Africans were the original inhabitants of South Africa, being the San or Bushmen people, hunters and gatherers.
The Zulu became the largest African Kingdom in South Africa.
The two most dominant groups among whites in South Africa were the Afrikaners and those of British descent, descended largely from the Dutch, French and German settlers.
Whites who spoke English as a first language were descendants of British colonists.
Afrikaans, a language spoken by several groups in South Africa, became a distinctive language and officially replaced Dutch in 1925.
The term Boer is an Afrikaans word for ‘farmer’, used to denote people of Dutch heritage living in South Africa, later called themselves ‘Afrikaners’.
Gold was discovered in the area of Transvaal (the Rand), leading to the growth of the city of Johannesburg to provide services to the mines, with some of the mine workers being African migrants.
Land ownership in South Africa is divided by race and class, with whites owning over 80% of the country's land.
The influx of migrants was too large for the establishment of informal or shack settlements.
Townships were established to maintain cities as predominantly white spaces.
Townships were hastily allocated to house black migrants.
Rural society is primarily a rural country with most people living on the land and in small towns.
The UK's major iron and steel industry expanded to supply the home market.
The major iron and steel industry in the world was developed during World War II, making it difficult for the UK to import goods from Germany.
Gold mines were the motor of the South African industrial economy for the first decades of the 20th century, but gradually diversified to textiles, food, chemicals etc.
Missionaries from a wide range of Christian denominations made Christianity the dominant religion in South Africa.
Studies of nationalism emphasise the importance of media.
African rural communities were located on white owned farms or on reserves.
In 1948, the Afrikaner vote had become significant.
South Africa was a self governing part of the British Empire in 1948, with a Governor-General in Cape Town representing the British monarch.
British investors dominated mines and industries in South Africa, and English was the joint official language.
Land in South Africa was white owned but not inhabited only by whites.
Women worked particularly hard in the economy of the reserves, which was essentially a peasant economy.
In the 20s and 30s, there was an increased pride in Afrikaner culture.
British sports and cultural links encouraged South Africa to join the side of GB in WWII.
The economy of the reserves lacked local industry and employment opportunities.
Taxation had forced African people into the cash economy, causing consumer tastes to grow.
South Africa was divided into four groups: whites (or Europeans), Africans (‘natives’ in the language of the time), coloured people or Indians (‘asiatics’).
Malan and Smuts won 70 and 65 seats respectively in the 1948 election.
The constituency system helped the National Party win as rural constituencies were weighed 15% more than urban ones, meaning 15% more votes were needed in rural areas to win the seat than in urban areas.
Nationalists used to play on fears of Afrikaners by accusing Smuts of being more sympathetic towards Africans.
The United Party’s Health Minister advocated for a healthcare system like NHS which served blacks and whites in segregated hospitals.
Smuts did support Afrikaner values but was a pragmatist.
Malan and Smuts won 38% and 49% of the vote respectively in the 1948 election.
The heart of Afrikaner nationalism is religion, specifically Christianity through the Dutch Reformed Church.
Two movements were created for fascist supporters: the Oxwagon Sentinel, which had 300,000 members, and the Greyshirt movement.
During WW2, nationalists supported the Nazi’s, who were fascist sympathizers.
Discrimination and segregation were very common globally, which meant South Africa was no different.
Afrikaners believed that black and white people were different parts of God’s plan, which is why segregation was necessary to maintain racial purity and the divine design.
Afrikaner Nationalism is the idea that Afrikaners are a separate identity and are the chosen people of South Africa.