Editing Coloureds (section)

{{Short description|Multiracial ethnic group of southern Africa}}
{{Redirect|Coloured|the component ethnic group originating in the Cape|Cape Coloureds|usage of the term outside southern Africa|Colored|other uses|Color (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Coloureds
| image            = [[Image:Coloured-family.jpg|250px]]<br />An extended Coloured family with roots in Cape Town, [[Kimberley, Northern Cape|Kimberley]] and [[Pretoria]]
| population       = '''5,600,000'''
| popplace         = [[South Africa]], [[Namibia]], [[Botswana]], [[Zimbabwe]]
| region1          = {{flagcountry|South Africa}}
| pop1             = 5,052,349 (2022 census)
| ref1             = <ref name="Census2022">{{cite web|url=https://census.statssa.gov.za/assets/documents/2022/P03014_Census_2022_Statistical_Release.pdf|title=Census 2022 Statistical Release|publisher=Statistics South Africa|access-date=2024-11-01}}</ref>
| region2          = {{flagcountry|Namibia}}
| pop2             = 107,855 (2023 census)
| ref2             = <ref name="Census2023">{{cite web|url=https://census.nsanamibia.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/2023-Population-and-Housing-Census-Main-Report-28-Oct-2024.pdf|title=Namibia 2023 Population and Housing Census Main Report|publisher=Namibia Statistics Agency|access-date=2024-10-30}}</ref>{{efn|Includes 45,629 [[Basters]].}}
| region3          = {{flagcountry|Zimbabwe}}
| pop3             = 14,130 (2022 census)
| ref3             = <ref>{{cite web |title=Zimbabwe 2022 Population and Housing Census Report, vol. 1 |website=ZimStat |publisher=Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency |url=https://www.zimstat.co.zw/wp-content/uploads/Demography/Census/2022_PHC_Report_27012023_Final.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001155012/https://www.zimstat.co.zw/wp-content/uploads/Demography/Census/2022_PHC_Report_27012023_Final.pdf |archive-date=1 October 2024 |page=122 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
| region4          = {{flagcountry|Zambia}}
| pop4             = 3,000 (2012 census)
| ref4             = <ref name="Shadow">{{cite book|last = Milner-Thornton|first = Juliette Bridgette|title = The Long Shadow of the British Empire: The Ongoing Legacies of Race and Class in Zambia|date = 2012|pages = 9–15|publisher = Palgrave Macmillan|isbn = 978-1-349-34284-6|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Ncc6sOUexo8C&pg=PA9}}{{Dead link|date=February 2025|bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
| langs            = [[Afrikaans]],<br />[[South African English|English]], [[IsiXhosa]], [[Setswana]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Alexander |first=Mary |date=2019-06-09 |title=What languages do black, coloured, Indian and white South Africans speak? |url=https://southafrica-info.com/infographics/languages-black-coloured-indian-white-south-africans-speak/ |access-date=2024-06-15 |website=South Africa Gateway |language=en-GB}}</ref>
| rels             = Predominantly [[Christianity in Africa|Christianity]], minority [[Islam in Africa|Islam]]
| related          = [[List of ethnic groups of Africa|Africans]], [[Mulatto]], [[White South Africans]], [[Afrikaners]], [[Boers]], [[Cape Dutch]], [[Cape Coloureds]], [[Cape Malay]]s, [[Griquas]], [[San people]], [[Khoikhoi]], [[Zulu people|Zulu]], [[Xhosa people|Xhosa]], [[Demographics of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha|Saint Helenians]], [[Rehoboth Basters]], [[Tswana people|Tswana]]
}}
[[File:South Africa 2011 Coloured population proportion map.svg|thumb|250px|Coloured people as a proportion of the total population in South Africa:
{{clear}}
{{legend-col
|{{legend|#EDF8E9|0–20%}}
|{{legend|#BAE4B3|20–40%}}
|{{legend|#74C476|40–60%}}
|{{legend|#31A354|60–80%}}
|{{legend|#006D2C|80–100%}}
}}]]
[[File:South Africa 2011 Coloured population density map.svg|thumb|250px|Density of the Coloured population in South Africa:
{{clear}}
{{legend-col
|{{legend|#ffffcc|&lt;1 /km<sup>2</sup>}}
|{{legend|#ffeda0|1–3 /km<sup>2</sup>}}
|{{legend|#fed976|3–10 /km<sup>2</sup>}}
|{{legend|#feb24c|10–30 /km<sup>2</sup>}}
|{{legend|#fd8d3c|30–100 /km<sup>2</sup>}}
|{{legend|#fc4e2a|100–300 /km<sup>2</sup>}}
|{{legend|#e31a1c|300–1000 /km<sup>2</sup>}}
|{{legend|#bc0026|1000–3000 /km<sup>2</sup>}}
|{{legend|#800026|&gt;3000 /km<sup>2</sup>}}
}}]]

