Apartheid was a system of racial segregation that grew from a long established colonial practice of divide and conquer. The initial European settlement of the mid 1600s established the ability of primarily Dutch settler-farmers to dominate the native population in the Cape area. Guns and smallpox enabled the Boers (Dutch for farmer) to maintain their dominance through the 1700s. In the 19th century when the British took over many Afrikaaners moved inland in what is know as the Great Trek. Again, guns gave the whites the advantage. Establishing the Orange Free State and Transvaal, the Afrikaners were positioned to tax the proceeds derived from gold and diamond mining. Tension with the British, who funded and profited from mining, eventually exploded into the Boer Wars, which subdued the Boer resisters but also exposed the inability of the British to govern without cooperation of the Afrikaners. The establishment of the Maize-Gold Alliance allied the Boer farmers with the British mining interests to install a stable regime for the first half of the 20th century. South Africa was a money-making proposition for the British Empire.

All of this was based on black African labor. The rise of the mining economy drew black laborers to the cities. The new urban-industrial circumstances served to erase the ethnic divisions between the Africans, a threat to white rule. Segregation and oppression were integral to maintaining the dominance of the white minority, but varied in severity depending on region: the former Afrikaner republics were harsher than the Cape Town region, which was home to a large population of so-called "coloured" or mixed race people who were treated some what better than other Africans.

During World War II, the more reactionary Afrikaner nationalists supported Hitler and the Germans; several of the their key leaders were imprisoned by the British. Following the war, the nationalists won the election of 1948 and set about establishing apartheid as the governing principle of the country. Requiring passes, razing integrated neighborhoods, and establishing homelands or "bantustans" meant to enforce tribal identity were key elements of the apartheid state.

Black police and soldiers were an important component of maintaining apartheid. These privileged positions were desirable to Africans who had limited opportunities to rise in the apartheid economy. Enforcement of apartheid via members of the oppressed group served to reinforce the inevitability of the status quo. As with any system of oppression there were collaborators who served the system and themselves.

The decades of resistance to apartheid forged a political coalition that overcame divisions between blacks and whites. The first sentence of the African National Congress's Freedom Charter, adopted in 1955 states that "that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of all the people." Through fits and starts, and in the face of escalating violence, the antiapartheid movement within South Africa evolved from the 1950s through the 1980s. During the 80s, greater militance and unity within South Africa combined with worldwide pressure and sanctions created a crisis that the white regime could no longer contain. The policy of divide and conquer could no longer hold back the aspirations of the majority, and the thus the white leadership parlayed with the leaders of the ANC to end apartheid and cede political power to the majority.

Two decades on, the end of apartheid and the establishment of majority rule has led to improvements but not an end to oppression and discrimination. The Marikana Miners Stike of 2012 saw the shooting down of 44 strikers. Black police shot black protesters on the orders of black government officials. The division between those Africans who have grown wealthy and powerful under the new social contract has exposed an economic order in which the powerful use the police to maintain dominance over the majority of workers. The legacy of the violence of apartheid has continued to shape the new dispensation, and true justice continues to be elusive.

There is a wealth of works about apartheid and the transition from apartheid to majority rule. There are also many documentaries and dramatic films that provide insight into the workings of apartheid. Of particular interest regarding this question are "Bopha!" (1994) which stars Danny Glover as a conflicted policeman at odds with his militant son. Also noteworthy is "Come Back, Africa" (1959) a documentary-style film that shows the harsh conditions suffered by miners and the resilience they show under oppression. Also important is Connie Fields' "Have You Heard From Johannesburg," a seven part documentary that chronicles the global antiapartheid movement.