![[Country map of South Africa]](sf-map.jpg)
Geographical Information:
South Africa is located on the southern tip of the continent of Africa. It is bordered by Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland, and Lesotho. Some of the natural resources found there are gold, chromium, antimony, coal, iron ore, manganese, nickel, phosphates, tin, uranium, gem diamonds, platinum, copper, vanadium, salt, and natural gas. The climate is mostly semiarid, but tropical on the east coast, with sun-drenched days and chilly nights.
History of the Boers In South Africa:
The Boers were originally Dutch immigrants to South Africa. They thought they bought land from the natives, the Africans, but the Africans had no concept of owning, and buying and selling land. To them, it was something that everybody could use and have, like the air and the sun. When the Boers began to abuse the land in the African's eyes, they launched an attack on the Boers, but they easily defeated the Africans with their guns. The Boers then enslaved the Africans, and began to control the country.
During the 1800's, Britain expanded its influence in southern Africa, and which annoyed the Boers, also called Afrikaaners. Eventually, the British abolished slavery, and the Boers made the Great Trek; during 1835 and 1843, a large number of Boers moved from the Cape of Good Hope to north South Africa, and established three Afrikaaner republics. The republic of Natal became a British colony, but the Transvaal territories and the Orange Free state remained independent.
History of Blacks in South Africa:
During the Mid 1600's the Boers pushed through South Africa, slaughtering the Khoisan tribes with violence and disease. When the Dutch power began to fade, the British jumped in for "another peace of Africa."
Turmoil wasn't only made by the White Invaders; the Zulu chief Shaka led a terror campaign call Difaqane. This upheaval left some tribes completely annihilated, others enslaved, and the lucky ones running. When the Boers came in, they found traumatized survivors and deserted villages, and they quickly took over. The Zulus, however, were no easy game. They put up a strong fight before they surrendered to the Boers' superior firearms.
Apartheid In South Africa:
Apartheid was invented by strategists in the National Party as a way to fortify their control over the economic and social system of South Africa. So in other words, it was to preserve the white domination, while extending racial separation (see chart below). In 1948 apartheid was made official and legal. These racial laws affected people's lives in every way. There were laws about where blacks could live, which bathroom they could use, which pay phone they could use, what jobs they could have, and so on and so forth. All blacks were required to carry a "passbook," which contained their photo, fingerprints, tribal information, and which non-black areas they were allowed to access. In 1951, the Bantu Authorities Act established areas in which ethnic government could be used. These reserves were called Bantustans, and they were homelands for blacks who were not eligible to live in the townships. These homelands were on the barest, infertile desert, where almost nothing could be grown. All political rights, including voting, held by an African would be confined to the homeland. The reason for this was to make the blacks not citizens of South Africa, and losing any right of involvement in the South African Parliament. Also, once the blacks were not citizens of South Africa, the government wouldn't have to care about them anymore. Africans living in the Bantustans had to have passports to enter South African areas; they were strangers in their own country.
Chart from: http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~cale/cs201/apartheid.hist.html
The Blacks Protest:
The Sharpeville Massacre left 69 dead and 80 wounded. On the morning of March 21, 1960, hundreds of blacks met to protest the new law that had been passed. All blacks now had to carry a pass at all times that described their identity. The protesters had planned a peaceful march which would end at the Sharpeville Police Office. Their idea was to burn their passbooks in front of the police to show how much they hated the new law. The response they got from the police was definitely not what they wanted. The police opened fire on the crowd, and killed mothers, fathers, children, and anybody else who was in the uprising.
In the township of Sowet0 (South West Township), after the government ruled that the black secondary schools were to be taught in Afrikaans (which many blacks considered the language of the oppressor), an estimated 15,000 students came to protest on June 16,1976. It started out as a peaceful protest, but when the police fired a tear gas canister into the crowd, the students responded by throwing rocks. The police then opened fire, and killed and wounded hundreds of Soweto residents and students. This episode ignited rioting throughout the country, which led to 575 more deaths.
-Joelle, 6th grade
Cary Academy, 2000