![]() 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 | |
![]() | 5,339,919 (2022 census)[1] |
![]() | 130,000 (2016 census)[2] |
![]() | 17,923 (2012 census)[3] |
![]() | 3,000 (2012 census)[4] |
Languages | |
Afrikaans, English, IsiXhosa, Setswana[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 |
Coloureds (Afrikaans: Kleurlinge) refers to members of multiracial ethnic communities in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent, Zimbabwe and Zambia who have ancestry from African, European, and Asian people. The intermixing of different races began in the Cape province of South Africa, with European settlers intermixing with the indigenous Khoi tribes, and Asian slaves of the 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 of the black Bantu tribes, which effectively largely meant people of colour.[8][9]
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.
The majority of coloureds are found in the western cape but are prevalent throughout the country. In Cape Town, they form 43.2% of the total population, according to the South African National Census of 2011.[10]: 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.[11] 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][12][13]