Year 11 ESL History - Case Study 2: South Africa

Year 11 ESL History - Case Study 2: South Africa

Part 1. What is South Africa like?

Write down two things you know about South Africa.

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Geography

Located on the southern tip of the continent of Africa. It stretches from Cape of Good Hope up to 2000 kilometres north and is up to 1500 km wide east-west.

Look at the physical map of Southern Africa and complete the following

The main mountain range is called the ………………………………………………. This mountain range is in the eastern/ western part of the country. The Caledon, Tugela and ……………………….. rivers all begin in this mountain range. To the east of the mountains the ………………….. belt is found. The name of this vegetation type tells us that this is a wet/ dry area. The Orange River flows eastward/ westward across the country and enters the ………………………….. Ocean. Much of the Orange river passes through a dry area or …………………………. The northern part of this dry area is known as the …………………………………………………

Along the south coast the main vegetation is evergreen ………………………………….

The vegetation in the largest area of South Africa is dry ……………………………………

Many of the large cities are located on the coast, these include Cape Town, Durban and ………………………………………………. There are also large cities inland. These are mainly associated with rich mineral deposits. The largest is Johannesburg. The capital city is Pretoria. South Africa is rich in wildlife, minerals and farmland, especially animal farming.

There are many similarities between the geography of Australia and South Africa. Name two similarities.

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There are also many differences especially in the population, the distribution of wealth and the history of the indigenous peoples before European settlement.

Graph on page 4

Which group makes up most of the population of South Africa?

How do you think the Indians came to be in South Africa?

What does coloured mean?

Official Languages and Migrations in South Africa

In 1995 South Africa declared 11 official languages. Two of these languages ……………………………. and …………………………….. have a European origin. The largest African language is ……………………………….. The first people to live in this area of Southern Africa were the ……………………. The San were nomadic hunters and gatherers with an unusual language with many clicking sounds. Their skin colour is a yellow brown rather than dark brown or black. The black Africans that now dominate the population arrived in South Africa about ……………………………….AD. One group, the ………………… expanded their empire in the early 1800’s and forced other black African tribes to move to other parts of the country. The Europeans arrived in 1642 to set up a trading post at Cape Town. They later spread inland from here. The first were from Holland and became known as the Boers, later the English arrived. The Dutch bring slaves from the ……………………………….. and the English workers from India after …………………….. Both groups were to provide cheap labour for the farms and the mines. The Indians mainly came to the area around …………………… where they worked on the sugar farms. After WW1 and WW2 many Europeans from Eastern and Southern Europe migrated to South Africa. Most people live in the wetter areas of South Africa along the east and south coastal areas. The drier east has fewer people and the large towns are mining centres, for example Kimberley, the centre of diamond mining.

Part 2. Why did the Europeans settle in South Africa?

The Dutch (Boers)

6th April 1642 Jan van Riebeeck arrived in the Cape to build a refreshment station to supply ships trading for the Dutch East India Company. (Afrikaners celebrate this day but black Africans see it as invasion day) The first settlers only wanted to use a small area of land to grow food and raise animals to supply the ships. They brought slaves from their colony in the East Indies (Indonesia) to work on the farms. Later Dutch soldiers were given land here and became independent farmers. More retired soldiers and families joined them over the next years (most were Dutch but also Germans, Scandinavians and French Huguenots) They were Protestant, farmers and over time developed a new language called Afrikaans and became known as Boers. These very independent farmers resented the rule of the East India Company and from the moved inland away from the coast to make their own communities. They pushed out or enslaved the San and Khoikhoiwho lived in the areas they moved into. Many children were born to Boer men and indigenous women. This was the origin of the “Cape Coloureds”

The English

In 1795 the English took the settlement at the Cape from the Dutch. There was some fighting but by 1806 the British were in control. The British wanted to control their important trade route to India. From the 1820’s the British encouraged settlers and towns were built at Grahamstown and Port Elizabeth. British law was imposed in the new territories. Many Boers objected, especially to the abolition of slavery, and many left their farms to move inland and create a new Boer state. As well as the British the Boers had to fight the Zulus and Xhosa who did not want them in their territory. Eventually the Boers succeeded in forming independent states in the Transvaal in 1852 (where slavery was again practiced) and the Orange Free State in 1854.

From 1851 British farmers grew sugar cane in Natal but they needed a cheap and reliable workforce. The local Africans did not want to work here and the British Government helped the plantation owners recruit over 150,000 Indian workers from British India, between 1860 and 1911. 52% of them remained in South Africa when their contracts ended. The map above (Language and migrations) shows the location of the different groups.

