The former system of institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination in South Africa from 1948 to 1994. Now used more broadly to describe any system of institutionalized racial separation.
From Afrikaans apartheid, literally meaning 'apartness' or 'separateness,' composed of apart (separate) and -heid (suffix meaning '-hood' or '-ness'). First used politically in the 1940s to describe the National Party's racial policies.
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