Like ''[[Alive in Joburg]]'', the short film on which the feature film is based, the setting of ''District 9'' is inspired by historical events during the [[apartheid]] era, particularly alluding to [[District Six]], an inner-city residential area in [[Cape Town]], declared a "whites only" area by the government in 1966, with 60,000 people [[Apartheid#Forced removal|forcibly removed]] to [[Cape Flats]], {{Convert|25|km|abbr=in}} away.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Corliss |first=Richard |url=http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1916009,00.html |title='District 9' Review: The Summer's Coolest Fantasy Film |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=13 August 2009 |access-date=25 August 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090816090634/http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1916009,00.html |archive-date=16 August 2009 }}</ref> The film also refers to contemporary evictions and forced removals to suburban ghettos in post-apartheid South Africa, as well as the resistance of its residents.<ref name="The real 'District 9' – South Africa's shack dwellers">{{cite magazine |url=http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial&id=1237&catID=9 |title=The real 'District 9' – South Africa's shack dwellers |magazine=[[Guardian Weekly]] |date=28 August 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071118165406/http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial |archive-date=18 November 2007 }}</ref><ref name="dewaal">{{Cite web |last=de Waal |first=Shaun |department=Film |url=http://www.mg.co.za/article/2009-08-28-loving-the-aliens |title=Loving the Aliens |newspaper=[[Mail & Guardian]] |date=28 August 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090830174836/http://www.mg.co.za/article/2009-08-28-loving-the-aliens |archive-date=30 August 2009 }}</ref> This includes the high-profile attempted forced removal of the [[Joe Slovo, Cape Town|Joe Slovo]] informal settlement in Cape Town to [[N2 Gateway#Temporary Relocation Areas in Delft|temporary relocation areas]] in [[Delft, Cape Town|Delft]], plus evictions in the shack settlement Chiawelo, where the film was actually shot.<ref name="5things" /> [[Blikkiesdorp]], a temporary relocation area in Cape Town, has also been compared with the ''District 9'' camp, earning a front-page spread in the ''[[Daily Voice (South African newspaper)|Daily Voice]]''.<ref>Blikkiesdoprp housingdisaster has become Cape Flats' own...District 9 in ''[[The Daily Voice (South African newspaper)|The Daily Voice]]'', South Africa, 3 October 2009</ref><ref name="UN affiliated NGO asks the City to reconsider Symphony Way's eviction to Blikkiesdorp which will be decided in Court on Wednesday">{{Cite web |url=http://antieviction.org.za/2009/10/05/un-affiliated-ngo-asks-the-city-to-reconsider-symphony-ways-eviction-to-blikkiesdorp-which-will-be-decided-in-court-on-wednesday/ |title=UN affiliated NGO asks the City to reconsider Symphony Way's eviction to Blikkiesdorp which will be decided in Court on Wednesday |website=[[Anti-Eviction Campaign]] |date=5 October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091121091511/http://antieviction.org.za/2009/10/05/un-affiliated-ngo-asks-the-city-to-reconsider-symphony-ways-eviction-to-blikkiesdorp-which-will-be-decided-in-court-on-wednesday/ |archive-date=21 November 2009}}</ref>
Dr. Shohini Chauduri wrote that ''District 9'' even echoes apartheid in its title, as it is reminiscent "of [[District Six|District 6]] in Cape Town, declared a whites-only area under the Group Areas Act". She also discusses how the wide shots used in ''District 9'' strongly emphasize the idea of exclusion under apartheid. The separation of people and "prawns" into human and non-human zones marks South Africa's social divisions.<ref>{{cite web | first= Shohini |last= Chaudhuri | url= https://qmplus.qmul.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/661999/mod_resource/content/1/Chaudhuri%2C%20Uninvited%20visitors.pdf | title= Cinema of the Dark Side | archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20180218210844/https://qmplus.qmul.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/661999/mod_resource/content/1/Chaudhuri%2C%20Uninvited%20visitors.pdf |archivedate=18 February 2018 | year= 2014 | work= Uninvited Visitors | pages= 135–143| accessdate=}}</ref>
