The Slave Trade to Apartheid

The African Slave Trade


 The Portuguese established a number of trading
outposts along the African coast during the 1400s.
 In the 1600s, the Dutch founded the Cape Town
settlement on SW tip of the continent.
 By the beginning of the 1800s, many European
nations had passed laws banning the slave trade.
 The illegal slave trade was fueled by America
throughout the 1800s.
 European Imperialism
 Imperialism – the

complete control of a
weaker nation’s social,
economic, and political
life by a stronger nation
 In the 1870s, Belgian
King Leopold sent agents
to establish trade in the
Congo.
 Beginning a flurry of
imperialism by France,
GB, Germany, Spain,
Italy, and Portugal


 Berlin Conference

 With little regard and no representation for any
African, the European powers carved up Africa
according to the following guidelines:
 Any power wanting to claim territory must inform the
other powers in case of multiple claims
 Any claim should be validated by “effective
occupation”
 Treaties with African rulers were considered a valid
title to independence
A South African Case Study
 Zulu Resistance

 1830s: Boers (descendants of Dutch settlers) battled
the Zulus for land claims in South Africa
 Under the legendary leader Shaka Zulu
 The Zulu were eventually defeated by the
technology and vast resources of the British
 All of southern Africa were soon under British control
 The Boer War

 Cecil Rhodes (Rhodes Scholarship Program)
 Founder of DeBeers diamond company and prime minister
of Cape Colony
 Cape to Cairo Railroad Line
 The Boers (later Afrikaaners) met this with an armed
resistance
 Britain tried to annex the Boer republics, leading to vicious,
guerilla-style fighting (1899-1902)
 The British eventually used 450,000 troops to gain victory
 In 1910, the various colonies united as the Union of South
Africa (and granted self-governance)
 “Tribalism”

 Definition: feelings of loyalty to individual ethnic
groups, causing modern war and strife
 European nations carved up the continent with no
regard to traditional group boundaries.
 Nearly all civil wars and power struggles can be
traced to ethnic rivalries and conflict
 Apartheid Era

 Definition: the system of legal racial segregation
enforced by the National Party government in SA
from 1948 and 1994.
 Urbanization following WWII fuels white fears
 The National Party enacted legislation which
classified inhabitants into distinct racial groups
 White (European)
 Colored (mixed race or Asian)
 Native (African/black)
 Interracial marriage outlawed, communities
segregated, identification booklets required,
education controlled, public places limited
 The Fight Begins

 In 1958, black South Africans were stripped of citizenship,
categorized in one of the ten “tribal homelands” called
Bantustans. (Bantu - general term for indigenous people)
 In 1960, a large protest in Sharpeville ended in 70
protesters dead, 187 wounded. African political org.
such as the ANC were banned.
 Nelson Mandela heads the ANC’s military wing. He
is sentenced to life imprisonment in
1963. Steve Biko led the resistance
through the 1970s.
 End of Apartheid

 In the late 1980s, countries around the world began
pressuring South Africa to end Apartheid.
 In the early 1990s, Mandela and F.W. de Klerk negotiated
an end to the decades of racial separation
 1994: Free elections are held and overseen by the United
Nations. Mandela wins 63% of the vote!
 Discussion Questions:

1. How does the end of Apartheid affect South African
society today?

2. How can South Africa serve as a “case study” for

African Decolonization?