The nature of national identity came to my mind as I watched the World Cup yesterday.

South Africa is hosting the soccer tournament, the first time an African nation has been given that honor.  Much was made about the quixotic efforts of Ghana (which beat the United States) to be the first African nation to win the tourney.

Not as much has been made about the fact that the Dutch, who were the first settlers in what is now South Africa, have gone so far in winning the tournament.

When the Dutch first came to South Africa, they had the run of the place.  But eventually they had to adjust to reality.  They later became the Boers, and they fought several wars against British colonial rule to maintain their freedom.  They gave in to the Brits, and eventually, they dismantled apartheid, the systematic discrimination of black Africans which was constructed to keep the black majority out of power.  Whites now make up about 10 percent of the population in South Africa, while black Africans make up about 80 percent.  Read more...