National Party controlled the government of South Africa from 1948 to 1994. The party was founded in 1914 by General James Barry Munnik Hertzog. It aimed to protect the interests of white Afrikaners against black Africans and British influence. Under the party, the policy of apartheid (racial segregation) was reinforced by laws that classified and restricted people according to color. The National Party took South Africa out of the Commonwealth of Nations, making it a republic in 1961.