Apartheid in South Africa.

Essay by roast_chickenHigh School, 11th grade August 2003

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South Africa is a country tormented by a past of enforced racism and separation of its

multi-racial community. The 'superior' white Europeans invaded the country and imposed a

political system known as 'Apartheid' (meaning 'apartness'). This system severely restricted the

rights and lifestyle of the non-white inhabitants of the country forcing them to live separately

from the white Europeans. This system of imposed racial ideas although now ended, has left an

imprint on the thoughts and actions of society in South Africa today.

Dutch farmers known as the Boers settled the African lands. Eventually, a rising great

Britain noted the rich resources and strategic location of the country. Britain imposed it's 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. Ironically the Boers, now called

Afrikaners, triumphed. . The Afrikaners imposed the Apartheid system, which "aimed to turn the

already segregated society into completely divided and separately developing racial communities"

(Cowie, p.245).

The Apartheid system brought about many laws to ensure that the races of South Africa

were kept separate. The first major law was the Race Classification Act which divided the citizens

of South Africa into separate groups, white, black and coloured. With this also came the Group

Areas Act, which was imposed to ensure that whites and blacks lived separately. South Africa was

divided into separate areas for each race. As a persons race could not only be judged by

appearance, people had to carry something to prove their identity. The reference or pass book

was introduced to ensure that people were not in the wrong areas, it contained 96 pages with key

contents being the owners photograph, address and fingerprints. "All black men had to carry them

once they reached age...