Apartheid was a system of racial segregation in South Africa enforced through legislation by the National Party governments, the ruling party from 1948 to 1994, under which the rights, associations, and movements of the majority black inhabitants were curtailed and Afrikaner minority rule was maintained. Apartheid was developed after World War II by the Afrikaner-dominated National Party and Broederbond organisations and was practised also in South West Africa, which was administered by South Africa under a League of Nations mandate, until it gained independence as Namibia in 1990. By extension, the term is nowadays currently used for forms of systematic segregation, established by the state authority in a country, against the social and civil rights of a certain group of citizens, due to ethnic prejudices. Racial segregation in South Africa began in colonial times under Dutch East India rule, until 1695 when the British took over the Cape of Good Hope. Apartheid as an officially structured policy was introduced after the general election of 1948.