Apartheid
Apartheid: The South African Parliament repeals the Population Registration Act which required racial classification of all South Africans at birth.
In context
- When
- Monday, June 17 199135 years ago
- Category
- Historical eventA dated happening — a battle, treaty, launch, discovery, disaster or decision — recorded on this calendar day.
- Era
- 20th century · 1990s
- Recorded from
- Wikipedia “On this day” feed
At a glance
Dates: From 1991.
What happened
Apartheid was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa from 1948 to 1994. It was characterised by an authoritarian political culture based on baasskap, which ensured that South Africa was dominated politically, socially, and economically by the nation's minority white population. Under this minoritarian system, white citizens held the highest status, followed by Indians, Coloureds and black Africans, in that order.
June 17 through the years
Other entries on the same calendar day, in order.
- 1985Space Shuttle program
- 1987Dusky seaside sparrow
- 1989Interflug Flight 102
- 1991Apartheid
- 1992George H. W. Bush
- 1994O. J. Simpson
- 2009Czech Pirate Party
- 2015Charleston church shooting
- 2015White supremacy
- 2017June 2017 Portugal wildfires
- 2021Juneteenth
Also in 1991
- September 9TajikistanTajikistan declares independence from the Soviet Union.
- September 11Continental Express Flight 2574Continental Express Flight 2574 crashes in Colorado County, Texas, near Eagle Lake, killing 11 passengers and three crew.
- March 14EscondidaEscondida, one of the most productive copper mines in the world, was officially inaugurated.
- September 12Space Shuttle DiscoveryNASA launches Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-48 to deploy the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite.
- September 17EstoniaEstonia, North Korea, South Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, the Marshall Islands and Micronesia join the United Nations.
- September 17LinuxThe first version of the Linux kernel (0.01) is released to the Internet.
- September 5Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989The current international treaty defending indigenous peoples, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989, comes into force.
- October 201991 Uttarkashi earthquakeAn earthquake struck the Indian state of Uttarakhand, killing at least 768 people and destroying thousands of homes.
Sources
- Wikipedia article (text, CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 for adapted text · how we source this
Cite this page
“Apartheid”, What's On This Date, https://whatsonthisdate.com/app/event/apartheid-1991-june-17, accessed October 25, 2026.
Cite the underlying source as well — the source links above go to the record this entry is adapted from.
Questions about this entry
When did Apartheid happen?
June 17 1991 — 35 years ago, on a Monday.
Where does this text come from?
Wikipedia “On this day” feed. Summaries are short adaptations that link back to the source, not reprints.
How do I cite this page?
Use the ready-made citation near the sources at the bottom of the page, and follow the source link to cite the underlying record as well.
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