In
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
, Asian usually refers to people of South Asian origin, more commonly called
Indians.
They are largely descended from people who migrated to South Africa in the late 19th and early 20th century from
British ruled South Asia.
The "Indian"/"Asian" identity was codified by law under
Apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "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 was ...
as a
race group.
This term excluded other peoples from Asia, including East Asians such as
Chinese South Africans
Chinese South Africans () are Overseas Chinese who reside in South Africa, including those whose ancestors came to South Africa in the early 20th century until Chinese immigration was banned under the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1904. Chinese indu ...
, who were either classified as
Coloureds
Coloureds ( af, Kleurlinge or , ) refers to members of multiracial ethnic communities in Southern Africa who may have ancestry from more than one of the various populations inhabiting the region, including African, European, and Asian. South ...
or
Honorary whites,
West Asians (particularly the Lebanese and Syrians), who were originally classified as "Asian" until the early 1900s,
and later as white, or groups like the
Cape Malays who have some degree of Southeast Asian ancestry, and were classified as a subgroup of Coloured.
Indians/Asians
There are more than 1 million Indians in South Africa, most of whom are descended from
indentured
An indenture is a legal contract that reflects or covers a debt or purchase obligation. It specifically refers to two types of practices: in historical usage, an indentured servant status, and in modern usage, it is an instrument used for commercia ...
labourers who were brought into the country by the British from India in the mid-19th century.
They were hired to work in sugar plantations or mines (especially coal) in the
Colony of Natal
The Colony of Natal was a British colony in south-eastern Africa. It was proclaimed a British colony on 4 May 1843 after the British government had annexed the Boer Natalia Republic, Republic of Natalia, and on 31 May 1910 combined with three o ...
(now
KwaZulu-Natal). Traders, known as Passenger Indians also subsequently immigrated. Since 1994 however, there has been a steady trickle of immigrants from the Indian subcontinent. Most Indian South Africans live in KwaZulu-Natal, particularly in the cities of
Durban
Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...
,
Pietermaritzburg and their surrounding areas.
Other groups from Asia
Chinese
The smaller Chinese community was initially descended from migrant workers who came to work in the gold mines around
Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...
in the late nineteenth century.
Some of those workers were repatriated.
Estimates vary, but the Chinese population is reckoned to have increased from 10,000 in the early 1980s to more than 100,000 in the early 2000s.
Chinese immigration caused difficulties for the apartheid regime. Based on the earlier status of Chinese as indentured labourers, the government classified immigrants from Mainland China as "
non-white
The term "person of color" ( : people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is primarily used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is primarily associated with, the U ...
", in particular as
coloureds
Coloureds ( af, Kleurlinge or , ) refers to members of multiracial ethnic communities in Southern Africa who may have ancestry from more than one of the various populations inhabiting the region, including African, European, and Asian. South ...
, and therefore subject to numerous restrictions in residence, voting, education, work, free movement, etc. In 1984, South African Chinese, now increased to about 10,000, received some rights of given to the Japanese who had honorary white status in South African, that is, to be treated as whites in terms of the Group Areas Act only as they didn't acquire all of the official rights of Honorary White status and thus could not do things such as vote or be eligible for conscription.
In late 2006, the
Chinese Association of South Africa filed suit to have Chinese South Africans recognised as having been disadvantaged under ''apartheid'', to benefit from
Black Economic Empowerment
Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) is a policy of the South African government which aims to facilitate broader participation in the economy by black people. A form of affirmative action, it is intended especially to redress the inequalities creat ...
(BEE). Complicating this attempt was the presence of recent immigrant Chinese who had not been disadvantaged by apartheid. They greatly outnumber native Chinese South Africans. Because Chinese under apartheid had somewhat less rigid restrictions than indigenous blacks, some people argued against their receiving benefits. In addition, the status of Japanese and South Koreans as honorary whites under apartheid complicated the case. Nonetheless, in June 2008, Chinese South Africans were fully recognised as having been disadvantaged and entered the BEE ethnic groups if they arrived before 1994.
Other East Asians
For separate political reasons, the government had classified Taiwanese,
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
and South Koreans, as
honorary white, and thus were granted the same privileges as whites.
There is a small community of
Koreans in South Africa
Koreans in South Africa form the largest Korean diaspora community on the African continent and the 29th-largest in the world, ahead of Koreans in Spain and behind Koreans in Italy.
History
South Africa had considered importing labourers from ...
, numbering 3,480 people; it began to form mostly in the 1990s, and includes expatriates sent by South Korean companies, students of English, and individual entrepreneurs.
Sri Lankans
During the
Dutch Empire of the 17th and 18th centuries, many slaves were brought from the island of Sri Lanka (then Ceylon). In the early 18th century, half of the slaves of Cape came from the colonies of India and Ceylon. The ethnicities that have roots from Ceylon are the
Cape Malays and
Cape Coloured
Cape Coloureds () are a South African ethnic group consisted primarily of persons of mixed race and Khoisan descent. Although Coloureds form a minority group within South Africa, they are the predominant population group in the Western Cape ...
. The total numbers of people with Sri Lankan descent is unknown.
Pakistanis
Descendants of people who migrated to South Africa in the 19th and early 20th centuries from the
pre-partition regions that became Pakistan, are part of the South African Indian community. A number of
people from Pakistan have also immigrated to South Africa following the end of apartheid. A substantial number of Pakistanis, most of them belonging to the
Muhajir
Muhajir or Mohajir ( ar, مهاجر, '; pl. , ') is an Arabic word meaning ''migrant'' (see immigration and emigration) which is also used in other languages spoken by Muslims, including English. In English, this term and its derivatives may refer ...
community of
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...
, moved to South Africa in the early 1990s. They largely reside in the bigger cities.
South East Asians
The
Cape Malays are a Muslim group with some Indonesian ancestry that originated at the Cape during the period of Dutch colonisation. During the apartheid regime, they were both classified as part of the "Coloured" racial group and thus considered "non-white" and treated as such.
South Africans of Filipino descent were classified as "black" due to historical outlook on Filipinos by White South Africans, and many of them lived in
bantustans
A Bantustan (also known as Bantu homeland, black homeland, black state or simply homeland; ) was a territory that the National Party administration of South Africa set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South West Africa (now ...
, which were areas set aside to be inhabited by Black South Africans.
West Asians
Certain people from
West Asia
Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes Ana ...
, particularly
Lebanese and
Syrians, were originally classified as "Asian" and therefore "non-white". In 1913, Moses Gadur sued the government after being denied the right to purchase land in Johannesburg on the basis of being considered non-white. Moses Gandur's lawyers successfully argued that
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
immigrants, who were part of the same Semitic race, were not considered "Asian" the same way other people from the Levant were. Therefore, if they were subject to these laws, the Jews should also be affected. Ultimately, the agreement was that the laws only apply to colored people and yellow Asiatics, and not them.
See also
*
Asian Africans
*
Desi DESI may refer to
* Desorption electrospray ionization
* Drug Efficacy Study Implementation Drug Efficacy Study Implementation (DESI) was a program begun by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the 1960s after the requirement (in the Kefauve ...
*
Overseas Chinese
*
Koreans in Africa
References
{{Ethnic groups in South Africa
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
Ethnic groups in South Africa