by
AUSTIN B.

NATIONAL FLAG OF SOUTH AFRICA

LOCATION:

A BRIEF HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA

South Africa is located at the southern tip of Africa by the Cape of Good Hope. It was first inhabited by the San or Bushmen.   The first outside settlers were Dutchmen from the Dutch East India Trading Company.  In 1652 a group of Dutch traders began a settlement in South Africa.  They created farms and forced the San to migrate inward.  They also made people slaves. In 1820 after the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars, Great Britain arrived in South Africa.  Five thousand settlers from Great Britain moved onto farms in South Africa. When gold and diamonds were discovered, Great Britain annexed the land in order to gain wealth.  

        Colonization both helped and hurt the indigenous people of South Africa. It hurt because the Dutch East India Company arrived in 1652 and created a colony there. The Dutch took away the land and forced the indigenous people to migrate. The Dutch brought diseases that killed many people.  They intermarried and created a new population called the Coloured who were mistreated by the Boers (the Dutch farmers). In addition, the Boers forced many of the indigenous people into slavery.  The Dutch colonization was harmful to the South African people, but when Great Britain arrived, conditions improved.  Great Britain ordered that the Boers had to treat the Coloured and the blacks better. They also abolished slavery.  When diamonds and gold were discovered, the South African economy increased.  The Europeans created a farming industry, and they built a large railroad system.  

        Great Britain established the Union of South Africa in 1910.  South Africa was divided into four provinces with a central government.  Dutch, English, and Afrikaan languages were the national languages.  In 1961 the Union Of South Africa withdrew from the Commonwealth of Nations and became a republic.   South Africa left the Commonwealth because the other members did not like apartheid.

        After the Union of South Africa in 1910, racism increased   Black people were divided into ten tribal groups and moved into homelands. It was the beginning of apartheid (a way to divide people according to race; depending on a person’s race, he/she could only live, work, or attend schools and churches in certain places).  Lots of people starved because the homelands had no industries, roads, utilities, or government services, and they were unable to produce enough food for everyone. They had lots of strikes, protests, and people jailed. Nelson Mandela, a leader of the African National Congress, was put in jail because of his beliefs and protests.  People had little money so they were living in slums in the city. In 1961 South Africa left the British Commonwealth and avoided other countries. There was a lot of fighting between the whites and blacks but also between the blacks and blacks.   In the mid 1980’s the United Nations imposed economic and political sanctions against South Africa due to apartheid and the racial tensions.  Finally the sanctions were too much and in 1989 the South African government repealed apartheid.  In 1994 elections were held that included both white and black candidates, and Nelson Mandela, the black leader of the African National Congress, was elected president of South Africa.  Soon afterward, South Africa rejoined the British Commonwealth.  In recent years, South Africa has had to deal with high unemployment, poor economy, crime, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

        If the Europeans had never settled South Africa I think the country would look a lot different.  There would be no central government. Instead there would be separate tribes of indigenous people living in different settlements. 

Works Cited

Flag and map courtesy of Microsoft Clipart Gallery.

Lonely Planet www.lonelyplanet.com

Stein, Conrad R. South Africa

Info Please www.infoplease.com