In the history of Africa, one of the most significant moments and periods was that of Apartheid, which consisted of a racial segregation experienced in the 20th century that lasted until the early 1990s in South Africa.
It is hard to believe that in a country like Africaand specifically in South Africathe colonialism of the first white powers, ended up leading to a period of segregation in which the black population had hardly any rights and which ended up separating them completely.
How is Apartheid born and what is it:
- In the middle of the 20th century and although the black population was the majority over the white population, what we know as apartheidderived in fact from a certain white supremacy that had been prevailing since the beginning of this century (in fact in 1910 only whites could access the Parliament and a 1913 Indian Land Act limited land that could be held by blacks to 21 million acres).
- This word is translated from African languages as separation, since the whites who lived in the colonies South African they prevailed and in fact managed to divide the population of whites and blacks. The black population lived discriminated against, in a political, economic, social and racial way.
- The whites ended up dividing the population into three racial groups: whites, Bantu or blacks and colored or mestizos. Later adding to the Hindus and Pakistanis as yet another category.
- In this way, the whites managed to impose a hierarchy in which their race dominated the rest not only in the rights mentioned above, but even geographically, through the forced creation of reserved territories: the Bantustans where they limited the black population and which, furthermore, they did not consider as a population that was South Africa although he even lost his citizenship.
- Nothing was the same for blacks and whites. The blacks even had to carry a card that was requested of them every time the police stopped them if they wished.
- Education for the black population was also different, in fact it was of a lower level and not all black children could attend school due to the low economic resources available. There was a university “for blacks”, that of Fort HareWhere I studyNelson Mandela, and who was without a doubt the great leader and activist against this situation, and along with others like Steve Bikko (who was assassinated in 1977).
- Mandela he was imprisoned for 27 years, and was president from 1994 to 1999.
International reaction to Apartheid:
- This situation of discrimination led the country to be the object of criticism in the international arena, in addition to giving rise to various economic sanctions and isolation by many countries and ratified by international bodies. An example is the ban on South Africa participate in the Olympics Munich in 1972.
- As a result of this international discrimination, South Africa began to apply what is known as “separate development”, thus, blacks were assigned newly created poor areas that were destined to become insignificant states in the future, while the white population maintained control over more than 80% of the country thanks to mining.
- The situation led to harsh clashes among the population, especially in inland areas, since cities such as Moscow collaborate in this situation by arming Angola and Mozambicancountries whose pro-Soviet governments were facing guerrillas subsidized by West and supported by South Africa.
- With the end of the Cold Warthe end of apartheid hastened, also propitiated by the rise to power of the president Frederik de Klerkwhich after various negotiations with the representatives of the country’s ethnic communities, put an end to the racist regime in June 1991, allowing the black population to recover their rights.