Global InformationColoureds information
 An extended Coloured family with roots in Cape Town, Kimberley and Pretoria | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 5,600,000~ in Southern Africa | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe | |
 South Africa | 5,339,919 (2022 estimate)[1] |
 Namibia | 130,000[2] |
 Zimbabwe | 17,923[3] |
 Zambia | 3,000[4] |
| Languages | |
| Afrikaans, English, IsiXhosa, Setswana, IsiZulu[5] | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Christianity, minority Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Africans, Mulatto, White South Africans, Afrikaners, Boers, Cape Dutch, Cape Coloureds, Cape Malays, Griquas, San people, Khoikhoi, Zulu, Xhosa, Saint Helenians, Rehoboth Basters, Tswana | |
- 0–20%
- 20–40%
- 40–60%
- 60–80%
- 80–100%
- <1 /km²
- 1–3 /km²
- 3–10 /km²
- 10–30 /km²
- 30–100 /km²
- 100–300 /km²
- 300–1000 /km²
- 1000–3000 /km²
- >3000 /km²
Coloureds (Afrikaans: Kleurlinge) refers to members of multiracial ethnic communities in South Africa who may have ancestry from African, European, and Asian people. The intermixing of different races began in the Cape province of South Africa, with Dutch settlers, Bantu, and Malay slaves intermixing with the indigenous Khoi tribes of that region. Later various other European nationals also contributed to the growing mixed race people, who would later be officially classified as coloured by the apartheid government in the 1950s.[7][8]
Coloured was a legally defined racial classification during apartheid referring to anyone not white or not a member of one of the aboriginal groups of Africa on a cultural basis, which effectively largely meant those people of colour not speaking any indigenous languages.[8][9] The term "hotnot" is a derogatory term used to refer to Khoisan people and coloureds in South Africa. The term originated from the Dutch language, where "Hottentot" was used to describe a language spoken by the Khoisan people. It later came to be used as a derogatory term for the people themselves, based on European perceptions of their physical appearance and culture. The term is often used to demean and dehumanize Khoisan and coloured people, perpetuating harmful stereotypes and discrimination against them.[10]
In the Western Cape, a distinctive Cape Coloured and affiliated Cape Malay culture developed. Genetic studies suggest the group has the highest levels of mixed ancestry in the world. Mitochondrial DNA studies have demonstrated that many maternal lines of the Cape Coloured population are descended from African Khoisan women and Xhosa women. In other parts of Southern Africa, people classified as Coloured were usually the descendants of individuals from two distinct ethnicities.
Coloureds are mostly found in the western part of South Africa. In Cape Town, they form 43.2% of the total population, according to the South African National Census of 2011.[11]: 11, 57
The apartheid-era Population Registration Act, 1950 and subsequent amendments, codified the Coloured identity and defined its subgroups, including Cape Coloureds and Malays. Indian South Africans were initially classified under the act as a subgroup of Coloured.[12] As a consequence of Apartheid policies and despite the abolition of the Population Registration Act in 1991, Coloureds are regarded as one of four race groups in South Africa. These groups (blacks, whites, Coloureds and Indians) still tend to have strong racial identities and to classify themselves and others as members of these race groups.[9][8] The classification continues to persist in government policy, to an extent, as a result of attempts at redress such as Black Economic Empowerment and Employment Equity.[8][13][14]i'm
- ^ "Mid-year population estimates, 2020" (PDF). Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
- ^ "Namibia" CIA World Factbook. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
- ^ "Zimbabwe Population Census 2012" (PDF). Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT). October 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 September 2014. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
- ^ Milner-Thornton, Juliette Bridgette (2012). The Long Shadow of the British Empire: The Ongoing Legacies of Race and Class in Zambia. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 9–15. ISBN 978-1-349-34284-6.[permanent dead link]
- ^ South Africa. "Coloureds of South Africa". Document Analysis system.
- ^ Calafell, Francesc; Daya, Michelle; van der Merwe, Lize; Galal, Ushma; Möller, Marlo; Salie, Muneeb; Chimusa, Emile R.; Galanter, Joshua M.; van Helden, Paul D.; Henn, Brenna M.; Gignoux, Chris R.; Hoal, Eileen (2013). "A Panel of Ancestry Informative Markers for the Complex Five-Way Admixed South African Coloured Population". PLOS ONE. 8 (12): e82224. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...882224D. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0082224. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 3869660. PMID 24376522.
- ^ "coloured". Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University. Archived from the original on March 9, 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
- ^ a b c d Posel, Deborah (2001). "What's in a name? Racial categorisations under apartheid and their afterlife" (PDF). Transformation: 50–74. ISSN 0258-7696. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-11-08.
- ^ a b Pillay, Kathryn (2019). "Indian Identity in South Africa". The Palgrave Handbook of Ethnicity. pp. 77–92. doi:10.1007/978-981-13-2898-5_9. ISBN 978-981-13-2897-8.
- ^ Adhikari, Mohamed (17 November 2005). Not White Enough, Not Black Enough: Racial Identity in the South African Coloured Community. Ohio University Press. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-89680-442-5.
- ^ Census 2011 Municipal report: Western Cape (PDF). Statistics South Africa. 2012. ISBN 978-0-621-41459-2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 November 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
- ^ "1950. Population Registration Act No 30 - the O'Malley Archives".
- ^ "Manyi: 'Over-supply' of coloureds in Western Cape". February 24, 2011.
- ^ "BBC News - How race still colours South African elections". BBC News. April 20, 2011. Archived from the original on November 20, 2014.