When did apartheid in South Africa operate?

• A. 1900-1930
• B. 1948-1990
• C. 1960-1980
• D. 1994-2010

Answer: (B)

The question tests understanding of when apartheid operated as an official system of racial segregation in South Africa. After the National Party won power in 1948, apartheid was codified into law and enforced across many aspects of life—where people could live, work, travel, and be educated—creating a formal regime of racial separation. That system remained in place and was actively implemented through the 1950s, 60s, and 70s into the 1980s. It began to be dismantled in the early 1990s, with reforms and negotiations leading to the end of the regime and the first multiracial elections in 1994. Among the options, the period from 1948 to around 1990 best captures the era when apartheid existed as an official policy, before the major dismantling reforms took full effect.