Anglo-Africans are primarily
White AfricanWhite Africans are people of European descent living in Africa, who identify themselves as White....
people of largely
British descentThe British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
who live or come from
Sub-Saharan AfricaSub-Saharan Africa as a geographical term refers to the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara. A political definition of Sub-Saharan Africa, instead, covers all African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
and are
AnglophoneEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. A large majority live in
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. Along with Afrikaners, Anglo-Africans are officially grouped as White South Africans, comprising 39% of the total White South African demographic.
Terminology
Ethnicity is a politically loaded topic in South Africa. While some English speakers refer to themselves as "British", the phrase
Anglo African is more generally used to refer to English speakers in Africa, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority live in
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
and other countries in Southern Africa including
ZimbabweZimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
,
NamibiaNamibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
,
ZambiaZambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
,
TanzaniaThe United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
,
LesothoLesotho , officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a landlocked country and enclave, surrounded by the Republic of South Africa. It is just over in size with a population of approximately 2,067,000. Its capital and largest city is Maseru. Lesotho is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The name...
, and
SwazilandSwaziland, officially the Kingdom of Swaziland , and sometimes called Ngwane or Swatini, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, bordered to the north, south and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique...
. Many also come from
KenyaKenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, with smaller numbers residing in
NigeriaNigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
. Though the majority of Anglo-Africans are of British and Irish descent, their numbers also include peoples of
FrenchThe French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
HuguenotThe Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
,
Portuguese-History:The Portuguese explored the coasts of South Africa in the late 15th century, and nominally claimed them as their own with the erecting of padrões...
,
SpanishThe Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....
, German, Jewish and
ItalianThe Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
ancestry who speak English as their first language.
An early reference to Anglo African as a term for British settlers in Africa is Walter H. Wills' "The Anglo-African Who's Who and Biographical Sketchbook, 1907" which contains the details of nearly 2,000 prominent men and women of Edwardian Africa.
Unlike the
AfrikanerAfrikaners are an ethnic group in Southern Africa descended from almost equal numbers of Dutch, French and German settlers whose native tongue is Afrikaans: a Germanic language which derives primarily from 17th century Dutch, and a variety of other languages.-Related ethno-linguistic groups:The...
s, Anglo Africans have not constituted a coherent political or cultural entity in South Africa, hence the absence of a commonly accepted term, although 'English South African' or 'English-speaking South African' are much used.
An
AfrikaansAfrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
term for Anglo African is
rooinek, which literally translates as "red neck" (can be considered derogatory depending on context) but is not the equivalent of the American term "red neck". It arose as a nickname in the early days of settlement. There are many theories to explain this epithet, such as it being a reference to the then red collars of British military uniforms, or that it stems from the red markings the British farmers put on their imported Merino breed of sheep, but the most commonly accepted theory is that it relates to the fact they sunburnt easily, because unlike the Afrikaners they were new to
AfricaAfrica is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
and so dressed inappropriately (i.e. wore inadequate hats, e.g.
sola topeesThe pith helmet is a lightweight cloth-covered helmet made of cork or pith...
(pith helmets), or no hat at all). This term is not related to the
AmericanAmerican English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....
term
redneckRedneck is a historically derogatory slang term used in reference to poor, uneducated white farmers, especially from the southern United States...
(a derogatory term for certain segments of rural
North AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
ns); although both are probably derived from the idea of a sunburnt neck, in South Africa it was due to the British being unused to the African sun, while in America it's probably due to the fact that most "
RedneckRedneck is a historically derogatory slang term used in reference to poor, uneducated white farmers, especially from the southern United States...
s" spent much of their time working outdoors.
History
Although there were small temporary British settlements along the
West AfricaWest Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
n coast from the 1700s onwards, British settlement in Africa began in earnest only at the end of the eighteenth century, in the
Cape of Good HopeThe Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
.
British settlement in the Cape gained momentum following the success of the second British annexation of the Cape from the
Dutch East India CompanyThe Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
, and the subsequent encouragement of
settlersThe 1820 Settlers were several groups or parties of white British colonists settled by the British government and the Cape authorities in the South African Eastern Cape in 1820....
in
AlbanyAlbany, South Africa was a district in the Eastern Cape, South Africa...
("Settler Country") in the
Eastern CapeThe Eastern Cape is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are Port Elizabeth and East London. It was formed in 1994 out of the "independent" Xhosa homelands of Transkei and Ciskei, together with the eastern portion of the Cape Province...
in an effort to consolidate the colony's eastern frontier following the Cape Frontier Wars against the Xhosa.
As Britain expanded the Cape Colony northwards into
KhoikhoiThe Khoikhoi or Khoi, in standardised Khoekhoe/Nama orthography spelled Khoekhoe, are a historical division of the Khoisan ethnic group, the native people of southwestern Africa, closely related to the Bushmen . They had lived in southern Africa since the 5th century AD...
and
SanThe indigenous people of Southern Africa, whose territory spans most areas of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola, are variously referred to as Bushmen, San, Sho, Barwa, Kung, or Khwe...
territory, many Britons settled in the region, but developed a culture distinct from that in Britain; a culture which had similarities to developing
AustralianThe culture of Australia is essentially a Western culture influenced by the unique geography of the Australian continent and by the diverse input of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and various waves of multi-ethnic migration which followed the British colonisation of Australia...
and
AfrikanerAfrikaners are an ethnic group in Southern Africa descended from almost equal numbers of Dutch, French and German settlers whose native tongue is Afrikaans: a Germanic language which derives primarily from 17th century Dutch, and a variety of other languages.-Related ethno-linguistic groups:The...
cultures.
Livingstone David Livingstone was a Scottish Congregationalist pioneer medical missionary with the London Missionary Society and an explorer in Africa. His meeting with H. M. Stanley gave rise to the popular quotation, "Dr...
famously explored southern Africa, and was the first European to set eyes on
Victoria FallsThe Victoria Falls or Mosi-oa-Tunya is a waterfall located in southern Africa on the Zambezi River between the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe.-Introduction:...
. He is a key character in Anglo-African history, being one of the first well-known Britons to believe his heart was in Africa.
In the late nineteenth century, the discovery of
goldGold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
in the
WitwatersrandThe Witwatersrand is a low, sedimentary range of hills, at an elevation of 1700–1800 metres above sea-level, which runs in an east-west direction through Gauteng in South Africa. The word in Afrikaans means "the ridge of white waters". Geologically it is complex, but the principal formations...
and
diamondIn mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...
s in
KimberleyKimberley is a city in South Africa, and the capital of the Northern Cape. It is located near the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. The town has considerable historical significance due its diamond mining past and siege during the Second Boer War...
further encouraged colonisation by Britons, Australians, Americans, and Canadians. Following the defeat of the Afrikaners after the
FirstThe First Boer War also known as the First Anglo-Boer War or the Transvaal War, was fought from 16 December 1880 until 23 March 1881-1877 annexation:...
and
SecondThe Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...
Boer Wars, Britain annexed the Boer Republics of the
TransvaalThe South African Republic , often informally known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer-ruled country in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century. Not to be confused with the present-day Republic of South Africa, it occupied the area later known as the South African...
and
Orange Free StateThe Orange Free State was an independent Boer republic in southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, and later a British colony and a province of the Union of South Africa. It is the historical precursor to the present-day Free State province...
.
Cecil RhodesCecil John Rhodes PC, DCL was an English-born South African businessman, mining magnate, and politician. He was the founder of the diamond company De Beers, which today markets 40% of the world's rough diamonds and at one time marketed 90%...
dreamt of a British Africa from
Cape TownCape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
to
CairoCairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, and the
BSACThe British South Africa Company was established by Cecil Rhodes through the amalgamation of the Central Search Association and the Exploring Company Ltd., receiving a royal charter in 1889...
conquered Mashonaland, Matabeleland, and some settlements further north, which became known as
RhodesiaRhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
(now
ZimbabweZimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
and
ZambiaZambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
). The search for gold drove expansion north into
RhodesiaRhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
(now
ZimbabweZimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
,
ZambiaZambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
, and
MalawiThe Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Its size...
). Simultaneously, British settlers began expansion into the fertile uplands (often called the "
White HighlandsThe term White Highlands describes an area in the central uplands of Kenya, so-called because, during the period of British Colonialism, white immigrants settled there in considerable numbers. The main motivation was to take advantage of the good soils and growing conditions, as well as the cool...
") of British East Africa (now Kenya and Tanzania). With the advent of the post-World War II decolonization movement, black nationalist guerrilla forces, such as the Mau Mau in Kenya and ZANU in Zimbabwe, aided by Soviet expertise and weapons, clamored for independence. In Rhodesia, the Anglo community developed something of a fortress mentality in the 1960s and 1970s, as Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence was recognized neither by Great Britain nor the
Commonwealth of NationsThe Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
. After Rhodesia's independence in 1980, its Anglo-African population declined sharply; tens of thousands of white Zimbabwe citizens were driven off their lands and property, with many of those remaining being intimidated and threatened by the governmental, political, and paramilitary organizations. As a result, thousands of Anglo-Africans were killed, pushed out, deported or went into exile from the original British colonies, and only a few thousand British settlers remained after independence. In spite of it, in all of these colonies, a number of well connected extremely wealthy settlers remained to live following independence and the introduction of self-rule in the second half of the twentieth century.
