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 official language in 1822. The Khoi/San were

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.