Why are some ppl from South Africa white?

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While some answers are partially correct, others are just plain nonsense. The partially correct ones are about British colonialisation - but that was not the cause for white people in this country.

The reason you find white people in South Africa is because in the 1600s white people settled in South Africa, and the country became their home. So, white people in South Africa are in fact South Africans. They are not just white people in South Africa. Granted, they are descendents of Europe but they are as South Africans as me and others are.

Maybe it will interest you to know that we also have are very large population of Indian descent who are also South Africans.

Yes, Charlize Theron is a girl from South Africa, and we are proud of her achievements in Hollywood. That goes to show that we have highly talented South Africans who can hold their own internationally.

jro660

Haha, I found myself pondering this question recently, too. 1 out of every 10 South Africans is pure white. The reason is because South Africa is arguably the most diverse nation in Africa. Immigrants from England, the Netherland, Russia, and smaller amounts Greece, Italy, Germany, and France, moved to South Africa for several reasons. Jews moved to South Africa to escape the Holocaust. Seemingly, former Nazis did the same. Europeans had always had a past in South Africa, enjoying its beautiful beaches and cities. Believe it or not many pure Black countries have white populations such as Jamaica, Haiti, etc. Also Northern africa has large white popualtions. hope i helped :)

Vango

Zim$ gave an excellent answer.
Here's a concise history of Caucasian presence in what is now South Africa:
Although Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch ships on the spice route to the East frequented the shores of southern Africa since the 1500's, Europeans (dutch) first settled permanently in 1652. This became the "Kaap de Goede Hoop" colony, which was under Dutch control til the early 1800's when England took control of it. The expanding Cape colony kept expanding to a size bigger than France by the mid 1800's. Of course, most of the settlers were from Dutch decent. Agroup of french settlers arrived in the 1700's and a group of British farming settlers in the 1820's. After almost 200 years of separation from Holland, the settlers from Dutch decent started developing their own language (Afrikaans) and culture, unique to Africa. These caucasians and also brown people (from intermarriage between black and white) and Malay people from the Orient (who settled at Cape Town) spoke and adopted Afrikaans and are the Afrikaners. The Afrikaner farmers in the eastern part of the Cape colony rebelled against the British government and hit the trail East and North with their wagons...into territories occupied by black nations such as the Xhosa, Zulu, Sotho and Ndebele. Some wars were fought, some treaties were signed with local Kings and these Afrikaners, known as the "Voortrekkers" and later "Boers" established the 3 Boer Republics: Natal, Free State and Transvaal. At the turn of the previous century these republics waged a drawn-out and very ugly war against the Brits. (Britain suddenly became interested in overthrowing the Boer republics after the discovery of Diamonds and gold there). Britain had the superior army and in 1910 the 3 republics and the Cape colony united to form the Union of South Africa (USA) - a self-governing country with allegiance to the British crown. In 1962 the official allegiance was scrapped and SA became a republic. From 1910 to 1994 the country was ruled by the minority of white people (mostly Afrikaners) and became a full democracy an 1994.
Afrikaans (an African Language with mostly Dutch roots) is the third biggest language in SA next to Zulu and Xhosa. Currently there are 4-5 million caucasian South Africans in SA and another 1-2 million outside its borders.

Phy A

where have you been???????????? in a jungle????????????? you need more time to cover the lost time because you have known this.

silverbirch

Colonisation.

london.oval

Oh, guys thanks for the laugh this morning, this has really, really cheered me up.

I am not sure where you come from but unless its Europe the chances are that all the white people around you are also not originated from your country.

I love Cecil P's explination, and he is partially right becasue a lot, lot of the Jewish folk who ended up in Southern Africa came from Russia at the time of the pograms - look that up!

Zim's answer is also good and closer to the truth.

Any family who has more then 2-3 generations in a country can be said to be from that country and so there are plenty of white South African as there are Indian and Malasian and Far Eastern South Africans.

This country is a melting pot and we are well proud of that fact !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lesroys

Europeans started colonizing South Africa before they started colonizing the United States! The Portuguese were first, followed soon after by the Dutch and French. German and British colonizers followed. The first slaves were brought from India in 1652 by the Dutch. These, and other Asian people, were captured in the other Dutch colonies and sold into slavery by the ships crews to Dutch settlers. Many of them were children under 10 years old when they were kidnapped. Studies show that the majority of children born to slave women had white fathers, and although there were laws against white people marrying coloured people, the laws allowed white people to marry people of mixed race - and they did. Inter-racial marriage was quite common in South Africa during the 17th and 18th centuries, and a lot of prominent white South Africans have mixed race ancestry. The man for whom the city of Stellenbosch is named, Simon van der Stel, had an Asian (slave) grandmother, for example.

White South Africans didn't seem to have a problem with acknowledging their not-totally-white genealogies until the British introduced pass laws, based on skin color, in the 19th century.

South Africa was once colonized by the British.
So...there are a lot of people of British descent living in
S. Africa.
I been to Capetown, South Africa and it is such a lovely city.

Mosh

Yes, there are all kinds of people in South Africa.

chersgaz

I am south african and white and proud of it. a proud white african.

chucks

Ok, i'll make this Short n Sweet. DIVERSITY, In S.A not only do you get Black people but also White, Coloured, Indian & the list goes on... Being born and raised here makes us Proudly South African!

Ayiza

Colonization
Believe these or not but the white minority tried to hijack SA they thought they could turn SA into an Australia or New Zealand were the native people have no power.
And the funniest part of it all which I am sure will shock is that the white South Africans want to call themselves "AFRICANS" how convenient after 300 years of oppressing Africans.

Original Swagg

If you didn't know not just black people are from Africa I'm black and at first I didn't know that, thats bad isn't it.

@homeincapetown

This is really a silly question.
You might just as well ask "Why are some people from North America white?" as opposed to American Indian or First Nations.
European explorers colonised virtually everywhere worth having. In America they just found a smaller local population and managed to overrun them, literally.

TakeNoticeNow

Uh, because we were born there, mostly descendants of Holland, England and France. My family has been there since the early 1800's . The originall "settlers' arrived in 1820!!Charlize Theron is an Afrikaaner and so her ancestors were most probably Dutch!! It was the white people who called it South Africa!!

rsaleo88

Isn't it obvious that they migrated there?

rghaviation

Ha, and guess what??!! I ride an elephant to work!! What a silly question, really. It's like asking why there are black people in the USA..

Zel B

Why do ppl think there are only black ppl in South Africa? My one friend works overseas and when the ppl heard he was from South Africa, they were very surprised and now call him the Albino. There are tons of white ppl in South Africa. The first white man came to SA in 1652 and his name was Jan Van Riebeeck.

Sara(Oum Aya)

aha exactly

-One Love-

Because the Europeans started living there. They came from places (especially) like Holland and England.

stinalicious

i know huh i always think that i dont know

Orchids1630

Well, South Africa has been colonized from the UK (United Kingdom) and a few other countries, many years ago. Nothing is wrong with that - it may be partly due to jobs, or wealthy people just decided to move there to own a very large acreage along with a home.

FarmerCec

have you not heard? many many years ago, the Soviet Union invaded South Africa. they tried to take over and dominate the country. when they failed and left, they left behind some of their people. not every one wants to believe this, but it did happen and that is where the White South African comes from, mostly. Its in very few histroy books, not every one will admit to it.

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