In the 17th century South Africa was colonized by the Dutch and English. After south Africa's independence from England, an uneasy power-sharing between the English and the Dutch held until the 1940's. When the Dutch Africaner National Party was able to gain a strong majority. Apartheid was invented by the National Party so they would have control the economic and social system. At first Apartheid was to keep whites in control and keep the races separated. In 1948 laws creating racial discrimination were passed . One law that was passed creating white only jobs. Another law was passed keeping whites and blacks from being married.

In 1951 the government set up African reserves known as homelands. 87% of land was claimed by whites. Half of the 29 million blacks lived in these homelands covering 13% of the land. To leave the homelands and enter South Africa people needed passports. Penalties given for political protests, even nonviolent protests were severe. Many people were arrested without a trial. Thousands of these people died usually after being tortured. Those who went to trial were sentenced to death, imprisoned for life.

New hope came for people at the end of Apartheid. The new government got rid of the unfair laws and created fair laws. Not for a long time will the damage caused by Apartheid be repaired . Today blacks and whites are trying to live in peace in their country.

For more information about Apartheid visit these sites:
http://www.ccds.charlotte.nc.us/~nwhist/africa/miller/miller.htm
http://encarta.msn.com/index/conciseindex/26/026B0000.htm?z=1&pg=2&br=1
http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~cale/cs201/apartheid.hist.html