Africa

GE 350 World Geography
Assignment 06 – Africa
February 6, 2013
Africa’s Apartheid Policy

South Africa has suffered a great amount throughout the last few centuries. One of South Africa’s most devastating events was the Apartheid Policy. It was initiated and passed in an unfair manner. The Apartheid policy was very damaging to the economy, citizens and environment of South Africa.

South Africa is a region located in the continent of Africa. In most textbooks, South Africa is defined as the region of Africa South of the Sahara. The major urban areas of Southern Africa are Lusaka, Zambia; Harare, Zimbabue; Luanda, Angola; Durban, South Africa; Antananarivo, Madagascar; Cape Town, South Africa; Johannesburg, South Africa; Ekurhuleni (East Rand), South Africa; and Maputo, Mozambique. The lands South of Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo is Southern Africa. “The population distribution of Africa South of Sahara reflects cultural history, environmental challenges, and external influences. The highest densities are often found in lands where traditional empire organization was followed by colonial product extraction.”pg.227, Bradshaw. This region has some of the World’s highest volume of valuable minerals, which include, steel constituents, gold, diamonds, and platinum.

“In 1948 the apartheid policy was passed into law, including a “petit apartheid” of separated ethnic groups and a “grand apartheid” of relocating black Africans to homeland areas. The black Africans were regarded merely as laborers for whites and each was assigned to a homeland or temporary urban location.” Pg.226, Bradshaw. In South Africa, the segregated political system is called the Apartheid Policy. The Nationalist Party was elected into office in 1948 and they pushed to legalize racism. The Apartheid Policy is a political system in South Africa that lasted from 1948 to the early 1990s. The Overall goal of the Apartheid Policy was to give privileges to those of European origin and separate the people of South Africa according to their race. The Apartheid Policy used discrimination on the grounds of race. A person’s “race” means to belong to a certain group of humans. The distinction of a group of humans into which the world’s population can be divided upon specific physical characteristics, such as, skin color or hair texture is called human race. During the Apartheid Policy racial segregation was used to separate and classify the citizens of South Africa.

The racial classifications used during the Apartheid Policy to classify South Africans were separated into four categories. The four categories of racial classification are Coloured (mixed race individuals), White (European decent), Bantu (all black Africans), Asian (Indians, Pakistanis, etc.). Non-white citizens had several restrictions. Their restrictions included voting, farming, employment, and owning land. If Bantus lived outside of the Bantustan area, they were required to carry passports and had strict curfews regulations. The Bantustan is an area of land created during the Apartheid Policy, by the white dominated government. It is referred to as, Bantu homelands or black homelands. The African National Congress (ANC) and Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) both opposed the Nationalist Party. Nelson Mandela was the leader of the African National Congress (ANC). He was arrested and jailed for non-violent protests. In 1990, Apartheid Policy negotiations begin with President Frederik Willem de Klerk. The last remaining Apartheid laws were outlawed in 1990. After over 40 years, the Apartheid Policy ended. During the general elections, in 1994, the African National Congress (ANC) won under the leadership of Nelson Mandela.

APA Citation:
Bradshaw , M. (2011). Essentials of World Regional Geography,. (2nd ed.). Boston: Mcgraw-Hill company.