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Apartheid, a notorious system of racial segregation in South Africa that was dismantled under intense domestic and international pressure in 1991. Apartheid's roots were in laws enacted in South Africa in 1910, stripping blacks of most political rights, and subsequent legislation that limited black land ownership to 7.3 percent of the total area of the country.

In the 1950s, a series of laws formalized apartheid, including measures that classified the population into one of three categories (whites, colored or mixed, and native), segregated public facilities, and required all South Africans to carry identification paperwork. Domestic resistance to apartheid was led by the African National Congress (ANC). The United Nations (UN) and individual countries protested the measures through various diplomatic channels. In 1962, the UN created a special committee to foster a peaceful end to apartheid.

Because the minority-led South African regime was staunchly anticommunist, successive U.S. administrations supported the government. Washington imposed an arms embargo in 1964, but it refused to sever economic ties with Pretoria until the 1980s. Until the end of apartheid, the United States was South Africa's second largest trading partner with an average trade of more than $4 billion in imports and exports. The administration of President James E. Carter increased diplomatic pressure on Pretoria to repeal apartheid legislation. Carter also refused to recognize the four newly created black homelands in 1976.

In 1983 Congress enacted a measure that banned the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from providing funds to Pretoria, and in 1985, further restrictions were placed on the export of police and security equipment to the regime. Within the United States, a broad antiapartheid campaign spread among domestic groups and the general public. Stockholders pressured firms to divest from South Africa, leading more than 200 U.S. corporations to end their economic involvement in the country. Other countries followed suit; for instance, by 1988, 92 British, 21 Canadian, and 17 Australian companies had also divested from South Africa. Worldwide, more than 400 corporations left or withdrew investments from the apartheid regime.

The boycott movement was particularly strong in the United States among college students, leading to a series of protests and other tactics to force divestiture. By 1987, more than 155 colleges and universities had withdrawn funds from ventures in the country. American foreign investment in South Africa declined from $4 billion in 1986 to less than $1 billion in 1988. In 1986, Congress enacted the Comprehensive Antiapartheid Act. The measure forbade U.S. firms from making new investments in South Africa. It also called for those companies that remained engaged in the South African economy to employ practices that mitigated the economic impact of apartheid by hiring or promoting blacks and investing in segregated areas. The Act also required the president to issue an annual report on apartheid and to make recommendations on additional sanctions. President Ronald W. Reagan vetoed the legislation, arguing that the economic sanctions would harm blacks, but Congress overrode the veto. The following year, Congress forbade intelligence-sharing between Washington and Pretoria. State and local governments also adopted economic restrictions on trade and investment with the apartheid regime.

By 1990, 27 states, 24 counties, and more than 90 individual cities and towns had enacted some form of sanctions against South Africa. In the late 1980s, the Reagan administration undertook a diplomatic offensive to resolve regional conflicts and therefore remove the security imperatives to support Pretoria. The most significant strife involved the Angolan Conflict and the related insurgency in Namibia.

In Angola, a pro-Soviet regime was supported by Cuban troops in an ongoing civil war against pro-American rebels with South African support. Anti-South African rebels also used Angola to conduct a guerrilla campaign in Namibia. In 1988, Washington initiated peace negotiations, which led to the withdrawal of Cuban forces from Angola and the concurrent withdrawal of South African troops from Namibia. In 1989, Namibia conducted its first free and open elections, and the country gained full independence the following year.

In 1991, South African president F. W. de Klerk ended the apartheid regime and ordered that a new constitution be drafted. Two years later, a transitional, multiracial body was inaugurated to oversee open elections and the installation of a permanent, constitutional government. Washington lifted the sanctions imposed on South Africa, including constraints in IMF lending. The administration of President William J. Clinton provided $10 million for the elections and dispatched U.S. observers as part of the international observation team that monitored the balloting. ANC leader Nelson R. Mandela was elected as the country's first post-apartheid president, and the ANC dominated the legislature.

The Clinton administration provided Pretoria with a three-year, $600 million package of trade and economic assistance. Mandela criticized the amount of American aid and called for dramatic increases to allow the restructuring of the South African economy. Tensions also emerged between Pretoria and Washington over the increasingly close ties between South Africa and states such as Cuba, Libya, and Iran. Meanwhile, by 1998, U.S. investments in South Africa had increased to more than $5 billion, while annual trade returned to its previous, pre-sanctions levels...

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