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What was life like in South Africa in 1948? - Coggle Diagram
What was life like in South Africa in 1948?
Race
Africans
made up of several tribes (Zulu largest)
1951 - 8.5 million
Whites
Afrikaners (60%)
1951 - 1.6 million
shared identity (Dutch speaking)
White British (40%)
1951 - 1 million
wealthier and more educated
Coloured
mainly Afrikaans-speaking
1951 - 1.1 million
Indian
3% of population
located mainly in Natal and Transvaal
Segregation and discrimination
unfair distribution to favour whites
MPs and electorate
exception made for Coloured and Africans in old Cape Colony
elections decided by white minority
1930 - white women allowed to vote
1936 - Africans fully disenfranchised
Urbanisation and industrialisation
Africans migrated to cities
1886 - migrations to Transvaal when gold was discovered
1900 - Johannesburg grew to 100,000
1948 - population near 1 million, whites outnumbered
WW2 expanded industry
180,000 white men in army, increased work for black people
post-war competition for jobs
National Party appeal to white insecurity
promise secure employment
Townships
basic housing set up outside cities for black people
largest (20km from Johannesburg) became Soweto
tenuous land rights, poor health care/sanitation
Rural society
unfairly divided
whites owned over 80% (large farms)
Africans lived on white-owned farms or reserves
women - domestic/agricultural labour (water, firewood)
1948 - African reserves make 50% own food
strict heirarchy
black people mainly wage labourers or tenants
Missionaries
made Christianity the dominant religion
set up schools
Afrikaner culture and politics
1899-1902 - Anglo-Boer war between Britain and Afrikaners
Afrikaner National Party
1913 - founded by J.B.M Hertzog
appeal to sense of unity (volk)
Afrikaner Nationalism
1938 - commemoration of Great Trek (when Afrikaners left Cape Colony)
The influence of Britain
British Empire
Governor General based in Cape Town
English made official language
joined WW2 to support Britain
Afrikaners disliked ties, wanted republican government