Modern history
Following the ideological rise of anti-
colonialismColonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
throughout the
EmpireThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
, many
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
protectorates and colonies were granted independence.
Rhodesia
Resistance to the
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
government’s adopted policy of no independence before majority rule (NIBMAR), resulted in the unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) of the
RhodesiaRhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
n government on 11 November 1965. The NIBMAR policy was perceived as irresponsible by supporters of the governing
Rhodesian FrontThe Rhodesian Front was a political party in Southern Rhodesia when the country was under white minority rule. Led first by Winston Field, and, from 1964, by Ian Smith, the Rhodesian Front was the successor to the Dominion Party, which was the main opposition party in Southern Rhodesia during the...
party, led by
Ian SmithIan Douglas Smith GCLM ID was a politician active in the government of Southern Rhodesia, the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Rhodesia, Zimbabwe Rhodesia and Zimbabwe from 1948 to 1987, most notably serving as Prime Minister of Rhodesia from 13 April 1964 to 1 June 1979...
. Not long after the UDI a protracted
Bush WarThe Rhodesian Bush War – also known as the Second Chimurenga or the Zimbabwe War of Liberation – was a civil war which took place between July 1964 and December 1979 in the unrecognised country of Rhodesia...
was fought in Rhodesia until 1979.
South Africa
Most English-speaking whites in South Africa supported the
United PartyThe United Party was South Africa's ruling political party between 1934 and 1948. It was formed by a merger of most of Prime Minister Barry Hertzog's National Party with the rival South African Party of Jan Smuts, plus the remnants of the Unionist Party...
of
Jan SmutsJan Christiaan Smuts, OM, CH, ED, KC, FRS, PC was a prominent South African and British Commonwealth statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various cabinet posts, he served as Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 until 1924 and from 1939 until 1948...
, which favoured close relations with the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and the
CommonwealthThe Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
, rather than the Afrikaans-speaking
NationalistsThe National Party is a former political party in South Africa. Founded in 1914, it was the governing party of the country from 4 June 1948 until 9 May 1994. Members of the National Party were sometimes known as Nationalists or Nats. Its policies included apartheid, the establishment of a...
, many of whom, like John Vorster, supported
Nazi GermanyNazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
during the Second World War.
Many opposed moves to make the country a
republicA republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
, voting "no" in the 1960
referendumIn 1960, the National Party government of South Africa held a referendum on whether or not the then Union of South Africa should abandon its status as a Commonwealth realm and become a republic...
, but following the establishment of a republic in 1961, and South Africa's consequent withdrawal from the Commonwealth, other English-speaking whites began to support the National Party.
In spite of being perceived as more politically liberal than
AfrikanerAfrikaners are an ethnic group in Southern Africa descended from almost equal numbers of Dutch, French and German settlers whose native tongue is Afrikaans: a Germanic language which derives primarily from 17th century Dutch, and a variety of other languages.-Related ethno-linguistic groups:The...
s, in the
1992 referendumThe 1992 referendum was held in South Africa on 17 March of that year. In it, white South Africans were asked to vote in the country's last whites-only referendum to determine whether or not they supported the negotiated reforms begun by State President F.W. de Klerk two years earlier, in which he...
in which whites were asked whether or not they supported the negotiated reforms begun by
State PresidentState President, or Staatspresident in Afrikaans, was the title of South Africa's head of state from 1961 to 1994. The office was established when the country became a republic in 1961, and Queen Elizabeth II ceased to be head of state...
F.W. de Klerk two years earlier, election analysts reported that support to dismantle apartheid among the Afrikaners was actually slightly higher than among
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
speakers. South Africa became fully democratic in 1994.
Post Apartheid
From 1994, after the apartheid era in South Africa, Anglo-African population has numerically stagnated or decreased due to a low birth rate and emigration. As a reason for their decision to leave, many blame the high
crimeCrime is a prominent issue in South Africa. South Africa has a high rate of murders, assaults, rapes, and other crimes compared to most countries. Many emigrants from South Africa state that crime was a big factor in their decision to leave...
rate, real or perceived corruption, poor service delivery and the affirmative action policies of the government.
Since the early 1990s, hundreds of thousands of Anglo-Africans have left the nation to start new lives and fortunes abroad. Despite high emigration rates, a high rate of white foreign immigrants have settled the country, especially from countries such as the United Kingdom and
ZimbabweZimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
. For example, by 2005, an estimated 212,000 British citizens were residing in South Africa. By 2011, this number may have grown to 500,000.
There have been increasing incidents of racism against white South Africans since 1994. In particular the actions of racist police personnel towards white victims have attracted media attention. White men arrested and held in overcrowded cells on minor or spurious charges have taken legal action against the government, as many have been
rapedPrison rape commonly refers to the rape of inmates in prison by other inmates or prison staff.In 2001, Human Rights Watch estimated that at least 140,000 inmates had been raped while incarcerated. and there is a significant variation in the rates of prison rape by race...
and assaulted by violent criminals (often
rapeRape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
and
murderMurder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
suspects) held in the same cells.
Since 1994 close to three thousand farmers have been murdered in thousands of farm attacks
Genocide WatchGenocide Watch is an international organization based in the United States which attempts to predict, prevent, limit, eliminate, and punish genocide throughout the world through reporting, public awareness campaigns, and judicial or quasi-judicial follow-up...
has theorized that farm attacks constitute early warning signs of genocide against Afrikaners and has criticised the South African government for its inaction on the issue, pointing out that the
murderMurder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
rate for them ("ethno-European farmers" in their report, which also included non-Afrikaner farmers of European race) is four times that of the general South African population.
Since 2003, the number of British migrants coming to South Africa has risen by 50%. An estimated 20,000 British migrants moved to South Africa in 2007. South Africa is ranked as the top destination for British retirees and pensioners in Africa. There have also been a significant number of arrivals of
white ZimbabweansWhite Zimbabweans are people from the southern African country Zimbabwe who identify themselves as white...
of British blood, fleeing their home country in light of the economic and political problems currently facing the country. As well as recent arrivals, a significant number of white British Zimbabwean settlers emigrated to South Africa in the start of independence in Zimbabwe in 1980.
Efforts are being made by a few
Anglo-Africans to secure minority rights which would give them the power to veto which was initially sought during negotiations to bring about the end of apartheid however would contradict South Africa's world renowned post-apartheid constitution which is based on non-sexist, non-racial principles; principals of equal rights for all detailed in the ruling ANC's freedom charter
http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/governence-projects/freedom-charter/01_history.htm which was the framework for the new constitution. However, the majority of them, like the
AfrikanerAfrikaners are an ethnic group in Southern Africa descended from almost equal numbers of Dutch, French and German settlers whose native tongue is Afrikaans: a Germanic language which derives primarily from 17th century Dutch, and a variety of other languages.-Related ethno-linguistic groups:The...
s, are supporting South Africa's official opposition, the
Democratic Alliance although the party, like the ruling
ANCANC commonly refers to the African National Congress, a revolutionary movement which became the ruling political party in South Africa in the 1994 election.ANC may also refer to:-Organizations:...
and most others, is a multi-racial party, and the majority of the DA's members and voters are not white.
In South Africa,
Anglo-African is a term which is commonly replaced by English-speaking White South African. When European immigrants (e.g. Germans,
Polesthumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
and
CroatsCroats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
) arrive in South Africa, they will usually adopt either English or Afrikaans culture (although they usually retain some of their own cultures).
They constitute roughly one-third of the white population of South Africa, as opposed to the Afrikaners who constitute two-thirds of the white population. The English-speaking population of South Africa is mostly dominant in the
KwaZulu-NatalKwaZulu-Natal is a province of South Africa. Prior to 1994, the territory now known as KwaZulu-Natal was made up of the province of Natal and the homeland of KwaZulu....
province and in cities such as
JohannesburgJohannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
and
Cape TownCape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
.
Fearful of crime and the possibility of South Africa's adopting a policy towards white people like that in Zimbabwe (although those policies have not been adopted and would be unconstitutional), a significant number of
Anglo-Africans have emigrated abroad, mainly to white-majority western countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia.
Many also leave as they find it much harder to find employment than their parents did during apartheid as preferential treatment of white people in the workplace has been outlawed and they also face competition from a growing number of educated Black, Coloured and Indian South Africans, as well as the Employment Equity Act, 55 of 1998 which enforce race proportionality and equal opportunity for people of colour, women of all races, and people with disabilities.
The act was intended to "promote the constitutional right of equality and the exercise of true democracy", "eliminate unfair discrimination in employment", "ensure the implementation of employment equity to redress the effects of discrimination", and "achieve a diverse workforce broadly representative of our people". The act states that “as a result of apartheid and other discriminatory laws and practices, there are disparities in employment, occupation and income within the national labour market, and that those disparities create such pronounced advantages for certain categories of people that they cannot be redressed simply by repealing discriminatory laws.”
