The apartheid

    Apartheid, Afrikaans term which means separation, officially came in South Africa in 1944, and serves to designate the policy of racial segregation and territorial organisation applied systematically to the country, lasted until 1990.

    The goal of apartheidapartheid was to separate the legal land races (white, Asian, mixed-race or coloured, black or Bantu), establishing a hierarchy where the white race dominated the rest of the population and geographical level, through the establishment of reserved territories: the Bantustanes.

    In 1959, with the Act of self-government, apartheid reached its fullness when its black population was relegated to small marginal private and autonomous territories of South African citizenship. Until that moment, the South Africa with its important mineral riches and its geostrategic situation, had alienated the Western bloc.

    However, the racist system meant that, when developing the decolonization, the pressures of the international community were growing against the Government in Pretoria. The end of the cold war precipitated the end of apartheid. President Frederik de Klerk, after several negotiations with the representatives of the various ethnic communities of the country, put an end to the racist regime in 1991.

    From then on, the black population has recovered their civil and political rights. The process culminated with the arrival of Nelson Mandela, who had spent 27 militant mythical years in prison, for President of the Republic of South Africa.