An Afrikaans word meaning 'apartness' During most of the 20th
century, South Africa was ruled by a system called Apartheid,
which was based on the segregation of races. When did Apartheid
start? The term Apartheid was introduced during the 1948
election campaign by DF Malan's Herenigde Nasionale Party (HNP -
'Reunited National Party'). But racial segregation had been in
force for many decades in South Africa. In hindsight, there is
something of an inevitability in the way the country developed
its extreme policies. When the Union of South Africa was formed
on 31 May 1910, Afrikaner Nationalists were given a relatively
free hand to reorganise the country's franchise according to
existing standards of the now-incorporated Boer republics, the
Zuid Afrikaansche Repulick (ZAR - South African Republic or
Transvaal) and Orange Free State. Non-Whites in the Cape Colony
had some representation, but this would prove to be short-lived.
How did the Apartheid Government Come into Power? The United
Party actually gained th