'''Coloureds''' ({{langx|af|Kleurlinge}}) are [[multiracial people]] in [[South Africa]], [[Namibia]] and, to a smaller extent, [[Zimbabwe]] and [[Zambia]]. Their ancestry descends from the [[Miscegenation|interracial mixing]] that occurred between Europeans, Africans and Asians. Interracial mixing in South Africa began in the 17th century in the [[Dutch Cape Colony]] where the Dutch men mixed with Khoi Khoi women, Bantu women and Asian female slaves, producing [[Multiracial people|mixed race children]].<ref name="britannica.com"/> Eventually, interracial mixing occurred throughout South Africa and the rest of [[Southern Africa]] with various other European nationals (such as the Portuguese, British, Germans, Irish etc.) who mixed with other African tribes which contributed to the growing number of mixed-race people, who would later be officially classified as Coloured by the [[apartheid]] government.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://aaregistry.org/story/the-coloured-communities-of-southern-africa-a-story/#:~:text=In%20KwaZulu-Natal%2C%20the%20Coloured%20possess%20a%20diverse%20heritage%2C,British%20and%20Afrikaner%20colonizers%2C%20and%20Arabs%20and%20Asians | title=The Coloured Communities of Southern Africa, a story }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=coloured|url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/coloured?q=coloured|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140309100643/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/coloured?q=coloured|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 9, 2014|work=Oxford Dictionaries|publisher=Oxford University|access-date=14 April 2014}}</ref><ref name="Posel2001">{{cite journal|url=http://www.transformation.und.ac.za/issue%2047/47%20posel1.pdf|title= What's in a name? Racial categorisations under apartheid and their afterlife|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061108101109/http://www.transformation.und.ac.za/issue%2047/47%20posel1.pdf|archive-date=2006-11-08|journal=Transformation|issn=0258-7696|year=2001|last=Posel|first= Deborah|pages= 50–74}}</ref>

''Coloured'' was a legally defined [[Race (human categorization)|racial classification]] during [[apartheid]] referring to anyone not white or of the black [[Bantu peoples|Bantu]] tribes, which effectively largely meant people of colour.<ref name="Posel2001" /><ref name="Pillay2019" />

The majority of coloureds are found in the Western Cape, but are prevalent throughout the country. According to the [[2022 South African census]], Coloureds represent 8.15% of people within South Africa, while they make up 42.1% of the population in the [[Western Cape]] and 41.6% in the [[Northern Cape]], representing a plurality of the population in these two [[provinces of South Africa]].<ref name="census.statssa.gov.za"/> In the Western Cape, a distinctive [[Cape Coloureds|Cape Coloured]] and affiliated [[Cape Malay]] culture developed. Genetic studies suggest the group has the highest levels of mixed ancestry in the world.

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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://omalley.nelsonmandela.org/omalley/index.php/site/q/03lv01538/04lv01828/05lv01829/06lv01838.htm|title=1950. Population Registration Act No 30 - the O'Malley Archives}}</ref> 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 ([[Ethnic groups in South Africa#Black South Africans|blacks]], [[White South Africans|whites]], Coloureds and Indians) still tend to have strong racial identities and to classify themselves and others as members of these race groups.<ref name="Pillay2019">{{cite book|last1=Pillay|first1=Kathryn|title=The Palgrave Handbook of Ethnicity|chapter=Indian Identity in South Africa|year=2019|pages=77–92|doi=10.1007/978-981-13-2898-5_9|isbn=978-981-13-2897-8|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Posel2001"/> The classification continues to persist in government policy, to an extent, as a result of attempts at redress such as [[Black Economic Empowerment]] and [[Affirmative action#South Africa|Employment Equity]].<ref name="Posel2001"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mg.co.za/article/2011-02-24-coloureds-overconcentrated-in-wcape-says-manyi/|title=Manyi: 'Over-supply' of coloureds in Western Cape|date=February 24, 2011}}</ref><ref name="bbc2011RaceElections">{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13144324|title=BBC News - How race still colours South African elections|work=BBC News |date=April 20, 2011|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141120130536/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13144324|archivedate=November 20, 2014}}</ref>