Atlas of South African Change

the long version

Since the first edition was published in 1994 as The Atlas of Apartheid, there has been enormous change in South Africa. Gradually apartheid is being dismantled but in many sectors the effects have not yet been reversed. In this new edition, A.J. Christopher examines the spatial impact of apartheid during the period of National Government from 1948 to 1994, and the legacy it has left for South Africa at the beginning of the twenty first century. Apartheid was about the control of space and specific places. Intent upon maintaining white minority rule, despite local and international resistance, the government thought in terms of drawing lines on maps and on the ground to separate the South African peoples into discrete, legally defined groups in a classic example of divide-and-rule. Segregation operated at many levels and on many scales, from 'petty apartheid' exemplified by separate entrances to buildings and residential areas to 'grand apartheid' involving separate nations-states. It is remarkable that those structures associated with petty and grand apartheid have been dismantled very rapidly, but those associated with the ownership and occupation of land have been extremely persistent. In providing a comprehensive introduction to and detailed analysis of the policy of apartheid and its aftermath through more than 170 maps, The Atlas of Changing South Africa makes a unique contribution. By presenting it in visual, spatial forms most relevant to its conception, it illustrates the various levels of operation of the policy and its wider implications, globally as well as nationally.