Gold and Diamonds

Diamonds were discovered in the Orange Free State in 1867 and gold in the eastern Transvaal in 1871. This increased British, Portuguese and German interest in South Africa and conflict continued all over southern Africa between the British and Boers, British and Zulus and Boers and Zulus. Cecil Rhodes, a Cape Town businessman and politician, led the pressure on the British Government for more complete control over the area. It took the British two wars to defeat the Boers, firstly in 1881 and finally in what became known as the Boer War in 1899-1902. The Boers fought a guerrilla war against the British and the British held large number of Boer women and children in appalling camps as hostages. Eventually the larger British numbers won but this war also brought the different Boer groups together as “Afrikaners” who saw themselves as the “white tribe of Africa” chosen by God to rule South Africa and although they had lost the war they did not lose their belief that they should rule South Africa or their hatred of the British. This hatred stemmed from the terrible treatment of their women and children during the war and from the British attempt to destroy the language and culture of the Boers after the war.

Many blacks and coloured fought with the British during the Boer war with the expectation that a British win would end slavery and give more equal rights to non-white people, as already existed in Cape Colony. The British carried out the first but not the second as they knew they would never be able to make a lasting settlement with the Afrikaans, and gain access to the mineral wealth, if they extended rights to non-whites. There were many small and large conflicts with black groups over the breaking of this promise but the Indians, led by M.K. Gandhi (a lawyer who had come to South Africa in 1893) mainly supported the government although Gandhi later led many protests against unequal treatment of Indians in the new Union of South Africa, when the four colonies joined together to form a country in 1910. The more equal treatment of Blacks in Cape Colony (now Cape Province) did not become law for the new country although this was originally promised and Black Africans appealed to London to try to force the new country to keep its promise but the British P.M. Herbert Asquith said the it was best to leave the problem to the politicians in South Africa.

What problems do you think this new country will face because of its history?

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Union of South Africa

The first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa was Louis Botha, leader of the Afrikaners during the Boer War. One of the first laws passed restricted black mine workers to labourer tasks and fixed their pay at a rate much lower than white workers, treating Black Africans as second class citizens.

The poor whites (almost all Boers) were concerned about being seen as second class citizens, especially if they had to accept work with a black employer. They believed that blacks and whites needed to be separated for them to improve their situation and lobbied their political leaders to achieve this aim. The sacking of black workers from mines to be replaced by poor whites in 1924 was a step in this process. The demand for better housing in the towns for poor whites led to 30 000 blacks being evicted and their houses given to the whites. Dr Malan, an Afrikaans leader, blamed the blacks for the whites poverty and pursued a policy that would completely separate blacks and whites in South Africa, the policy of Apartheid.

Politicians Policies and Reactions 1910 to 1948 towards Apartheid

Write a paragraph explaining how the politics of the first 40 years of the Union of South Africa moved the nation towards Apartheid. Consider the ideas of the Governments at this time and policies that they carry out.

The institution and operation of Apartheid

From the notes and the film “Cry the Beloved Country” write about what it was like to live in South Africa under Apartheid if you are black and if you are white.

What pressures led to the downfall of Apartheid 1978 to 1989?

Changes in the economy.

• Most businesses were owned by whites
• Changes in technology and global markets
• Increased need for more skilled workers; less need for cheap (unskilled) workers
• Shortage of permanent black labour (Bantustan or Homeland laws)
• not enough white workers for business needs.
• Many businesses start to look for ways around the apartheid laws.
• Labour shortages give black workers more bargaining power
• trade unions develop (illegal) to negotiate with employers
• costs of huge army and police force; rising taxes
• need black soldiers and police to meet targets

International Pressure and isolation

• Some nations boycotted trade, especially in oil and other essentials.
• Transnational countries operating in South Africa criticised
• New left wing governments in Angola, Mozambique and Zimbabwe support and train guerrillas
• easier to attack targets inside South Africa (eg 1980 oil refinery attack, 1982 nuclear power station attack
• Sporting boycotts

Political scandal

The government sets up a secret fund of 64 million rand for propaganda (by buying shares in newspapers and magazines overseas) and bribes (both money and goods) to politicians and business people to improve the image of South Africa and business links. This becoming public led to B.J. Vorsters resignation in 1978.

Using the dot points to give you the information write 3 complete sentences about the economic changes that are putting pressure on the system of apartheid OR three complete sentences about the international pressures that make it harder to maintain apartheid.

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