However, some feel that such laws unfairly target whites and is a "reverse apartheid" system or a "new form of apartheid" as a result of the occasional illegal misapplication of the Employment Equity Act, 55 of 1998, despite the fact that similar laws were not invented in South Africa (a widely held view by whites) and have existed elsewhere such as the United States (see
affirmative actionAffirmative action refers to policies that take factors including "race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or national origin" into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group, usually as a means to counter the effects of a history of discrimination.-Origins:The term...
) to give ethnicities who have high unemployment and who were previously discriminated against fair opportunities. Despite this, recent data shows that the corporate sector in South Africa is still dominated by white males.
Global presence
For the above stated reasons, a significant number of
Anglo-Africans have emigrated to countries such as the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
,
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. Many Anglo-Africans from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, and Tanzania have even settled
MozambiqueMozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
after the time it became a member of Commonwealth in 1992 and
NamibiaNamibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
which came under South African rule after the First World War. Other Anglo-Africans also settled
IrelandIreland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
,
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
,
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
,
ArgentinaArgentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
,
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
.
A large number of young Anglo-Africans are taking advantage of
working holiday visaA working holiday visa is a travel permit which allows travellers to undertake employment in the country issuing the visa for the purpose of supplementing their travel funds....
s made available by the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and other
CommonwealthThe Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
countries to gain work experience. The favourable exchange rate with the
South African randThe rand is the currency of South Africa. It takes its name from the Witwatersrand , the ridge upon which Johannesburg is built and where most of South Africa's gold deposits were found. The rand has the symbol "R" and is subdivided into 100 cents, symbol "c"...
(ZAR) also increases the attractiveness of international experience.
Culture
Anglo Africans generally enjoy an outdoor lifestyle and fondness for sport. The
braaiThe word braaivleis is Afrikaans for "grilled meat."The word braai is Afrikaans for "barbecue" or "grill" and is a social custom in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Zambia. The term originated with the Afrikaner people, but has since been adopted by South Africans of many...
, although originally
AfrikaansAfrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
, is a popular way to gather friends. Another pastime is that of visiting game reserves, hiking, camping and recreational angling. There is a particular appreciation of country life and farms are often bought as weekend retreats. Farmers themselves generally prefer holiday houses at the coast. In other ways the culture of Anglo-Africans is more Anglo than African; afternoon tea - in fact, tea at any time of day - is still widespread as are pastimes such as gardening and reading. Families who live in the country are usually familiar with previously practical pastimes such as riding and shooting. Riding is popular in town and country alike and drag-
huntingFox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase, and sometimes killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds, and a group of followers led by a master of foxhounds, who follow the hounds on foot or on horseback.Fox hunting originated in its current...
is carried out by the Cape Hunt and the Rand Hunt.
PoloPolo is a team sport played on horseback in which the objective is to score goals against an opposing team. Sometimes called, "The Sport of Kings", it was highly popularized by the British. Players score by driving a small white plastic or wooden ball into the opposing team's goal using a...
is more accessible in South Africa than in the United Kingdom and very popular amongst farmers. The most avidly followed (and participated in) sports are
rugbyRugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
,
cricketCricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
and
tennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
. Many Anglo-Africans will follow South African as well as British news and watch
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and
Sky NewsSky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...
rather than
CNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, and prefer British humor as expressed by
Fawlty TowersFawlty Towers is a British sitcom produced by BBC Television and first broadcast on BBC2 in 1975. Twelve television program episodes were produced . The show was written by John Cleese and his then wife Connie Booth, both of whom played major characters...
and the
BlackadderBlackadder is the name that encompassed four series of a BBC1 historical sitcom, along with several one-off instalments. All television programme episodes starred Rowan Atkinson as anti-hero Edmund Blackadder and Tony Robinson as Blackadder's dogsbody, Baldrick...
series. There is a widespread appreciation for British things and a certain cachet attached to British books, paints, clothes, fabric, magazines, stationary, china and toys; most Anglo-Africans travel to Britain at least once in their lives to discover their ancestral homeland where some may have friends and even long lost relatives. Most, having been brought up on British nursery rhymes, history, and literature, are more conversant with Britain and its ways than is usually natural for people who have never lived there, or even visited. Conversely some Tanzanian and Kenyan Anglo-Africans occasionally affect Afrikaner accents and use Afrikaans as a badge to distinguish themselves from contract workers and tourists.
Language
Many Anglo Africans speak a unique dialect of English. However, even in South Africa, there are geographical differences in the English that Anglo-Africans speak; most can clearly tell the difference between the languid accent of Durban, Cape Town's supposedly disdainful drawl, and the near-
Received PronunciationReceived Pronunciation , also called the Queen's English, Oxford English or BBC English, is the accent of Standard English in England, with a relationship to regional accents similar to the relationship in other European languages between their standard varieties and their regional forms...
of Johannesburg's northern suburbs and the Natal Midlands. Although the South African slang listed below is true of many young South Africans, it would be unusual to hear it used amongst older Anglo-Africans or people who went to private schools where it would be thought charmingly provincial and only used in jest. Anglo-Africans who use
Received PronunciationReceived Pronunciation , also called the Queen's English, Oxford English or BBC English, is the accent of Standard English in England, with a relationship to regional accents similar to the relationship in other European languages between their standard varieties and their regional forms...
will generally have an aversion to excessive South Africanisms in their speech as well as for regional British accents.
There are influences from
Cape MalaysThe Cape Malay community is an ethnic group or community in South Africa. It derives its name from the present-day Western Cape of South Africa and the people originally from Maritime Southeast Asia, mostly Javanese from modern-day Indonesia, a Dutch colony for several centuries, and Dutch...
, Afrikaners, and the
Bantu languagesThe Bantu languages constitute a traditional sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages. There are about 250 Bantu languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility, though the distinction between language and dialect is often unclear, and Ethnologue counts 535 languages...
. The common greeting 'Howzit!' comes from 'How is it?' and can be likened to the US 'Howdy', the Australian 'G'Day', the Irish 'Howya?' or the recent British 'All right?'. The considerable Afrikaans influence can be seen from words such as braai, trek, lekker, and ja having become common usage centuries ago. In South Africa many
ZuluZulu is the language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers, the vast majority of whom live in South Africa. Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa as well as being understood by over 50% of the population...
and
XhosaXhosa is one of the official languages of South Africa. Xhosa is spoken by approximately 7.9 million people, or about 18% of the South African population. Like most Bantu languages, Xhosa is a tonal language, that is, the same sequence of consonants and vowels can have different meanings when said...
words (such as
shongololoMillipedes are arthropods that have two pairs of legs per segment . Each segment that has two pairs of legs is a result of two single segments fused together as one...
,
mutiMuti is a term for traditional medicine in Southern Africa as far north as Lake Tanganyika. The word muti is derived from the Zulu word for tree, of which the root is -thi...
,
ubuntuUbuntu or "uMunthu" is an African ethic or humanist philosophy focusing on people's allegiances and relations with each other. Some believe that ubuntu is a classical African philosophy or worldview whereas others point out that the idea that ubuntu is a philosophy or worldview has developed in...
, fundi etc.) are used.
Original South African English coinages
| "bru" |
male friend (shortening of brother, see also bru above) |
"no" |
a common speech disfluency or filler In linguistics, a filler is a sound or word that is spoken in conversation by one participant to signal to others that he/she has paused to think but is not yet finished speaking. These are not to be confused with placeholder names, such as thingamajig, which refer to objects or people whose names...
|
"sarmie" |
a sandwich |
"shot" |
thank you |
"china/my china" |
friend. Derived from Cockney "china plate", rhyming slang for "mate"; alternatively, from Zulu "mchana", meaning "friend". |
"scheme" |
to think that (e.g. "I scheme we should go home now"; usage evolved from the hyperbole "What are you scheming?" asked of a person deep in thought.) |
"robot" |
traffic light |
"tune" |
to talk to someone in a derogatory way, to insult someone ("Are you tuning me?"). |
"higher grade" |
a bit too complicated (from the South African matric division of exams into standard grade and higher grade) |
"now now"/"just now" |
From the Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
"nou-nou" and "net-nou". An amount of time, could be anything from 5 seconds to 24 hours, could be past or future tense. i.e.: "I'll be done with it now now." or "He went out just now." |
Rhodes UniversityRhodes University is a public research university located in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, established in 1904. It is the province’s oldest university, and is one of the four universities in the province...
situated in
GrahamstownGrahamstown is a city in the Eastern Cape Province of the Republic of South Africa and is the seat of the Makana municipality. The population of greater Grahamstown, as of 2003, was 124,758. The population of the surrounding areas, including the actual city was 41,799 of which 77.4% were black,...
houses the Dictionary Unit for South African English. The fourth edition of the Dictionary of South African English was released in 1991, and the Oxford Dictionary released its South African English dictionary in 2002. The English Academy of Southern Africa was founded in 1961. It is an association dedicated to promoting the effective use of English as a dynamic language in Southern Africa.
