Union of South Africa

The new colonies soon attained self-government and under the leadership of such Afrikaners (Boers) as Louis Botha, Jan Christiaan Smuts, and James Hertzog agreed to unite with Cape Colony and Natal. In 1910, the Union of South Africa, a self-governing British dominion, was formed, consisting of four provinces—Cape Province, Natal, Orange Free State, and Transvaal. Botha was the first prime minister. The new government was under the control of the white minority, and blacks were given virtually no political power. In 1912 black leaders formed the African National Congress (ANC) to try to further the cause of their people in South Africa.

In World War I, in spite of Afrikaner opposition, Botha and Smuts supported the Allied cause; Smuts served in the British war cabinet. After the war the League of Nations gave South Africa a mandate over South-West Africa (Namibia), formerly a German colony. Migration of blacks to mining and industrial areas led to laws restricting black employment and civil rights.

In 1934 South Africa became an independent nation within the British Commonwealth, retaining the British monarch as head of state. The United Party, formed by Smuts and Hertzog, won the elections. At the outbreak of World War II, opposition to the Allies was again overcome by Smuts. Rapid industrial growth in the postwar period brought a great influx of black labor. The Nationalist Party, led by Daniel Malan and advocating apartheid, won power in 1948. More stringent laws for controlling the black population were passed. In 1959 the apartheid policy was furthered by the creation of eight homelands, or Bantustans, for various black ethnic groups. The government then began a massive resettlement of blacks, moving them from white areas into the Bantustans.

A passive resistance movement developed among some nonwhites, while others resorted to violence. In 1960 a demonstration in Sharpeville brought police fire that killed 68 persons. The government banned the ANC, and the following year the organization began a guerrilla campaign against the government. In 1962 the ANC guerrilla leader, Nelson Mandela, was apprehended. In 1964, following conviction for treason, he was sentenced to life imprisonment.