18 Facts About Coloured

1.

South Africa's Coloured people are regarded as having some of the most diverse genetic background.

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2.

Coloured was a legally defined racial classification during apartheid referring to anyone not white or not a member of one the aboriginal groups of Africa on a cultural basis, which effectively largely meant those people of colour not speaking any indigenous languages.

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3.

In other parts of Southern Africa, people classified as Coloured were usually the descendants of individuals from two distinct ethnicities.

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4.

Mitochondrial DNA studies have demonstrated that many maternal lines of the Coloured population are descended from African Khoisan women.

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5.

In KwaZulu-Natal, the Coloured possess a diverse heritage including British, Irish, German, Mauritian, Saint Helenian, Indian, Xhosa and Zulu.

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6.

About twenty percent of the Coloured speak English as their mother tongue, mostly those of the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

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7.

The Cape Coloured population is descended predominantly from unions of European and European-African males with autochthonous Khoisan females.

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8.

Coloured people played an important role in the struggle against apartheid and its predecessor policies.

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9.

Coloured members were elected to Cape Town's municipal authority.

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10.

Additionally, under apartheid, Coloured people received education inferior to that of Whites.

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11.

The entrenchment clause regarding the Coloured vote, known as the South Africa Act, were thus eliminated and the Separate Representation of Voters Act passed, now successfully.

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12.

In 1958, the government established the Department of Coloured Affairs, followed in 1959 by the Union for Coloured Affairs.

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13.

Coloured support aided the Democratic Alliance's victory in the 2006 Cape Town municipal elections.

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14.

Coloured people supported and were members of the African National Congress before, during and after the apartheid era: notable politicians include Ebrahim Rasool, Beatrice Marshoff, John Schuurman, Allan Hendrickse and Trevor Manuel, longtime Minister of Finance.

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15.

Term Coloured is used in Namibia, to describe persons of mixed race, specifically part Khoisan, and part European.

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16.

Some Coloured families descended from Cape Coloured migrants from South Africa who had children with local women.

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17.

Coloured children are often expected to refer to any extended relatives as their "auntie" or "uncle" as a formality.

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18.

Coloured people were the first speakers of the Afrikaans Language, that have evolved and was later called pure or true Afrikaans.

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