Geography and History of the World © 2010 Indiana Edition

Chapter 21: Cultural Geography of Africa South of the Sahara

Web Activity Lesson Plans

“Apartheid in South Africa”

Introduction
In this chapter you learned about the culture of Africa South of the Sahara and Central Asia. One of the most beautiful places of this region is the country of South Africa, a nation with a troubled history of European involvement and local conflict. One of the most disturbing policies to come out of this country was that of apartheid, or the legal separation of races. Nonwhite South Africans were denied basic human and legal rights in this nation until the early 1990s.

Lesson Description
Students will understand the policy of apartheid and how the nonwhite peoples of South Africa were treated and their struggle for equality.

Student Web Activity Answers

1. British and Dutch
2. 1948; Student answers will vary might include: nonwhites and whites were not allowed to marry, “whites only” jobs were created, homelands were created for nonwhite peoples, curfews were enacted, and nonwhites were not allowed to participate in politics.
3. Nonwhites outnumbered whites 4 to 1, but controlled nearly 90% of all the useable land.
4. 1954, Student answers will vary, but might include the Bill of Rights
5. The African National Congress was created to fight and protect the rights of all people in South Africa, in 1994 the Congress adopted policies the to meet basic needs of South Africans, develop human resources, build the nation's economy, and democratize the nation.

Activity
The poem describes how it is the responsibly to “civilize” the nonwhite people of Africa and other places. Kipling believes that whites are superior to nonwhite people. This view allowed many whites to mistreat and take advantage of nonwhite people, because whites considered themselves “more fit” than nonwhites.” Student answers may vary, but might include slavery or the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII.