Explain why did the Afrikaners set up and established an apartheid state, [in the period, 1948-56] South Africa is home to many different races, such as, the Portuguese, Dutch, Whites

        For example, the British wanted more land which would equal more power. As a result of their greed they attempted to force the Boers to give up Hottentot codes.  The British caused conflict over land ownership and they were rival settlers on farms. To escape the British the Afrikaners decided to migrate away.  They call this the Great Trek. The British would not leave them alone so they travelled to Transval and the Orange Free State in 1854, hoping they could gain independence and establish their own communities.  The Great Trek increased nationalistic and racist views among the Boers. The British had taken over the Boer’s land; the Boers despised the British for doing this.  Once again, they felt they were being pushed out of their ways of making a living.

        Afrikaners strongly believed God had a special protection over them.  They made a covenant that if God should deliver their enemies into their hands they would erect a house of worship to his name.  In December 1838 the Battle of Blood River took place.  The Zulus left three thousand dead.  However, not one Afrikaner died.  Was God to thank for this victory?  President Kruger of the Transvaal regimented that the 16 December will be a public holiday in memory of the promise.  He wanted to continue the belief that Afrikaners were a special race to God.

        Next, the British wished to control gold and diamond mines. Consequently, when these mines were found in fields that were part of Boer territory.  The Afrikaners refused to move off of this land even though the British wanted to gain control.  Subsequently, this led to the Boer war in 1899. During the war Afrikaner women and children were kept in concentration camps, Afrikaners were certainly not happy about this.  Children were left to die, they were also forbidden to speak their own language.  If you were caught speaking Afrikaans you were punished and would have to wear a placard stating ‘I must not speak Dutch’. Afrikaners were humiliated but they could not do anything at this time to change their situation.  Their pride had been stolen from them by the British who had taken their livelihood.  A great hatred and bitterness was felt towards the British.  The British economic and imperial motives simple strengthened the national identity of the Afrikaners.  

After the Boer war the British received bad propaganda and felt guilty for what they did. They created a New Union for South Africa.  This was an improvement for the Afrikaners.  However, it was not so good for blacks. It kept the old voting system that meant that only a few wealthy blacks were allowed to vote, having hardly any influence on national law. On the other hand, since there were three Afrikaners to every two English-speaking whites led all white speaking governments from 1910 to1994 were lead by Afrikaners.

As well as this, in 1930 a powerful, nationalistic political party was developed among Afrikaners. Daniel Malan formed the Purified National Party to support Afrikaners.  Malan had a mission to safeguard Christian civilisation in South Africa.  He was also a member of the Broederbond, a secret association that only the most influential Afrikaner men belonged to.  Malan employed the use of the word “apartheid” to describe his party’s policy of separating blacks and whites into distinct areas; people would only have rights in their own area.  This was already happening.  In fact, many politicians supported it in South Africa. Yet, it would be a surprise if segregation policies were fully put into action, as black workers were needed in the factories.  Hence, forced segregation would be an economic disaster. It was also necessary for black servants to live in towns, as they were needed for work in the houses of rich white people.  But in 1948 the National Party won the elections, Malan called it ‘a miracle of God’.  Finally, Malan formed the first all-Afrikaner government; he intended to have no British politicians in his cabinet and those would all speak Afrikaans at their meetings.  He was determined to put apartheid into place.

In 1948 Hendrik Verwoerd   entered parliament and became Prime Minister ten years later.  During 1959 he had a law passed to make separate homelands for Bantus.  They would have their own government but would not be entirely independent.  The White South African government would still control defence and foreign policy. He took great pleasure in cutting South Africa’s last link with British and making South Africa a Republic in 1961.

Overall, looking at all the evidence we have discovered that there were many reasons for why Afrikaners set up an apartheid state.   Firstly, the different races treated each other with no respect and tried to control one another.  This is a long term reason as this aspect had been built in the minds of Afrikaners over hundreds of years.  The British took over their land as gold and diamond mines existed there.  Afrikaner women and children had been treated very poorly in the concentration camps and it hurt their loved ones who were fighting for freedom.  In addition, Afrikaners were not aloud to speak their own native language Afrikaans.  This also humiliated the Boers.  The British would not let Afrikaners have the independence they were entitled to and deserved.  Hence, as more things were taken away from the Afrikaners they built up a more nationalistic view and wanted to be kept as far away as possible from these over powering controlling people called the British. They wanted to be separated from other races so no other nation could control them and yearned for the freedom they once had.