It was the target of frequent condemnation in the United Nations and brought about extensive international sanctions, including arms embargoes and economic sanctions on South Africa. Īpartheid sparked significant international and domestic opposition, resulting in some of the most influential global social movements of the 20th century. The government announced that relocated persons would lose their South African citizenship as they were absorbed into the bantustans. Most of these targeted removals were intended to restrict the black population to ten designated 'tribal homelands', also known as bantustans, four of which became nominally independent states. Between 19, 3.5 million black Africans were removed from their homes and forced into segregated neighbourhoods as a result of apartheid legislation, in some of the largest mass evictions in modern history. Places of residence were determined by racial classification. The Population Registration Act, 1950 classified all South Africans into one of four racial groups based on appearance, known ancestry, socioeconomic status, and cultural lifestyle: 'Black', 'White', 'Coloured', and 'Indian', the last two of which included several sub-classifications.

The first apartheid law was the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, 1949, followed closely by the Immorality Amendment Act of 1950, which made it illegal for most South African citizens to marry or pursue sexual relationships across racial lines. īroadly speaking, apartheid was delineated into petty apartheid, which entailed the segregation of public facilities and social events, and grand apartheid, which dictated housing and employment opportunities by race. The economic legacy and social effects of apartheid continue to the present day, particularly inequality. According to this system of social stratification, white citizens had the highest status, followed by Indians and Coloureds, then Black Africans. 'boss-hood' or 'boss-ship'), which ensured that South Africa was dominated politically, socially, and economically through minoritarianism by the nation's dominant minority white population.

Apartheid was characterised by an authoritarian political culture based on baasskap ( lit. 'aparthood') was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid ( / ə ˈ p ɑːr t( h) aɪ t/, especially South African English: / ə ˈ p ɑːr t( h) eɪ t/, Afrikaans: transl.

The definition of township in arica