Apartheid was a racist political policy in South Africa demanding segregation of the nation's white and non-white populations. This law requires separation in all forms, reminiscent of parts of the United States before the Equal Rights Amendment.
The law of apartheid came into being with the South African election in 1948. So it makes sense that the word's history goes back to that date, from the Afrikaans word for "separateness." It comes from the Dutch, with the "heid" part meaning "hood," for "apart-hood." Many people referred to it as "apart-hate," an apt description for a policy that brutally oppressed an entire people based solely on their skin color. The system was ended in 1993.
