Background Orginally only used by Dutch traders that needed a port on the spice route between the Netherlands and the east, South Africa has gone through a wide series of changes since its humble start.
Since it's first landing in 1652, the Dutch managed to create the city of Cape Town. However, the Dutch were not the only one interested in South Africa. After the British took over Cape of Good Hope in the early 1800s, many of the Dutch settlers were pushed north. The country continued to grow in popularity as the years prgoressed and became a big source of potential revenue when they discovered resiviors of gold and diamonds. Wanting to tap this natural resource the British tried to relocate the native populations with great difficulty. After the British understood they could not fully extract the Boer tribe from the area, they decided to join forces and rule together in 1910. This event started the Union of South Africa which eventually became a republic in 1961. South Africa since then has been known for it's racial preference for the white minority and subjecting the black majority to numerous hardships. As political pressure from the world became unbearable, the government decided to allow the first multi-racial elections in 1994. However, since those elections the country has struggled in almost every aspect possible. |