What Was Life Like In South Africa 1948? Flashcards
Africans
Original inhabitants were San or Bushmen people, hunters and gatherers
Zulu became largest African Kingdom
Whites
Two most dominant groups were Afrikaners and those of British descent
Descended largely from the Dutch, French and German settlers
Whites who spoke English as a first language were descendants of British colonists
Coloured and Indian people
Most of those in the cape colony who were not classed as white or African were called coloured
Afrikaans
Language spoken by several groups in South Africa
Became distinctive language
Officially replaces Dutch in 1925
Boer
Afrikaans for ‘farmer’
Used to denote people of Dutch heritage living in SA
Later called themselves ‘Afrikaners’
Urbanisation and industrialisation
Gold discovered in the area of Transvaal (the Rand)
City of Johannesburg grew to provide services to the mines
Some of the mine workers were African migrants
Gold mines motor of SA industrial economy for the first decades of 20th century but gradually diversified to textiles, food, chemicals etc.
Developed major iron and steel industry
WWII difficult to import goods from GB so industry expands to supply home market
Townships
Keen to maintain cities as predominantly white spaces
Influx of migrants too large
Establishment of informal or shack settlements
Townships hastily allocated to house black migrants
Rural society
Primarily a rural country with most people living on the land and in small towns Land ownership divided by race and class Whites owned over 80% of the country's land Land was white owned but not inhabited only by whites
African rural communities
White owned farms or on reserves
Missionaries from a wide range of Christian denominations make Christianity dominant religion
Taxation had forced African people into the cash economy, consumer tastes have grown
Women worked particularly hard
Economy of the reserves was essentially a peasant economy
Little local industry and few employment opportunities
Afrikaner culture and politics
Britain fought the SA War against 2 Afrikaner republics to cement control of region
Left bitter legacy
20s and 30s saw an increased pride in Afrikaner culture
Studies of nationalism emphasise the importance of media
1948 Afrikaner vote had become significant
The influence of Britain
1948 SA was a self governing part of British Empire
Governor- General in Cape Town representing British monarch
Imitation in Westminster
British investors dominated mines and industries
English was joint official language
British sports
Cultural and political links encourage SA to join side of GB in WWII
Divisions of race
Categorised into four groups: whites (or Europeans), Africans (‘natives’ in the language of the time), coloured people or Indians (‘asiatics’)
