Colonization

The Portuguese took pride in their nautical achievement of navigating the cape of South Africa, although they were not interested in colonization due to the area’s geography, and thus settled the Mozambican coast. However, come the 1600’s, and the English and Dutch posed threat to the Portuguese trade routes. Especially after a Dutch ship was marooned on the shores in 1647, then rescued, the Dutch East India Company started establishing European trading houses in South Africa, and the cape became a popular stopping point.

The Dutch traded with the Khoikhoi, the locals, out of necessity, but it was not a friendly relationship. Because of this, the Dutch faced a labor shortage, and consequently allowed nationals to settle and work as laborers. Soon, however, there were not only Dutch nationals, but also German and Scandanavian people who were followed by the French Huguenots. Most of these people were fleeing religious persecution in Europe.

After a free burgher (as the Dutch farmers were called) system was then developed by Cape Town founder Johan van Riebeeck and the Dutch East India Company, they started to import slaves from Madagascar and Indonesia. Colonization expanded into the land of the Khoikhoi, which led to many clashes. Dutch newcomers drove out the Khoikhoi and destroyed them with disease and war.

Burghers, enfranchised citizens of the South African Republic, explored the lands as well. These were the first of the Boers.

Boer Wars

In the 17th century, the Dutch and English colonized South Africa, but the English had dominion over the Dutch descendants, known as the Boers or Afrikaners. The English wanted to bring the whole of South Africa under British rule, and therefore annexed the South African Transvaal in 1877. This led to the First Boer War, which began in 1880, when the Transvaal Boers declared independence from Great Britain. A second war for independence, fought between Great Britain and Boer republics, resulted in the Second Boer War in 1902. The Boer Wars contributed to the making of the nationalist organizations and caused segregation, leading to the development of Apartheid.

Apartheid

Following independence from England, 1948 saw the creation of Apartheid by the Afrikaner National Party in order to gain control of the economic and social system. It was viewed as an official policy.

Apartheid institutionalized racial segregation, a parallel to the Jim Crow laws in the United States. It categorized people into three racial categories: white, black, Indian, or colored (mixed descent). The “homeland” administrations were established -- these alienated Africans from their own country. The Public Safety Act and Criminal Law Amendment Act were passed, allowing cruel punishment to be used on the people in a “state of emergency,” which, in some cases, was just a protest. Many were killed, and those who were tried, if not sentenced to death, were banished for life or imprisoned, Nelson Mandela among the latter.

See Works: South Africa/Apartheid for Tutu's involvement

After Apartheid

Desmond Tutu’s efforts greatly contributed to the end of Apartheid, which was officially abolished in 1990. This was the same year in which Mandela was released from jail by South African president F.W. de Klerk after he removed the ban on the African National Congress. The president of the ANC (African National Congress) after Mandela was Mbeki, elected in 1997, who became the president of the country in 1999. He pledged to address the economy and improve social conditions in the country, committing himself to peace and reconciliation with the country's white minority. These improvements include the November 2003 approval of a major program to tackle HIV/AIDS, which had not been provided by the government before. Mbeki was elected again at the 2004 election, and would be in power until 2009.

Another advancement for South Africa in 2010 was South Africa becoming the first African nation to host FIFA’s World Cup, showing how the country has changed since Apartheid. The country entered this new century smoothly making a transition of power in government -- a government that represented the majority of the people.

In 2005, however, deputy president Jacob Zuma (held as Mbeki’s successor as president of the ANC and the country) was dismissed for charges of corruption, and the next year, was tried for charges of rape. He was acquitted of both rape and corruption in 2006. Nevertheless, Zuma remained popular in the ANC and was chosen over Mbeki as party president in 2007.

Interesting Info

Pretoria

48,810,427

1,219,090 square km

IsiZulu: 23.82%, IsiXhosa: 17.64%, Afrikaans: 13.35%, Sepedi: 9.39%, English: 8.2%, Setswana: 8.2%, Sesotho: 7.93%, Xitsonga: 4.44%, siSwati: 2.66%, Tshivenda: 2.28%, isiNdebele: 1.59%, other 0.5% (2001 census)

36.6%, Catholic: 7.1%, Muslim: 1.5%, other Christian: 36%, other: 2.3%, unspecified: 1.4%, none: 15.1% (2001 census)

corn, wheat, sugarcane, fruits, vegetables; beef, poultry, mutton, wool, dairy products

31. May. 1910 (Union of South Africa formed from four British colonies: Cape Colony, Natal, Transvaal, and Orange Free State); 31. May. 1961 (republic declared); 27. April. 1994 (majority rule -- Freedom Day)

republic

mixed legal system of Roman-Dutch civil law, English common law, and customary law

improved: urban - 99% of population, rural - 78% of population, total - 91% of population; unimproved: urban - 1% of population, rural - 22% of population, total - 9% of population (2008)

black African 79%, white 9.6%, colored 8.9%, Indian/Asian 2.5% (2001 census)