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Apartheid

This article is about apartheid in South Africa. For other uses, see Apartheid (disambiguation).

"Reserved for the sole use of members of the white race group" sign in English, Afrikaans, and Zulu at a beach in Durban, 1989
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Apartheid (/əˈpɑːrt(h)aɪt/ ə-PART-(h)yte, especially South African English: /əˈpɑːrt(h)eɪt/ ə-PART-(h)ayt, Afrikaans: [aˈpartɦɛit] ⓘ; transl. "separateness", lit. 'aparthood') was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa[a] (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s.[note 1] Apartheid was characterised by an authoritarian political culture based on baasskap (lit. 'boss-ship' or 'boss-hood'), which ensured that South Africa was dominated politically, socially, and economically by the nation's minority white population.[4] In this minoritarian system, there was social stratification, where white citizens had the highest status, followed by Indians and Coloureds, then Black Africans.[4] The economic legacy and social effects of apartheid continue to the present day, particularly inequality.[5][6][7][8]

Broadly speaking, apartheid was delineated into petty apartheid, which entailed the segregation of public facilities and social events, and grand apartheid, which dictated housing and employment opportunities by race.[9] The first apartheid law was the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, 1949, followed closely by the Immorality Amendment Act of 1950, which made it illegal for most South African citizens to marry or pursue sexual relationships across racial lines.[10] The Population Registration Act, 1950 classified all South Africans into one of four racial groups based on appearance, known ancestry, socioeconomic status, and cultural lifestyle: "Black", "White", "Coloured", and "Indian", the last two of which included several sub-classifications.[11] Places of residence were determined by racial classification.[10] Between 1960 and 1983, 3.5 million black Africans were removed from their homes and forced into segregated neighbourhoods as a result of apartheid legislation, in some of the largest mass evictions in modern history.[12] Most of these targeted removals were intended to restrict the black population to ten designated "tribal homelands", also known as bantustans, four of which became nominally independent states.[10] The government announced that relocated persons would lose their South African citizenship as they were absorbed into the bantustans.[9]

Apartheid sparked significant international and domestic opposition, resulting in some of the most influential global social movements of the 20th century.[13] It was the target of frequent condemnation in the United Nations and brought about extensive international sanctions, including arms embargoes and economic sanctions on South Africa.[14] During the 1970s and 1980s, internal resistance to apartheid became increasingly militant, prompting brutal crackdowns by the National Party ruling government and protracted sectarian violence that left thousands dead or in detention.[15] The Truth and Reconciliation Commission found that there were 21,000 deaths from political violence, with 7,000 deaths between 1948 and 1989, and 14,000 deaths and 22,000 injuries in the transition period between 1990 and 1994.[16][17] Some reforms of the apartheid system were undertaken, including allowing for Indian and Coloured political representation in parliament, but these measures failed to appease most activist groups.[18]

Between 1987 and 1993, the National Party entered into bilateral negotiations with the African National Congress (ANC), the leading anti-apartheid political movement, for ending segregation and introducing majority rule.[18][19] In 1990, prominent ANC figures such as Nelson Mandela were released from prison.[20] Apartheid legislation was repealed on 17 June 1991,[2] leading to multiracial elections in April 1994.[21]


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ "Repeal of Population Registration Act". C-Span. 17 June 1991. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  2. ^ a b Myre, Greg (18 June 1991). "South Africa ends racial classifications". Cape Girardeau: Southeast Missourian. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 8 June 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  3. ^ Bartusis, Mark (2012). Gomez, Edmund; Premdas, Ralph (eds.). Affirmative Action, Ethnicity and Conflict. New York: Routledge Books. pp. 126–132. ISBN 978-0415627689.
  4. ^ a b Mayne, Alan (1999). From Politics Past to Politics Future: An Integrated Analysis of Current and Emergent Paradigms. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger. p. 52. ISBN 978-0-275-96151-0.
  5. ^ Leander (15 June 2015). "Despite the 1994 political victory against apartheid, its economic legacy persists by Haydn Cornish-Jenkins". South African History Online. Archived from the original on 2 May 2018. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  6. ^ Moeti, Thato (27 April 2018). "Apartheid legacy haunts SA economy". www.sabcnews.com. SABC News. Archived from the original on 19 November 2018. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  7. ^ Hirsch, Alan (6 April 2018). "Ramaphosa's tough job on fixing Apartheid legacy". The Conversation Africa. AllAfrica.
  8. ^ Msimang, Sisonke (12 December 2017). "All Is Not Forgiven: South Africa and the Scars of Apartheid". Foreign Affairs. No. January/February 2018. ISSN 0015-7120. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  9. ^ a b Crompton, Samuel Willard (2007). Desmond Tutu: Fighting Apartheid. New York: Chelsea House, Publishers. pp. 34–35. ISBN 978-0791092217.
  10. ^ a b c Walton, F. Carl; Udayakumar, S.P.; Muck, William; McIlwain, Charlton; Kramer, Eric; Jensen, Robert; Ibrahim, Vivian; Caliendo, Stephen Maynard; Asher, Nhia (2011). The Routledge Companion to Race and Ethnicity. New York: Routledge Books. pp. 103–105. ISBN 978-0415777070.
  11. ^ Baldwin-Ragaven, Laurel; London, Lesley; du Gruchy, Jeanelle (1999). An ambulance of the wrong colour: health professionals, human rights and ethics in South Africa. Juta and Company Limited. p. 18.
  12. ^ "South Africa – Overcoming Apartheid". African Studies Center of Michigan State University. Archived from the original on 14 December 2013. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
  13. ^ Lodge, Tim (2011). Sharpeville: An Apartheid Massacre and Its Consequences. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 234–235. ISBN 978-0192801852.
  14. ^ Lodge, Tom (1983). Black Politics in South Africa Since 1945. New York: Longman.
  15. ^ Pandey, Satish Chandra (2006). International Terrorism and the Contemporary World. New Delhi: Sarup & Sons, Publishers. pp. 197–199. ISBN 978-8176256384.
  16. ^ Ugorji, Basil (2012). From Cultural Justice to Inter-Ethnic Mediation: A Reflection on the Possibility of Ethno-Religious Mediation in Africa. Denver: Outskirts Press. pp. 65–66. ISBN 978-1432788353.
  17. ^ "SAPA - 27 May 97 - HRC SUBMITS APARTHEID REPRESSION BOOK TO TRUTH BODY".
  18. ^ a b Thomas, Scott (1995). The Diplomacy of Liberation: The Foreign Relations of the ANC Since 1960. London: Tauris Academic Studies. pp. 202–210. ISBN 978-1850439936.
  19. ^ "De Klerk dismantles apartheid in South Africa". BBC News. 2 February 1990. Archived from the original on 15 February 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2009.
  20. ^ Alex Duval Smith (31 January 2010). "Why FW de Klerk let Nelson Mandela out of prison". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 17 March 2016. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  21. ^ Mitchell, Thomas (2008). Native vs Settler: Ethnic Conflict in Israel/Palestine, Northern Ireland and South Africa. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 8. ISBN 978-0313313578.


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