Literature
English-speaking Africans have a long literary tradition, and have produced a number of notable
novelA novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
ists and
poetA poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
s, including
Doris LessingDoris May Lessing CH is a British writer. Her novels include The Grass is Singing, The Golden Notebook, and five novels collectively known as Canopus in Argos....
,
Guy ButlerGuy Butler was a South African poet and writer....
,
Olive SchreinerOlive Schreiner was a South African author, anti-war campaigner and intellectual. She is best remembered today for her novel The Story of an African Farm which has been highly acclaimed ever since its first publication in 1883 for the bold manner in which it dealt with some of the burning issues...
,
(Ignatius) Roy(ston) Dunnachie CampbellIgnatius Royston Dunnachie Campbell, better known as Roy Campbell, was an Anglo-African poet and satirist. He was considered by T. S. Eliot, Dylan Thomas and Edith Sitwell to have been one of the best poets of the period between the First and Second World Wars...
and
Denis Vincent BrutusDennis Vincent Brutus was a South African activist, educator, journalist and poet best known for his campaign to have apartheid South Africa banned from the Olympic Games.-Life and work:...
. A traditional Anglo-African storybook is Sir Percy Fitzpatrick's
Jock of the BushveldJock of the Bushveld is a true story by South African author Sir James Percy Fitzpatrick. The book tells of Fitzpatrick's travels with his dog, Jock, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, during the 1880s, when he worked as a storeman, prospector's assistant, journalist and ox-wagon transport-rider in the...
, which describes his journey as a wagondriver with his dog Jock in the Bush. Other significant writers are
Nadine GordimerNadine Gordimer is a South African writer and political activist. She was awarded the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature when she was recognised as a woman "who through her magnificent epic writing has – in the words of Alfred Nobel – been of very great benefit to humanity".Her writing has long dealt...
,
Alan PatonAlan Stewart Paton was a South African author and anti-apartheid activist.-Family:Paton was born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal Province , the son of a minor civil servant. After attending Maritzburg College, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Natal in his hometown, followed...
, Peter Godwin,
Alexandra FullerAlexandra Fuller is an Anglo-African author, who currently lives in the U.S. state of Wyoming.-Biography:Her first book was Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, a memoir of life with her family living all around Africa...
,
Bryce CourtenayArthur Bryce Courtenay AM is a South-African-born naturalized Australian novelist and one of Australia's most commercially successful authors.-Background and early years:...
and Cathy Buckle.
Arts
Anglo-Africans have influenced modern African arts, often incorporating other African cultures.
(Harold) Athol (Lannigan) FugardAthol Fugard is a South African playwright, novelist, actor, and director who writes in English, best known for his political plays opposing the South African system of apartheid and for the 2005 Academy-Award winning film of his novel Tsotsi, directed by Gavin Hood...
is a significant playwright. He was born of an Irish Catholic father and an Afrikaner mother and has always described himself as an Afrikaner, but he wrote in English to reach a larger audience.
Sharlto CopleySharlto Copley is a South African producer, actor, and director who has produced and co-directed short films which have appeared at the Cannes Film Festival, as well as commercials and music videos...
is a significant actor, producer and director. He starred in the Oscar nominated, South African film
District 9District 9 is a 2009 South African science fiction thriller film directed by Neill Blomkamp. It was written by Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, and produced by Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham. The film stars Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope, and David James...
which was an international box office hit and received widespread critical acclaim throughout the world.
District 9District 9 is a 2009 South African science fiction thriller film directed by Neill Blomkamp. It was written by Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, and produced by Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham. The film stars Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope, and David James...
drew heavily on metaphoric references to South Africa's apartheid history as well as many other more direct references to South African and African culture. Although an Anglo-African, Copley plays an Afrikaaner who experiences a similar "oppression" to that he once imposed on alien refugees from another planet. He also starred in the film remake of the 80's TV show
The A-TeamThe A-Team is an American action adventure television series about a fictional group of ex-United States Army Special Forces personnel who work as soldiers of fortune, while on the run from the Army after being branded as war criminals for a "crime they didn't commit". The A-Team was created by...
.
Music
Notable Anglo-African musicians include
Dave MatthewsDavid John "Dave" Matthews is a South African–born American musician and occasional actor, best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band...
, who emigrated to the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and is therefore more generally identified as American. Johnny Clegg, though his work is heavily influenced by indigenous music .
Wrex TarrWrex Tarr was a Rhodesian comedian, news presenter and archer. He was most famous for his records, "Futi Chilapalapa" and "Cream of Chilapalapa".- Early life :...
performed the distinctly Rhodesian comedy song
Cocky Robin based on Chilapalapa.
John EdmondJohn Edmond is a Rhodesian folk singer who became popular in the 1970s for his Rhodesian patriotic songs. He reached the height of his fame during the Rhodesian Bush War. He was sometimes called the "Bush Cat". During his childhood, he and his parents moved between Scotland and Central Africa...
was a popular singer, songwriter, entertainer and storyteller during the Rhodesian
Bush WarThe Rhodesian Bush War – also known as the Second Chimurenga or the Zimbabwe War of Liberation – was a civil war which took place between July 1964 and December 1979 in the unrecognised country of Rhodesia...
.
Trevor RabinTrevor Charles Rabin is a South African born musician, best known as a guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for the British progressive rock band Yes from 1983–1994, and since then, as a film composer.- Early years :...
, now a naturalised American, formerly a member of
RabbittRabbitt were a South African rock band formed in 1972, evolving from a band called The Conglomeration, consisting of members Trevor Rabin, Duncan Faure, Ronnie Robot, and Neil Cloud. Their successes included making it to the top of the South African charts with the hit "Charlie" in 1976. Rabbitt...
and
YesYes are an English rock band who achieved worldwide success with their progressive, art, and symphonic style of rock music. Regarded as one of the pioneers of the progressive genre, Yes are known for their lengthy songs, mystical lyrics, elaborate album art, and live stage sets...
and now a film composer.
Manfred MannManfred Mann is a keyboard player best known as a founding member and namesake of Manfred Mann and Manfred Mann's Earth Band.-Career:...
, a founding member and namesake of
Manfred MannManfred Mann was a British beat, rhythm and blues and pop band of the 1960s, named after their South African keyboardist, Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band...
and
Manfred Mann's Earth BandManfred Mann's Earth Band is a British progressive rock group formed in 1971 by Manfred Mann.-Formation:Having started in the 1960s with a British band that had such hits as "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" and "The Mighty Quinn", then moving on to Jazz Fusion with Manfred Mann's Chapter Three, Manfred's third...
.
SeetherSeether is a post-grunge/alternative metal band from Pretoria, South Africa, formed in 1999. The band is currently signed to Wind-up Records...
is a
post-grungePost-grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged in the mid-1990s as a derivative of grunge, using the sounds and aesthetic of grunge, but with a more commercially acceptable tone...
band originally founded by Anglo-African members, but now including Americans.
Education
Anglo-Africans and their British forebears have been extensively involved in the founding and development of numerous educational institutions across Africa.
Universities
There are four universities in South Africa that are considered to come from a "liberal" South African tradition that were established by Anglo-Africans, opposed apartheid by admitting limited numbers of black students. The
South African CollegeThe South African College was an educational institution in Cape Town, South Africa, which developed into the University of Cape Town and the South African College Schools .-History:...
was founded in 1829 and later split into the
University of Cape TownThe University of Cape Town is a public research university located in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. UCT was founded in 1829 as the South African College, and is the oldest university in South Africa and the second oldest extant university in Africa.-History:The roots of...
and the
South African College SchoolsThe South African College Schools, commonly referred to as SACS, is a primary and secondary education institution located in Newlands, Cape Town, South Africa. Founded in 1829, it is the oldest school in South Africa and one of four schools expressly named by Cecil John Rhodes to offer an annual...
. The
University of NatalThe University of Natal was a university in Natal, and later KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, that is now part of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. It was founded in 1910 as the Natal University College in Pietermaritzburg, and expanded to include a campus in Durban in 1931. In 1947, the university...
has been merged with the
University of Durban-WestvilleThe University of Durban-Westville was formerly a university situated in Westville, Durban opened 1972. It now forms part of the campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Known as UDW, it was initially established for Indians as during apartheid there were few universities that admitted non-White...
to become the
University of KwaZulu-NatalThe University of KwaZulu-Natal or UKZN is a university with five campuses all located in the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. It was formed on 1 January 2004 after the merger between the University of Natal and the University of Durban-Westville.-History:-University of...
. The University of Witwatersrand was originally founded in Kimberley in 1896 as the "South African School of Mines" and is now based in Johannesburg. Finally,
Rhodes UniversityRhodes University is a public research university located in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, established in 1904. It is the province’s oldest university, and is one of the four universities in the province...
was established in 1904, with an initial grant from the trustees of the Rhodes Trust.
