Apartheid was a system of institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination in South Africa that lasted from 1948 to the early 1990s. Under this policy, the white minority population enforced laws that restricted the rights of the black majority and other racial groups. This included limitations on where people could live, work, and go to school, as well as prohibiting interracial marriages.
The struggle against apartheid involved many activists, including Nelson Mandela, who became a symbol of the fight for equality. International pressure and internal resistance eventually led to the dismantling of apartheid, culminating in the first multiracial elections in 1994.