by Don Kwikshot

Created on: August 04, 2008   Last Updated: October 21, 2009

The History of Apartheid in South Africa

Contrary to what others aver, Apartheid (although the name itself was not coined until 1948) was actually started by the fortune-seekers who descended on the Big Hole in Kimberley in their search for diamonds. Although there were many nationalities represented there, you could say that the British were the ones who really started this interesting, and much discussed, system.

Before the discovery of diamonds in what is now Kimberley, most European races had little or no interest in South Africa at all, other than the fact that The Cape offered a prime opportunity as a victualling station for those involved in the spice trade. Even after the initial discovery of diamonds, the British government had no wish to further colonise what it considered to be a useless piece of land south of the Equator.

However, some five years after the initial discovery of these gems in Griqualand West, a situation developed which necessitated some form of strong intervention in order to prevent what was considered in Whitehall to be a looming problem. The inhabitants of South Africa, both black and white, had hitherto been an entirely agrarian race of people, living a simple life off the land and, generally, minding their own business. Yes, they were backward by European standards, they had no indoor plumbing, had produced no writers or painters worthy of mention, and the black nations were, apart from their nomadic farming existence, too concerned with fighting each other for land and its use and Europe was really not interested in this rather barren and unexciting part of the world.

However, once it appeared that Kimberley was more than just another South Sea Bubble and was indeed here to stay, decisions had to be made and most of these were at the behest of Cecil John Rhodes who, apart from being involved in Cape politics, had serious interests in the diamond mines from which Kimberley sprang. The news of the discovery of considerable amounts of alluvial diamonds, apart from attracting diggers from as far away as Australia and America, also became noticed by the local black tribes, who had one indispensible item that they could sell: their labour. With this in mind, they converged on Kimberley in considerable numbers and, in the beginning, actually owned certain claims in what is now known as The Big Hole.

However, where there is money in large amounts to be made, you can be certain that crime will soon follow. It seems to be an immutable

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