Schools
There are two categories of schools founded by Anglo-Africans or their British missionary predecessors, those originally meant for the education of the children of Anglo-Africans and those developed or founded by Anglo-Africans for the education of the indigenous population.
The first category includes both famous Southern African independent (private) schools like
Plumtree SchoolPlumtree School is a private boarding school for boys in the Matabeleland region of Zimbabwe on the border with Botswana. Founded in 1902 by a railway mission, its headmaster Robert Woodward Hammond steered it into one of the leading schools in Southern Africa....
in
MatabelelandModern day Matabeleland is a region in Zimbabwe divided into three provinces: Matabeleland North, Bulawayo and Matabeleland South. These provinces are in the west and south-west of Zimbabwe, between the Limpopo and Zambezi rivers. The region is named after its inhabitants, the Ndebele people...
, Zimbabwe, the
Diocesan CollegeThe Diocesan College, or Bishops as it is more commonly known, is an independent, all-boys school situated in the suburb of Rondebosch in Cape Town, South Africa...
in
Cape TownCape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
, the
Wykeham CollegiateThe Wykeham Collegiate is a private girls' boarding school situated in Clarendon, Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The name is a combination of the two schools from which it was amalgamated. The first, Wykeham School, was founded in 1905 by Miss Mary Moore and the second, The Girls’...
in
PietermaritzburgPietermaritzburg is the capital and second largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838, and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its "purist" Zulu name is umGungundlovu, and this is the name used for the district municipality...
and
St John's CollegeSt John's College is a private school for boys in Houghton, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa.-History:St John's College was founded in Johannesburg on 1 August 1898 and is an Anglican school....
in
JohannesburgJohannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
and prestige government schools like
Maritzburg CollegeMaritzburg College, known locally as College, is a public school for boys situated in the city of Pietermaritzburg, in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa....
in Pietermaritzburg and the King Edward VII School in Johannesburg. A feature of these schools was that the student body was initially racially segregated, however all these schools have subsequently been desegregated.
The second category of schools includes South African institutions like the
Lovedale InstituteLovedale was a mission station and educational institute in the VictoriaEast division of the Cape Province, South Africa...
, which was responsible for the education of many famous Africans including
Thabo MbekiThabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki is a South African politician who served two terms as the second post-apartheid President of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008. He is also the brother of Moeletsi Mbeki...
,
Chris HaniChris Hani, born Martin Thembisile Hani was the leader of the South African Communist Party and chief of staff of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress . He was a fierce opponent of the apartheid government...
and Sir Seretse Khama, Tiger Kloof Educational Institution and St Matthew's High School. Many of these missionary institutions were seriously impacted by the
Bantu Education ActBantu Education Act of 1953 was a South African law which codified several aspects of the apartheid system. Its major provision was enforced separation of races in all educational institutions. Even universities were made 'tribal', and all but three Missionary schools chose to close down when the...
of 1953, and the Historic Schools Restoration Project was recently launched by Archbishop
Njongonkulu NdunganeNjongonkulu Winston Hugh Ndungane FKC was the Archbishop of Cape Town and Primate of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa ....
with the mission "to revitalise the rich heritage of the historical schools and transform them into sustainable and aspirational African institutions of educational and cultural excellence."
Sport
CricketCricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
,
rugby unionRugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
,
tennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
and
golfGolf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
are generally considered to be the most popular sports among Anglo-Africans.
CricketCricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
in Africa and particularly Zimbabwe has been dominated by Anglo-Africans. Many of their best players include
Andy FlowerAndrew "Andy" Flower OBE is a former international cricketer for Zimbabwe and is currently the England coach.-Playing career:...
,
Heath StreakHeath Hilton Streak is a former Zimbabwean cricketer. He made his Test debut in Zimbabwe's tour of Pakistan 1993/1994 making his mark by taking 8 wickets in the 2nd Test at Rawalpindi...
,
Brendan TaylorBrendan Taylor is a Zimbabwean cricketer, who is mainly a batsman, but occasionally keeps wicket or bowls off-spin as well. He is currently the captain of the Zimbabwean cricket team, having taken over the reins from Elton Chigumbura after the 2011 Cricket World Cup...
and
Ray PriceRaymond William Price is a Zimbabwean cricketer. He bowls left-arm orthodox spin. He is the nephew of the renowned Zimbabwean golfer Nick Price....
. Cricket in South Africa also features numerous Anglo-Africans, such as
Graeme SmithGraeme Craig Smith is a South African cricketer and captain of the South African cricket team Test Match side, having succeeded Shaun Pollock after the 2003 Cricket World Cup...
and
Neil McKenzieNeil Douglas McKenzie is a South African cricketer. He is a right-handed opening batsman who plays for South Africa, making his first appearance in 2000. Strong on the leg side, he is also a very good player of spin...
, both of whom have played for South Africa.
The contribution of Anglo-Africans to South African rugby has continued to the present; other notables include the coach who led the
SpringboksThe South African national rugby union team are 2009 British and Irish Lions Series winners. They are currently ranked as the fourth best team in the IRB World Rankings and were named 2008 World Team of the Year at the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards.Although South Africa was instrumental...
to victory in the
1995 Rugby World CupThe 1995 Rugby World Cup was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country....
,
Kitch ChristieGeorge Moir Christie, better known as Kitch Christie , was a South African rugby union coach best known for coaching the country's national team, the Springboks, to victory at the 1995 Rugby World Cup...
,
Bobby SkinstadRobert Brian Skinstad is a Zimbabwean-born South African rugby union player who has represented the national team, the Springboks, 42 times, scoring 55 points . He played in the positions of flanker and number eight...
and
Percy MontgomeryPercival Colin "Percy" Montgomery is a retired South African rugby union player...
, the Springboks' all-time leader in
appearancesIn sports, a cap is a metaphorical term for a player's appearance on a select team, such as a national team. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of association football...
and points.
Jody ScheckterJody David Scheckter is a South African former auto racing driver, the Formula One World Drivers Champion.-Career:Scheckter was born in East London, South Africa and educated at Selborne College.-Formula One:...
won the F1 World Championship. Anglo-Africans have also had notable success in African rallying, while former Rhodesia in particular has produced several world champion motorcycle road racers including
Jim RedmanJames Albert Redman MBE is a six-time World Champion motorcycle road racer.As a young man, he emigrated to Rhodesia , where he began his racing career. He earned a factory ride with Honda for the 1960 season. He would go on to claim four consecutive 350cc World Championships from 1962 to 1965...
and
Kork BallingtonHugh Neville "Kork" Ballington is a Rhodesian-born South African four-time Grand Prix motorcycle road racing World Champion....
.
The English cricket team of 2010, which retained the
2010–11 Ashes seriesThe Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is one of the most celebrated rivalries in international cricket and dates back to 1882. It is currently played biennially, alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. Cricket being a summer sport, and the venues...
in
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, received a significant contribution from Anglo-Africans. Captain
Andrew StraussAndrew John Strauss, OBE is an English cricketer who plays county cricket for Middlesex County Cricket Club and is the captain of England's Test cricket team. A fluent left-handed opening batsman, Strauss favours scoring off the back foot, mostly playing cut and pull shots...
, wicketkeeper Matt Prior, batsman
Kevin PietersenKevin Peter Pietersen, MBE is a South African-born English cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who plays for England and Surrey...
, batsman
Jonathan TrottIan Jonathan Leonard Trott is a South African-born England Test cricketer. Domestically, he plays for Warwickshire and he has also played in South Africa and New Zealand...
and coach
Andy FlowerAndrew "Andy" Flower OBE is a former international cricketer for Zimbabwe and is currently the England coach.-Playing career:...
are all Anglo-Africans.
Other
The term "pommy" or "pommies" in plural is also used colloquially in South Africa, as in other parts of the world such as Australia, to describe a South African of British descent. (See
List of South African slang words
Sportsmen, sportswomen, musicians, entertainers and actors
- Charlene, Princess of Monaco (née Wittstock) (born 1978), swimmer and wife of Albert II, Prince of Monaco
Albert II, Sovereign Prince of Monaco is the head of the House of Grimaldi and the ruler of the Principality of Monaco. He is the son of Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, and the American actress Grace Kelly...
- Rory Byrne
Rory Byrne is a South African engineer and car designer, most famous for being the chief designer at the Benetton and Scuderia Ferrari Formula One teams....
(born 1944), Formula OneFormula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
car designer
- Mike Catt
Michael John "Mike" Catt OBE is a South African-born former English rugby union footballer who played for London Irish and Bath. He earned 75 international caps for England and played in three World Cup Finals, in 1995, 2003 and 2007...
(born 1971), rugby player
- George "Kitch" Christie
George Moir Christie, better known as Kitch Christie , was a South African rugby union coach best known for coaching the country's national team, the Springboks, to victory at the 1995 Rugby World Cup...
(1940–1998), rugby coach who took the SpringboksThe South African national rugby union team are 2009 British and Irish Lions Series winners. They are currently ranked as the fourth best team in the IRB World Rankings and were named 2008 World Team of the Year at the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards.Although South Africa was instrumental...
to victory in the 1995 Rugby World CupThe 1995 Rugby World Cup was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country....
