South Africa Essay, Research Paper
South Africa is a place of hurt, heart, and change.
Over the years, South Africa has either been through rough
times in the traditional tribal part, or being descriminated
because of their color of skin.
South Africa has two major tribal groups; The
Nguni/South Ndebele, and the khoi/San. The South Ndebele,
together with the Zulu, Xhosa and Swazi, belong to the South
Nguni ethnic group. In the case of the South African Ndebele
group, the area is the Southern part of South Africa. Here,
they have lived, worked on farms, and hunted for
generations. They are a very communal tribe. They work
together, share together, help each other out, and hunt with
each other. This group is very dependent on all of their
"family."
On the other hand the Khoi/San group is the complete
opposite of the Nguni/South Ndebele. They live in the
Kalahari Desert, they are Nomadic, and rely on livestalk to
live. They might be more Independent then the Nguni, but
they still get alittle help from their "families" too. Like
they go hunting together. Unlike the Nguni the Khoi/San use
poisoned arrows to kill their livestalk.Little did these
groups know what they were going to be going through the
next 300 years; colonialism.
In 1652 South Africa was forever changed when Dutch
established a "rest stop" in South Africa.Apartheid also
unofficially started. At that time, the area was occupied by
the Khoi/San clans. The pressure on the Khoi/San increased
as more Dutch and French settlers arrived. By the 18th
century, most Khoi/San had lost their land to these European
settlers.
Cape Town became a major port as a way station for the
Europeans. The colonists were mostly farmers and cattle
herders. They became known as the Boers. They developed
their own culture and language (Afrikaans). In the 1770’s,
the Boers encountered the Bantu, who were migrating. The
Nguni Bantu clans settled between the Drakensberg Mountains
and the sea. The Sotho clans settled in the interior, north
of the Cape Colony. The 19th century competition for land
led to the conflict between the Bantu clans, which led to
the boer war, 1899-1902. Hundreds and thousands died during
the wars, entire clans disappeared and it resulted in the
creation of many Bantu nations. Now they are unable to
communicate with each other, and now they don’t have any
power to stop the Europeans. British forces twice occupied
the Cape region, in 1795 and 1806. In 1814, toward the end
of the Napoleonic Wars, Great Britain purchased the Cape
Colony from the Dutch for 6 million Britidh pounds. After
1820 thousands of British colonists arrived in South Africa,
and they demanded that English law be imposed. English
became the officia
given protection, and slavery was abolished in 1833. When
the Dutch, or the Afrikanns found out that slavery was
ebolished they got angry, because they thoght that the
Bilble said that black people were supposed to be slaves,
which then created the Boer war.
It is now 1948, the Europeans
have now taken over South Africa. Four Years earlier a man
named Nelson Mandela became a lawyer, and joined the A.N.C.
so he could help the salvaging African people. Even though
he played a very important roll in Apartheid, colonialism,
and their human rights, that still didn’t stop the Europeans
from torturing them for the next 46 years. Nelson Mandela
was a nice man, but in 1956 Mandela went on trial for
treason, but was acquitted in 1961. During this time he
married Nkosikazi Nomzamo Madikizela. He was again arrested
in August of 1962, he was sentenced to five years in
prison. While in prison, Mandela, along with several others,
was convicted of sabotage and treason and in June 1964 was
sentenced to life imprisonment. During this period Mandela
became a worldwide symbol of resistance to white domination
in South Africa. In prison he acted nice to everybody. When
an Officer told him to do something, he politely answered
"Yes sir," but he did this for a reason. He did that so the
officers could feal the guilt for what they have been doing
to all the black people. The goverment soon got pressured by
the people to let Mandela out of prison. They did so,because
they thought that they would start huge riots, and "take
over the land." In February 1990 president F. W. de Klerk
released Nelson Mandela under some certain circumstances.
Mandela assumed leadership of the ANC and led negotiations
with the government for a new constitution that would
grant political power to the country’s black majority
population. In 1991 the government repealed the last of
the laws that formed the legal basis for apartheid. But
then something bad happened, Mandela found out that his
wife Winnie Mandela has not been truthful to him. They
then seperated. In 1993 Mandela won the NobelNobel Peace
Prize for their efforts in establishing democracy and
racial harmony in South Africa. In 1994 Africas history
was changed forever, they got to vote. Mandela ran for
presiden that year and won.
Although their were many other
leaders that helped, Mandela was the most effective and
responsive to the peoples wishes, like letting the truth
and reconciliation have people that did unlawful things
to the Africans to appologise to who they did it to, or
to the peoples family. The Truth and Reconciliation did a
great job, healing many lifes with holes. They helped the
needy and helped Africa heal one step at a time.