Apartheid

The idea of apartheid started in South Africa around the year 1910. This all came

about when Britain took over South Africa. The British thought that whites should be

superior to all other races and that they should live better life styles than anyone that was

not white. The rules of apartheid applied to all non - whites, and not just blacks even

though blacks made up most of South Africa. The British split these non - whites into 3

racial catagories; Africans,Coloureds(those mixed of African and European descent), and

Asians. Under the rules of Apartheid whites had a high standard of living while non -

whites suffered from poverty and were very discriminated against. Apartheid was

especially harsh on blacks. blacks could not vote and it was unheard of for a black person

to be in politics. All non - whites had to carry a passbook that included information such

as place of birth, date of birth, race, place of employment, and tax records. All non -

whites were restricted to live on their designated reserve. The Native Land Act prevented

non - whites from buying or owning land outside their reserve. The Group Areas Act

divided 13 percent of South Africa into 10 homelands for black population. The rest of

south Africa was reserved for whites. Coloureds and Asians lived within the white areas

in segregated towns. Even though whites only took up one fifth of the population they

still owned much more land than the four fifths of non - whites. Only one fourth of the

whites lived on farms while the rest lived in cities. Almost all non - whites lived on farm

areas and their homes were small huts made of sod and grass. They looked sort of like

cone shaped beehives. These areas were called townships. Most blacks would leave their

townships when they were teenagers to find work or to find land for mining.