- Johnny Clegg (also known as "The White Zulu"; born 1953), musician
- Sharlto Copley
Sharlto Copley is a South African producer, actor, and director who has produced and co-directed short films which have appeared at the Cannes Film Festival, as well as commercials and music videos...
, Producer, Actor, and Director
- Kirsty Coventry
Kirsty Leigh Coventry is a Zimbabwean swimmer and world record holder. She attended and swam competitively for Auburn University in Alabama, in the United States...
(born 1983), swimmer
- John Cranko
John Cyril Cranko was a choreographer with the Sadler's Wells Ballet and the Stuttgart Ballet....
, South-African born choreographer
- Kevin Curren
----Kevin Melvyn Curren is a former professional tennis player. He played in two Grand Slam singles finals and won four Grand Slam doubles titles.-Career:...
, tennis player
- Richard E. Grant
Richard E. Grant is a Swaziland-born British actor, screenwriter and director. His most notable role came in the film Withnail and I. He holds dual British and Swazi citizenship.-Early life:...
, Swaziland-born actor, screenwriter and director.
- Trevor Immelman
Trevor John Immelman is a South African professional golfer and winner of the 2008 Masters Tournament.-Early years:Immelman was born in Cape Town, South Africa. Born into a golfing family , he took up golf at the age of five. He attended Hottentots Holland High School...
(born 1979), golfer
- Butch James
Andrew David "Butch" James is a South African rugby union player. He has represented 40 times and was a member of the team that won the 2007 Rugby World Cup. He also played for Bath Rugby in the Aviva Premiership...
, Rugby World Cup-winning Springbok
- Sid James
Sid James was an English-based South African actor and comedian. He made his name as Tony Hancock's co-star in Hancock's Half Hour and also starred in the popular Carry On films. He was known for his trademark "dirty laugh" and lascivious persona...
(born Solomon Joel Cohen, 1913), actor
- Watkin Tudor Jones
Watkin Tudor Jones , currently known by his stage name Ninja, is a South African rapper, record producer, performance artist and satirist...
, rapper, record producer, satirist, "Die Antwoord" lead vocalist.
- Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann is a keyboard player best known as a founding member and namesake of Manfred Mann and Manfred Mann's Earth Band.-Career:...
(born Manfred Sepse Lubowitz, 1940), musician
- Dave Matthews
David John "Dave" Matthews is a South African–born American musician and occasional actor, best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band...
(born 1967), musician (emigrated to United States, more generally identified as American)
- Alexander McCall Smith
Alexander "Sandy" McCall Smith, CBE, FRSE, is a Rhodesian-born Scottish writer and Emeritus Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. In the late 20th century, McCall Smith became a respected expert on medical law and bioethics and served on British and international committees...
(born 1948), author
- Mark McNulty
Mark William McNulty is an Irish/Zimbabwean professional golfer currently playing on the Champions Tour. He was one of the leading players on the European Tour from the mid 1980s to the mid 1990s, and cracked the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings for 83 weeks from 1987 to 1992.McNulty...
(born 1953), golfer
- Ian McIntosh
Ian McIntosh is a Zimbabwean-South African rugby union coach. He served as head coach for the Springboks during the early 1990s.McIntosh grew up near Bulawayo....
, Rugby Union coach.
- Percy Montgomery
Percival Colin "Percy" Montgomery is a retired South African rugby union player...
(born 1974), rugby player and all-time scoring leader for the Springboks
- Shaun Morgan
Shaun Morgan Welgemoed is a South African musician known as the lead singer and the lead/rhythm guitarist of the post-grunge rock/alternative metal band Seether.-Early life:...
(born Shaun Morgan Welgemoed, 1978), musician and front man for the band SeetherSeether is a post-grunge/alternative metal band from Pretoria, South Africa, formed in 1999. The band is currently signed to Wind-up Records...
- Gordon Murray
Prof. Gordon Murray , is a renowned designer of Formula One race cars and the McLaren F1 road car.-Early life:...
(born 1946), Formula OneFormula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
car designer
- Steve Nash
Stephen John "Steve" Nash, OC, OBC is a South African-born Canadian professional basketball player who plays point guard for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association . Nash enjoyed a successful high-school basketball career, and he was eventually given a scholarship by Santa Clara...
(born 1974), basketball player (emigrated to Canada in early childhood, more generally identified as Canadian)
- Jack Parow
Zander Tyler, better known by his stage name Jack Parow is a South African Afrikaans rapper from Bellville in the Western Cape. He is well known for his contribution to the song Die Vraagstuk with Die Heuwels Fantasties. He also performed with Die Heuwels Fantasties at Oppikoppi 2009...
, Zef rapper
- Gary Player
Gary Player DMS; OIG is a South African professional golfer. With his nine major championship victories, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of golf. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974. Player has won 165 tournaments on six continents over six...
(born 1936), golfer
- (Robert) Graeme Pollock
Robert Graeme Pollock, known as Graeme, is a former cricketer. He played in 23 Test matches for South Africa and represented Transvaal and Eastern Province at domestic level....
(born 1944), cricketer
- Shaun Pollock
Shaun Maclean Pollock is a retired South African cricketer who is considered a bowling all-rounder. From 2000 to 2003 he was the captain of the South African cricket team, and also played for Africa XI, World XI, Dolphins and Warwickshire. He was also chosen as the Wisden Cricketer of the Year in...
(born 1973), cricketer
- Nick Price
Nicholas Raymond Leige Price is a South African-Zimbabwean Professional golfer and an inductee in the World Golf Hall of Fame. In the mid-1990s, Price reached number one in the Official World Golf Rankings.-Background:...
(born 1957), golfer
- Trevor Rabin
Trevor Charles Rabin is a South African born musician, best known as a guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for the British progressive rock band Yes from 1983–1994, and since then, as a film composer.- Early years :...
(born 1954), musician
- Barry Richards
- Jonty Rhodes
Jonathan Neil "Jonty" Rhodes is a former South African Test and One Day International cricketer who played for the South African cricket team between 1992 and 2003.Rhodes was born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal Province, South Africa...
(born 1969), cricketer
- Rory Sabbatini
Rory Mario Trevor Sabbatini is a South African professional golfer.Rory Sabbatini was born in Durban, South Africa. He started playing golf at age 4, but concentrated on it from age 12. He was recruited by the University of Arizona, turned professional in 1998 and joined the PGA Tour in 1999...
(born 1976), golfer
- Jody Scheckter
Jody David Scheckter is a South African former auto racing driver, the Formula One World Drivers Champion.-Career:Scheckter was born in East London, South Africa and educated at Selborne College.-Formula One:...
(born 1950), Formula OneFormula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
World Champion 1979
- Tomas Scheckter
Tomas Scheckter is a South African racing driver, born in Monte Carlo. He is the son of 1979 Formula One World Champion Jody Scheckter.-Early years:...
(born 1980), Indy Racing League and A1 Grand Prix series racing driver
- Heath Streak
Heath Hilton Streak is a former Zimbabwean cricketer. He made his Test debut in Zimbabwe's tour of Pakistan 1993/1994 making his mark by taking 8 wickets in the 2nd Test at Rawalpindi...
, cricketer
- Jordy Smith
Jordan Michael "Jordy" Smith is a South African professional surfer competing on the World Championship Tour . In 2007 Smith won surfing's World Qualifying Series, the second-tier tour which leads to qualification for the WCT....
, professional surfer
- Wrex Tarr
Wrex Tarr was a Rhodesian comedian, news presenter and archer. He was most famous for his records, "Futi Chilapalapa" and "Cream of Chilapalapa".- Early life :...
, comedian
- Clem Tholet
Clem Tholet was a Rhodesian folk singer who became popular in the 1970s for his Rhodesian patriotic songs. He reached the height of his fame during the Rhodesian Bush War....
, folk singer, guitarist & songwriter
- Hugo Weaving
Hugo Wallace Weaving is a Nigerian born, English-Australian film actor and voice artist. He is best known for his roles as Agent Smith in the Matrix trilogy, Elrond in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, "V" in V for Vendetta, and performances in numerous Australian character dramas.-Early...
, actor, born in NigeriaNigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
and spent part of childhood in South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, but is now AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n
- Saffron, lead singer of Republica
Republica are an English alternative rock band formed in 1994. The height of their popularity spanned from 1996 to 1999. The Republica sound was described by the band as "techno-pop punk rock"...
, born Samatha Sprackling in NigeriaNigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
- Roger Whittaker
Roger Whittaker is an Anglo-Kenyan singer-songwriter and musician with worldwide record sales of over 55 million. His music can be described as easy listening. He is best known for his baritone singing voice and trademark whistling ability...
, musician
Authors, academics, writers, poets, and journalists
- Jani Allan
Jani Allan is a South African columnist and radio commentator. She became a household name as a columnist for the Sunday Times where she worked between 1979-90. She is also known for her alleged affair with an interviewee, the late right-wing political leader Eugène Terre'Blanche...
