South Africa - History - Apartheid
In 1910 the states of the nation were combined under the name of the ‘Union of South Africa’. Initially the Afrikaans and English speaking ‘Whites’ were able to carve up power amongst themselves largely disenfranchising the majority black populace, but this changed when war broke out and South Africa entered on the side of the allies: A move that angered many hard Afrikaans speaking peoples. The alliance broke up and when the Afrikaans based National Party took control in 1948 a policy of Apartheid was quickly introduced.
The black population had their status as second class citizens cemented in legislation and were not able to share in any of the wealth that the nation produced. In 1961 South Africa became a republic and slowly became further removed from the world stage as its segregation policies proliferated and the international community brought in sanctions and economic and trade restrictions. As external pressure started to take its toll and civil unrest slowly began to erode the foundations of Aparthied so the balance of power started to change. 
In 1990 Nelson Mandela (a prominent talisman of the anti-apartheid movement) was released from prison and within four years his party, the African National Congress, replaced the National Party in power spelling the end of Apartheid and the dawning of the modern South Africa.