Brief Notes on Option F: Apartheid in South Africa

Resource Description

• Portuguese and Dutch explorers wanted to establish a trade route to the east
• The Dutch East India Company landed the first European settlers in 1652
• These settlers were known as Boers or Afrikaaners and spoke a Dutch dialect called Afrikaans
• The British settled in 1795 and took possession in 1815
• With the discovery of diamonds and gold in the 19th century, the British and Dutch engaged in a civil war known as the Boer War (1899-1902) – the British won and took over in 1910 and South Africa became a British Colony
• 1910 – Union of South Africa was formed and the first PM was a Boer – Louis Botha

Translated from the Afrikaans meaning ‘apartness’, apartheid was the ideology supported by the National Party (NP) government and was introduced in South Africa in 1948.

Apartheid called for the separate development of the different racial groups in South Africa