(born 1953), journalist
- Lauren Beukes
Lauren Beukes is a South African novelist, short story writer, journalist and TV scriptwriter. She lives in Cape Town, South Africa with her husband and her daughter.- Books :...
(born 1976), writer and journalist
- William Boyd
William Boyd, CBE is a Scottish novelist and screenwriter.-Biography:Of Scottish descent, Boyd spent his early life in Ghana and Nigeria, in Africa...
, writer
- Cathy Buckle, author of African Tears
- Guy Butler
Guy Butler was a South African poet and writer....
, poet
- (Ignatius) Roy(ston) Dunnachie Campbell
Ignatius Royston Dunnachie Campbell, better known as Roy Campbell, was an Anglo-African poet and satirist. He was considered by T. S. Eliot, Dylan Thomas and Edith Sitwell to have been one of the best poets of the period between the First and Second World Wars...
(1901–1957), poet
- Bryce Courtenay
Arthur Bryce Courtenay AM is a South-African-born naturalized Australian novelist and one of Australia's most commercially successful authors.-Background and early years:...
, South-African born author
- Robert Broom
Professor Robert Broom was a Scottish South African doctor and paleontologist. He qualified as a medical practitioner in 1895 and received his DSc in 1905 from the University of Glasgow...
, doctor and paleontologist
- Richard Dawkins
Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author...
(born March 26, 1941), biologist, author of The God DelusionThe God Delusion is a 2006 bestselling non-fiction book by British biologist Richard Dawkins, professorial fellow of New College, Oxford, and inaugural holder of the Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford.In The God Delusion, Dawkins contends that...
- John Edmond
John Edmond is a Rhodesian folk singer who became popular in the 1970s for his Rhodesian patriotic songs. He reached the height of his fame during the Rhodesian Bush War. He was sometimes called the "Bush Cat". During his childhood, he and his parents moved between Scotland and Central Africa...
, singer, songwriter, entertainer and storyteller
- Sir Percy Fitzpatrick
Sir James Percy FitzPatrick, KCMG , known as Percy FitzPatrick, was a South African author, politician, mining financier and pioneer of the fruit industry. He authored the classic children's book, Jock of the Bushveld ....
, transport rider, classic writer
- Bruce Fordyce
Bruce Fordyce is a South African marathon and ultramarathon athlete. He is best known for having won the South African Comrades Marathon a record nine times, of which eight wins were consecutive. He also won the London to Brighton Marathon three years in a row...
, ultra-marathon runner
- (Harold) Athol (Lannigan) Fugard
Athol Fugard is a South African playwright, novelist, actor, and director who writes in English, best known for his political plays opposing the South African system of apartheid and for the 2005 Academy-Award winning film of his novel Tsotsi, directed by Gavin Hood...
, writer, actor
- Lisa Fugard
Lisa Fugard was born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, the only child of playwright Athol Fugard and novelist Sheila Meiring Fugard. She moved to New York City in 1980 to pursue an acting career, and has garnered numerous stage and film roles, including Isabel Dyson in the original production of her...
, writer, actor
- Alexandra Fuller
Alexandra Fuller is an Anglo-African author, who currently lives in the U.S. state of Wyoming.-Biography:Her first book was Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, a memoir of life with her family living all around Africa...
(born 1969), author of Rhodesian memoir Don't Lets Go to the Dogs Tonight
- Jack Cope
Jack Cope was a South African novelist, short story writer, poet, and editor.Jack Cope was born in Natal, South Africa and attended boarding school in Durban, afterwards becoming a journalist on the Natal Mercury and then a political correspondent in London for South African newspapers...
(born 1913) Author.
- Peter Godwin (writer), Rhodesian soldier, journalist
- Nadine Gordimer
Nadine Gordimer is a South African writer and political activist. She was awarded the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature when she was recognised as a woman "who through her magnificent epic writing has – in the words of Alfred Nobel – been of very great benefit to humanity".Her writing has long dealt...
(born 1923), novelist and writer, Nobel Prize in Literature 1991
- Richard E. Grant
Richard E. Grant is a Swaziland-born British actor, screenwriter and director. His most notable role came in the film Withnail and I. He holds dual British and Swazi citizenship.-Early life:...
(born 1957), actor
- William Hamilton (1891–1917), poet, educated at the South African College (now University of Cape Town), where he subsequently taught English and Philosophy
- Glynn Isaac
Glynn Llywelyn Isaac was a South African archaeologist who specialised in the very early prehistory of Africa...
, palaeoanthropologist
- Louis Leakey
Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey was a British archaeologist and naturalist whose work was important in establishing human evolutionary development in Africa. He also played a major role in creating organizations for future research in Africa and for protecting wildlife there...
, palaeoanthropologist
- Richard Leakey
Richard Erskine Frere Leakey is a politician, paleoanthropologist and conservationist. He is second of the three sons of the archaeologists Louis Leakey and Mary Leakey, and is the younger brother of Colin Leakey...
(born 1944), palaeoanthropologist and conservationist
- Doris Lessing
Doris May Lessing CH is a British writer. Her novels include The Grass is Singing, The Golden Notebook, and five novels collectively known as Canopus in Argos....
(born 1919), author
- David Lewis-Williams
James David Lewis-Williams is a South African scholar. He is professor emeritus of cognitive archaeology at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg....
(born 1934), archaeologist
- Major Alan Paton
Alan Stewart Paton was a South African author and anti-apartheid activist.-Family:Paton was born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal Province , the son of a minor civil servant. After attending Maritzburg College, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Natal in his hometown, followed...
(1903–1988), author
- David Rattray
David Grey Rattray was a well-known historian and tour guide of the 1879 Anglo-Zulu war in South Africa....
(1958–2007), historian
- Sir Anthony Sher, actor and novelist
- Wilbur Smith
Wilbur Addison Smith is a best-selling novelist. His writings include 16th and 17th century tales about the founding of the southern territories of Africa and the subsequent adventures and international intrigues relevant to these settlements. His books often fall into one of three series...
(born January 9, 1933), novelist
- Allister Sparks
Allister Haddon Sparks is a South African writer, journalist and political commentator. He was the editor of The Rand Daily Mail when it broke Muldergate, the story of how the apartheid government secretly funded information projects.Sparks later wrote a number of critically acclaimed books on...
, investigative journalist, former Rand Daily Mail editor, Nieman Fellow and political commentator.
- Edward Stourton, journalist
- Phillip Tobias, anthropologist
- J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
South Africa-born author
- Barbara Trapido
Barbara Trapido, born 1941 as Barbara Schuddeboom, is a British novelist. Born in Cape Town and growing up in Durban she studied at the University of Natal gaining a BA in 1963 before emigrating to London. After many years teaching she became a full time writer in 1970.Trapido has published six...
, born Barbara Louise Schuddeboom in 1941 in Cape Town, novelist
- Joseph Wolpe
Joseph Wolpe was born on April 20, 1915, in Johannesburg, South Africa, and died on December 4, 1997, from lung cancer. He is one of the most influential figures in behavior therapy....
(1915–1997), psychiatrist, born in Johannesburg and later moved to the USA
Activists, administrators, civil servants, explorers, and politicians
- Guy Scott
Dr Guy Scott is a Zambian politician. He is currently the Vice President of Zambia.-Personal Details:Scott was born in 1944 in Livingstone. He completed his education in Southern Rhodesia and the United Kingdom at Cambridge University and the University of Sussex, where he obtained a degree in...
Vice President of Zambia
- Roy Bennett (born 1957), Zimbabwean Politician
- Verney Lovett Cameron
Verney Lovett Cameron was an English traveller in Central Africa and the first European to cross equatorial Africa from sea to sea.-Biography:He was born at Radipole, near Weymouth, Dorset...
, explorer
- Sir Rufane Shaw Donkin
Sir Rufane Shaw Donkin GCH KCB , was a British army officer of the Napoleonic era and later Member of Parliament.-Family:Rufane Donkin came of a military family and was the eldest child...
, founder of Port Elizabeth
- Ruth First
Ruth First was a white South African anti-apartheid activist and scholar born in Johannesburg, South Africa...
, South African communist
- Emily Hobhouse
Emily Hobhouse was a British welfare campaigner, who is primarily remembered for bringing to the attention of the British public, and working to change, the poor conditions inside the British concentration camps in South Africa built for Boer women and children during the Second Boer War.-Early...
, activist for Afrikaners in concentration camps
- Sir Leander Starr Jameson
Sir Leander Starr Jameson, 1st Baronet, KCMG, CB, , also known as "Doctor Jim", "The Doctor" or "Lanner", was a British colonial statesman who was best known for his involvement in the Jameson Raid....
, 1st Baronet, KCMG (February 9, 1853 – November 26, 1917), also known as "Doctor Jim", medical doctor and colleague of Cecil John RhodesCecil John Rhodes PC, DCL was an English-born South African businessman, mining magnate, and politician. He was the founder of the diamond company De Beers, which today markets 40% of the world's rough diamonds and at one time marketed 90%...
