An Atlas of Apartheid

A.J. Christopher (1994) promotes a hypothesis in his book, The Atlas of Apartheid, that the very foundation of the apartheid system was based on spatial concerns. The architects of the apartheid system were convinced that the preservation of the white race as well as its political and economic dominance were linked to a separation of the races. Christopher analyzes the history of the apartheid era in South Africa in terms of the classic approach of atlases by looking at time, space, and demographics.

Christopher traces the roots of apartheid back to the colonial era as Dutch colonists came to South Africa in search of cheap, plentiful, farmable land (Christopher, 1994, 9). Many of the important concepts underpinning apartheid philosophy and the need to protect the privileged status of the white race grew out of the administration of the South African colony by England. Christopher builds a framework for his study based on time by emphasizing certain important benchmarks in the development of that controversial system. For example, he begins his study in 1652 with the arrival of Dutch settlers under the auspices of the Dutch East India Company (Christopher, 1994, 13). The British dominated era began in 1806 and it was under their administration that a distinct, politically, and economically influential white culture known as Afrikaner developed. Afrikaners seeking to preserve their privileged position and culture

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singly incorporated different ethnic and racial groups. Some of these peoples had engaged in warfare against each other long before Afrikaners arrived on their lands and, due in part to this fact, various peoples of Southern Africa have always identified closely with their racial or ethnic group. Thus, the establishment of special opportunities and particular rights have developed almost as a natural outgrowth of these polar identities (Christopher, 1994, 18). Politically, the colonial era and the early unification years saw a dawning realization by Afrikaners that their minority would be unable to control the wealth of South Africa without strong restrictions and regulations which excluded the indigenous peoples from the political process. Early Prime Ministers showed great concern with the need to preserve the white population from disappearing within a few generations as the races interacted and produced greater numbers of coloured people (people of mixed racial descent) (Christopher, 1994, 32). Even before unification in 1910, colonial parliaments dominated by the Afrikaners were enacting laws which divided lands into white and black communities. Naturally, the larger share of quality lands were reserved for the smaller w
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Approximate Word count = 2651
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)