Union of South Africa

The Union of South Africa was the British dominion that governed southern Africa from 1910 to 1961 and the direct predecessor of the Republic of South Africa. It was created on 31 May 1910 by uniting the Cape Colony, Natal, Transvaal and Orange River Colony into a single state with a bicameral parliament and provincial councils. Power was concentrated in the white minority: the franchise excluded most black Africans, and the Union's governments entrenched racial segregation in land ownership and labour. Pretoria housed the government, Cape Town the parliament and Bloemfontein the appellate court, an arrangement inherited from the former colonies. The Union fought alongside Britain in the First World War, received a League of Nations mandate over South West Africa, and became a founding member of the League. The Balfour Declaration of 1926 and the Statute of Westminster of 1931 confirmed its legislative independence, while the Status of the Union Act of 1934 incorporated those changes into South African law. During the Second World War the government divided over participation, but South African forces fought in North Africa and Italy. A 1960 referendum approved a republic, and on 31 May 1961 the Union became the Republic of South Africa and left the Commonwealth.