Coloureds are multiracial people in South Africa, Namibia and to a smaller extent Zimbabwe and Zambia. Their ancestry descends from the interracial mixing that occurred between Europeans, Africans and Asians. Interracial mixing in South Africa began in the 17th century in the Dutch Cape Colony when the Dutch settlers mixed with Khoi Khoi women and female slaves from different parts of Africa and Asia, creating mixed-race children. Eventually, interracial mixing occurred throughout South Africa and the rest of Southern Africa with various other European nationals who mixed with other African tribes leading to more mixed-race people whose descendants would later be officially classified as 'Coloured' under the Population Registration Act, 1950 during Apartheid.