South Africa is an ethnically diverse country that is rich in natural resources. "South African mines are world leaders in the production of diamonds and gold as well as strategic metals such as platinum"(History). Apartheid, which is Afrikaans for "apartness," was the policy of the all-white minority government to separate the races and control the non-white people's economic and political power. People were divided into general racial groups, which were called "European," "African," "Asian," and "Colored"(people of mixed racial ancestry)(Overview). The black majority could not vote and was forced onto small homelands, which made up 13% of South Africa's land, even though they made up 70% of the population in 1990(Overview). "The idea was that they would be citizens of the homeland, losing their citizenship in South Africa and any right of involvement with the South African Parliament which held complete hegemony over the homelands"(History). "Though whites were only 17% of the population is 1986, they owned 87% of the land"(Overview). Many areas and opportunities were for whites only. Black people had to carry passbooks to travel around the country and couldn't have "white-only" jobs or education or use white facilities, such as beaches and bathrooms. Punishments for breaking or protesting these laws were very severe. The South African Parliament passed acts, which allowed them to declare a state of emergency, which allowed the lowest police officials to detain people for six months without a hearing. "Thousands of individuals died in custody, frequently after gruesome acts of torture"(History). As this table shows, whites gained much more wealth than blacks.
Although Apartheid began in the twentieth century, South Africa's history of racial discrimination is as old as its colonial history. Its first colonists were the Dutch, who set up a supply station for their ships in 1652. The Dutch deemed the native Africans as unfit to govern themselves, and as more colonists came, they began to use Africans as slave labor for their farms. In 1795, Britain seized the colony and began to impose its laws. Britain abolished slavery but kept the discriminating laws. The Dutch farmers wanted to preserve their culture so they fled into the interior of South Africa, and this trip became known as the Great Trek. The Dutch believed that they deserved South Africa because of their hardships. Britain granted South Africa independence in 1910 but blacks were denied the right to vote and the Dutch Afrikaners took over. In 1948, the Afrikaner National party won the national election, and Apartheid became official policy. "'The goal,' said Cornelius Mulder, a South African Minister of black affairs, "is that eventually there will be no black South Africans'"(Gordon, pg. 19)
