Apartheid In Africa: An essay talking about how Apartheid in Africa got started, what this caused, and how it ended.

Essay by N1neoneoneJunior High, 9th gradeA+, May 2004

download word file, 3 pages 5.0

Downloaded 79 times

Apartheid in Africa

Apartheid isn't 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. They were lured by the prospect of all the gold and diamonds that were rich in South Africa's mines. They were much greedier 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 (unsuccessfully) for black rights. Eventually, this led to interracial relationships. Children born of these relationships were known as "colored" and were regarded with shame as little better than blacks themselves. They were particularly in a fix because 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 colonies. These were treated with only a tiny bit more respect and their plight in the 50's were mostly unrecognized. The main political party of the whites was the "Afrikaners Nationalist Party" which thoroughly supported the idea of apartheid. Since black people...