- Lucy Lloyd
Lucy Catherine Lloyd was the creator along with Wilhelm Bleek of the 19th century archive of |xam and !kun texts-Early life:...
(b. 1834) Philologist and Explorer
- Sir Harry Johnston
Sir Henry "Harry" Hamilton Johnston, GCMG, KCB , was a British explorer, botanist, linguist and colonial administrator, one of the key players in the "Scramble for Africa" that occurred at the end of the 19th century....
- Dick King, famous transport rider
- John Kirk
John Kirk may refer to:* John Kirk , Roman Catholic priest and antiquary* John Kirk , worked alongside David Livingstone in southern Africa* John Kirk , awarded the Victoria Cross...
, leader of Kenya settlers
- Joe Slovo
For Joe Slovo Informal Settlement in Cape Town, see: Joe Slovo .Joe Slovo was a South African politician, long-time leader of the South African Communist Party , and leading member of the African National Congress.-Life:Slovo was born in Obeliai, Lithuania to a Jewish family who emigrated to South...
, anti-Apartheid activist and politician
- Tony Leon
Anthony James "Tony" Leon is a South African politician who served as leader of the opposition from 1999-2007 as leader of the Democratic Alliance. Although still a member of the DA, he currently serves as the South African Ambassador to Argentina under the ANC government.-Early life:Leon grew up...
(born 1956), politician
- Edward Dene Morel
Edmund Dene Morel, originally Georges Eduard Pierre Achille Morel de Ville was a British journalist, author and socialist politician. In collaboration with Roger Casement, the Congo Reform Association and others, Morel, in newspapers such as his West African Mail, led a campaign against slavery...
, British journalist, author and socialist politician.
- Nicholas Mostyn
Sir Nicholas Anthony Joseph Ghislain Mostyn , styled The Hon. Mr Justice Mostyn, is a British High Court of Justice judge in the family division, and a former leading divorce lawyer.-Early life:...
, judge
- John Xavier Merriman
John Xavier Merriman was the last prime minister of the Cape Colony before the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910.-Early life:...
, last prime minister of the Cape Colony
- Mungo Park
Mungo Park was a Scottish explorer of the African continent. He was credited as being the first Westerner to encounter the Niger River.-Early life:...
, explorer
- Cecil John Rhodes
Cecil John Rhodes PC, DCL was an English-born South African businessman, mining magnate, and politician. He was the founder of the diamond company De Beers, which today markets 40% of the world's rough diamonds and at one time marketed 90%...
(1853–1902), businessman and politician
- Sir Theophilus Shepstone, Zulu expert
- Sir Harry Smith, founder of Ladysmith
Ladysmith is a city in the Uthukela District of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It is north-west of Durban and south of Johannesburg. Important industries in the area include food processing, textile and tyre production...
, which he named after his wife
- Ian Douglas Smith GCLM ID (1919–2007) Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia was the name of the British colony situated north of the Limpopo River and the Union of South Africa. From its independence in 1965 until its extinction in 1980, it was known as Rhodesia...
from April 13, 1964 to November 11, 1965 and the first Prime Minister of RhodesiaRhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
from November 11, 1965 to June 1, 1979
- Frederick Selous
Frederick Courteney Selous DSO was a British explorer, officer, hunter, and conservationist, famous for his exploits in south and east of Africa. His real-life adventures inspired Sir H. Rider Haggard to create the fictional Allan Quatermain character. Selous was also a good friend of Theodore...
, after whom the Selous Scouts were named
- Sir Richard Southey (born 1808), Lieutenant-Governor, Colonial Secretary and Treasurer
- Henry Morton Stanley
Sir Henry Morton Stanley, GCB, born John Rowlands , was a Welsh journalist and explorer famous for his exploration of Africa and his search for David Livingstone. Upon finding Livingstone, Stanley allegedly uttered the now-famous greeting, "Dr...
, colleague of Dr. David Livingstone David Livingstone was a Scottish Congregationalist pioneer medical missionary with the London Missionary Society and an explorer in Africa. His meeting with H. M. Stanley gave rise to the popular quotation, "Dr...
- Major Edwin Swales
Edwin Essery Swales VC DFC was a South African pilot and war hero of the Second World War. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and posthumously the Victoria Cross.-Early life and career:...
, (1915–1945), SAAF, VC DFC
- Major Allan Wilson of the Shangani Patrol
The Shangani Patrol was a group of white Rhodesian pioneer police officers killed in battle on the Shangani River in Matabeleland in 1893. The incident achieved a lasting, prominent place in Rhodesian colonial history.-Setting and Battle:...
, the Anglo-African equivalent to Custer's Last Stand
- George Steer
George Lowther Steer was a South African-born British journalist, author and war correspondent who reported on wars preceding World War II, especially the Second Italo-Abyssinian War and the Spanish Civil War...
South-African born British journalist. Notable for his coverage of various conflicts during the 1930s and early 1940s.
Clergy
- William H.C. Lloyd, Archdeacon of Durban Anglican Clergyman and cousin of Lord Lichfield and Lord Mostyn
- Trevor Huddleston
Ernest Urban Trevor Huddleston CR, KCMG was an English Anglican bishop. He was most well known for his anti-apartheid activism and his 'Prayer for Africa'...
, Anglican archbishop, anti-Apartheid activist and Isitwalandwe Medallist
Other Celebrities
- Chelsy Davy
Chelsy Yvonne Davy is a Zimbabwean National who was the on-off girlfriend of Prince Harry of Wales from early 2004 to May 2010.- Early life :...
, Zimbabwean former girlfriend of Prince Harry of Britain
Entrepreneurs and Businesspeople
- Sol Kerzner
Solomon Kerzner is a South African accountant and business magnate.-Background and career:Kerzner was born in Troyeville, Johannesburg, the youngest of four children to Jewish Russian immigrants...
, gambling and hotel magnate, founder of Sun CitySun City is a luxury casino and resort, situated in the North West Province of South Africa. It is located about two hours' drive from Johannesburg, near the city of Rustenburg. The complex borders the Pilanesberg Game Reserve.- History :...
- Mark Shuttleworth
Mark Richard Shuttleworth is a South African entrepreneur who was the second self-funded space tourist. Shuttleworth founded Canonical Ltd. and as of 2010, provides leadership for the Ubuntu operating system...
(born 1973), web entrepreneur, founder of ThawteThawte Consulting is a certificate authority for X.509 certificates. Thawte was founded in 1995 by Mark Shuttleworth in South Africa and is the second largest public CA on the Internet.-Origins:...
, astronaut
- Ernest Oppenheimer
Sir Ernest Oppenheimer was a diamond and gold mining entrepreneur, financier and philanthropist, who controlled De Beers and founded the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa.-Career:...
(born a German Jew in 1880), a mining entrepreneur, financier and philanthropist, who controlled De Beers and founded the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa
- Harry Frederick Oppenheimer (born 1908), chairman of the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa and chairman of De Beers Consolidated Mines
- Nicholas F. Oppenheimer
Nicholas "Nicky" F. Oppenheimer is a South African businessman, the chairman of the De Beers diamond mining company and its subsidiary, the Diamond Trading Company. He also has a large financial interest in the diversified mining company Anglo American. In November 2011 the Oppenheimer family sold...
(born 1945), chairman of De Beers Consolidated Mines
See also
- 1820 Settlers
The 1820 Settlers were several groups or parties of white British colonists settled by the British government and the Cape authorities in the South African Eastern Cape in 1820....
- Afrikaner
Afrikaners are an ethnic group in Southern Africa descended from almost equal numbers of Dutch, French and German settlers whose native tongue is Afrikaans: a Germanic language which derives primarily from 17th century Dutch, and a variety of other languages.-Related ethno-linguistic groups:The...
s
- Anglo-America
Anglo-America is a region in the Americas in which English is a main language, or one which has significant British historical, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural links...
- Anglosphere
Anglosphere is a neologism which refers to those nations with English as the most common language. The term can be used more specifically to refer to those nations which share certain characteristics within their cultures based on a linguistic heritage, through being former British colonies...
- Boer Republics
The Boer Republics were independent self-governed republics created by the northeastern frontier branch of the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of the north eastern Cape Province and their descendants in mainly the northern and eastern parts of what is now the country of...
- Pioneer Column
The Pioneer Column was a force raised by Cecil Rhodes and his British South Africa Company in 1890 and used in his efforts to annex the territory of Mashonaland, later part of Southern Rhodesia ....
- Settler colonialism
Settler colonialism is a specific colonial formation whereby foreign family units move into a region and reproduce. Land is thus the key resource in settler colonies, whereas natural and human resources are the main motivation behind other forms of colonialism...
- White Africans
- Whites in Kenya
There is a minor but relatively prominent group of white people in Kenya, mainly descendants of British settlers from the colonial era.-History:...
- Whites in South Africa
White South African is a term which refers to people from South Africa who are of European descent and who don't regard themselves, or are not regarded as being part of another racial group, for example, as Coloured...
- Whites in Zimbabwe
White Zimbabweans are people from the southern African country Zimbabwe who identify themselves as white...
External links