| About South Africa | ||
| History | ||
| Early settlers | ||
| 100.000 years ago the area now known as South Africa was first inhabited by the San and Khoikhoi, followed by Bantu tribes migrating from the North. These were first exposed to Europeans when Portuguese explorer Bartholomeu Dias rounded the Cape in 1488 and Vasco de Gama landed at the Cape en route to India in 1497. The first European colony was established in 1652 by Jan van Riebeek on behalf of the Dutch East India Company as a food station for ships on the trade routes. The colony expanded gradually as more settlers arrived and the Cape Region became an important strategic point on the trade route with the Netherlands, France and Britain. |
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| The Great Trek | ||
| From 1795 the British took possession of the Cape and held it as a colony, except for a brief return of Dutch rule from 1803 to 1806. The descendants of Dutch colonists, the Boer settlers, were very discontent with the English colonial authorities. They did not receive efficient military support in their constant armed conflicts with native Khoikhois and Xhosas about grazing land and when in 1833 the slave trade was declared illegal and the "Emancipation Act" demanded that white masters set their slaves free, the Boer communities felt that the British policy destroyed their traditional social order which was based on racial separation and white predominance. More than 10.000 Boers began a mass migration - the Great Trek – and left the Cape Colony into the northern interior and eventually established two independent Boer republics of their own - the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. | ||
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| Colonial Policies |
| Africans and Europeans struggled over land through the 19th century. The politics of the colonial government first attempted to enforce the separation of white and black settlement areas with the Fish River as the border. But the more the colony developed into a modern state with a strong military organization, the more the whites tended towards a policy of land annexing and the subjugation of the black population. In the middle of the 19th century, all the land formerly inhabited by Xhosa was in the hands of white settlers. |
| Anglo-Boer-Wars | ||
| Diamonds and gold were discovered in 1867 and 1886 respectively. Prospectors arrived, mainly from Britain. Sovereignty over the discoveries was contested and bitter conflicts broke out. Rising tension between British settlers and the Transvaal (Boer) authorities led to the outbreak of the first Anglo-Boer War in 1880 in which the British were defeated, while the second Anglo-Boer war, which broke out in 1899 ended in a victory for the British. Also, all African chiefdoms south of the Limpopo had fallen under white rule. Having lost the war, the Boers, however, won the peace. Britain granted generous terms to the Boers to ensure an enduring white influence in southern Africa. | ||
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| White minority rule | ||
| In 1910 South Africa became a self-governing union as a member of the Commonwealth. Both English-speakers and Afrikaners worked fiercely to maintain white minority rule. Between 1910 and 1948 laws based on race were passed and the black people were subjected to a policy of concealed expatriation. Through the Native-Land Law of 1913, first 7.5 per cent, and later 13 per cent of the land in South Africa was declared reservations for blacks. No white person was allowed to purchase land there and, vice versa, no black was allowed to buy land in the remaining 87 per cent of the territory of the Union. Africans suffered under “pass laws” that restricted freedom of movement, and the few Africans on the ordinary voting rolls were struck off in 1936. The foundation of the disastrous policy of Apartheid was laid and black dissatisfaction resulted in the formation of the South African National Native (later African National) Congress as early as 1912. | ||
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| Apartheid Era | ||
| Britain continued to be influential in the union until 1948 when the National Party won the election and established a full legal system of territorial, social and political segregation known as apartheid. New laws forced blacks into townships and outlawed the major black opposition movement, the African National Congress (ANC). Growing black resistance and hostility around the world was the result. After 69 people were killed in a demonstration against "pass laws" at Sharpeville in 1960, political pressures forced South Africa out of the Commonwealth and into becoming a republic in 1961. The United Nations refused to recognise the republic and South Africa effectively began a 30 year period of international isolation. The country was excluded from international organisations and sporting events and also had economic and trade sanctions imposed that served to slow down the economy to such an extent that it could no longer survive in the isolation. |
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| Young Democracy | ||
| The Government started bringing certain aspects of apartheid under review and apartheid's grip on South Africa began to give way when F. W. de Klerk replaced P. W. Botha as president in 1989. De Klerk removed the ban on the ANC, released its leader, Nelson Mandela, after 27 years of imprisonment and agreed to work with Mandela on a new constitution. In 1993, an interim constitution was passed, which dismantled apartheid and provided for a multiracial democracy with majority rule. The slow, but peaceful transition of South Africa from one of the world's most repressive societies into a democracy is one of the 20th century's most remarkable success stories. Mandela and de Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. | ||
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| South Africa today | ||
| The 1994 election, the country's first multiracial one, resulted in a massive victory for Mandela and his ANC. Immediately afterwards, economic and other sanctions were lifted and South Africa reclaimed its seat in the UN General Assembly, became a member of the Organisation of African Unity and rejoined the Commonwealth. The final constitution signed into law by President Mandela came into force in February 1997. Nelson Mandela retired in 1999 and Thabo Mbeki, the pragmatic deputy president and leader of the ANC, was elected president and sworn in for a second term on April 15, 2004, when the African National Congress won South Africa's general election in a landslide, taking about 70% of the vote. |
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| Government today | ||
| Under the terms of the new constitution, which was adopted on 8 May 1996 and entered into force on 4 February 1997, legislative power is vested in a bicameral parliament, comprising a National Assembly and a National Council of Provinces (formerly the Senate). The National Assembly is elected by universal adult suffrage under a system of proportional representation and has between 350 and 400 members. The 90-member National Council of Provinces comprises six permanent delegates and four special delegates from each of the provincial legislatures. The president, who is elected by the National Assembly from among its members, exercises executive power in consultation with the other members of the cabinet. | ||
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