History- Apartheid History- Nelson Mandela

HUMAN RIGHTS Historical images of Apartheid in South Africahttp://www.un.org/av/photo/subjects/apartheid.htm. United Nations Photo. 17

November 2004.