The Response to Apartheid - Topic 1.1 Flashcards
Life in South Africa circa 1948
What were the four races that comprised South Africa’s population?
- Whites - Afrikaners and those of British descent
- Africans - The original inhabitants the San and other native African tribes and kindgoms
- Coloureds - Descendents of the San and Khoikhoi, slaves from South East Asia and other Dutch colonial areas in Africa
- Indians - Indian traders from Gujarat and indentured labourers from Tamil
What was segregation and discrimination like before 1948?
MPs and most of the electorate were white, though a small exception was made for Coloureds and Indians who met property qualifications. White women were able to vote after 1930 but Africans were completely disenfranchised in 1936. Most Africans were forced to live in townships ourtside of cities, segregated from whites.
How did the discovery of gold impact industrialisation and urbanisation?
From 1886
Gold discovered in the Witwatersrand, Transvaal meant Johannesburg quickly grew to provide services to the mines. Some of the mineworkers were African migrants who temporarily lived in huge, male-only compounds. By 1948, the population of Johannesburg reached nearly 1 million.
Eventually, the state developed a major iron, steel and coal industry. Many of the Africans lived in the countryside not able to make a living while poor whites were often given jobs to serve the state.
How did townships develop prior to 1948?
Municipal councils were keen to keep urban areas as predominantly white but there was a large influx of migrants. This led to the establishment of shanty towns - townships - that hosted black migrants. Soweto was the largest. The land rights of residents were tenuous and sanitation was poor.
How was land divided by 1948?
Whites owned over 80% of the land most as large farms held as private property. Most the people living on these farms were black, working as wage labourers and tenants. In these rural areas, whites were able to keep a hierarchy more effectively.
How did rural African communities live prior to 1948?
Most communities either lived on white-owned farms or reserves. After efforts by missionaries to convert these reserves, African independent churches started vying for control. Missionary schools became educational establishments and taxation for Africans into the cash economy and changed consumer tastes. The economy of the reserves still remained peasent-like.
How did Afrikaner politics and culture change leading up to 1948?
The prior Boer Wars left tensions between the British and Afrikaners high but after the Union of the South African colonies and republics in 1910, some politicians tried to unify the white population. Jan Smuts was one of these politicians. Some Afrikaners still had disdain to the British, such as J. B. M. Hertzog, who founded the Afrikaner National Party.
After the Great Depression, Hertzog and Smuts formed the United Party and D. F. Malan split from this party and refounded the National Party.
In 1938, a century after the Great Trek, Afrikaner culture blossomed. Studies of nationalism emphasised the importance of media and symbols to create an ‘imagined community’. This resulted in the Afrikaner vote becoming significant in elections.
How did Britain influence South Africa up until 1948?
South Africa was a self-governing part of the empire with the governor-general based in Cape Town and a Parliament sat in imitation to Westminster. People of British descent made up about 40% of the white population and British investors dominated mines and industries. English was the joint language and British sports were widely popular.
By 1948, these ties provoked reactions out of Afrikaners who were attracted to a republican government.
