South Africa - Apartheid essays

South Africa - Apartheid essays Thesis- That the era of apartheid in South Africa enforced racist ideals on to the minds of society, and although is no longer in place, has left legacy that may never South Africa is a country tormented by a past of enforced racism and separation of its multi-racial community. The superior white Europeans invaded the country and imposed a political system known as Apartheid (meaning apartness). This system severely restricted the rights and lifestyle of the non-white inhabitants of the country forcing them to live separately from the white Europeans. This system of imposed racial ideas although now ended, has left an imprint on the thoughts and actions of society in South Africa today. Dutch farmers known as the Boers settled the African lands. Eventually, a rising great Britain noted the rich resources and strategic location of the country. Britain imposed its rule on rebellious Boers, pushing the Boers off their land and eventually sparking the Boer war. Britain employed an overwhelming force to subdue the Boers. Ironically the Boers, now called Afrikaners, triumphed. . The Afrikaners imposed the Apartheid system, which aimed to turn the already segregated society into completely divided and separately developing racial communities The Apartheid system brought about many laws to ensure that the races of South Africa were kept separate. The first major law was the Race Classification Act which divided the citizens of South Africa into separate groups, white, black and coloured. With this also came the Group Areas Act, which was imposed to ensure that whites and blacks lived separately. South Africa was divided into separate areas for each race. As a persons race could not only be judged by appearance, people had to carry something to prove their identity. The reference or pass book was introduced to ensure that people were not in the wro...