Origins Centre Museum

White Africans of European ancestry are Africans descended from any of the white ethnic groups originating on the European continent. In 1989, there were an estimated 5.6 million white people with European ancestry on the African continent. Most are of Dutch, British, Portuguese, German, French, and to a lesser extent, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Russians, Jewish or Irish descent. The majority once lived along the Mediterranean coast, in South Africa, or in Zimbabwe.The earliest permanent European communities in Africa were formed at the Cape of Good Hope; Luanda, in Angola; São Tomé Island; and Santiago, Cape Verde through the introduction of Portuguese and Dutch traders or military personnel. Other groups of settlers appeared when France and Great Britain colonized Africa. Before regional decolonization, white Africans may have numbered up to 6 million persons and were represented in every part of the continent, particularly South Africa, South-West Africa, Algeria, Angola, Kenya, and Southern Rhodesia.A voluntary exodus of colonials accompanied independence in most African nations. Portuguese Mozambicans, who numbered about 200,000 in 1975, departed en masse because of economic policies directed against their wealth; they now number fewer than 50,000. In Zimbabwe, white flight was spurred by an aggressive land reform programme introduced by President Robert Mugabe and the resulting economic misfortune. On the other hand, some, including the Belgian community in Burundi, were blatantly expelled by post-colonial governments.The African country with the largest white population of European descent both numerically and proportionally is South Africa, at approximately 4.9 million . Although white African minorities no longer hold exclusive political power, some continue to retain key positions in industry and commercial agriculture.
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