Khoisan, Bushman & San Information. Basic introduction to the Kalahari Bushmen, "First People" of Africa

Mike's memories are touched with sadness as he saw these people catapulted into the modern world at a pace too fast for successful assimilation. Inevitable changes have been forced upon them, sometimes in the name of modernisation and, in other instances, by those chasing purely political or commercial objectives. Very rarely were they given the opportunity to adjust and adapt at a more organic pace that may have resulted in some successful transitions.

Argument and debate about these changes continues to rage, while the very subject of that discussion disintegrates around them. These people really are in their twilight years, as the last cohesive bands of Bushmen dissolve and fade into the African dust. This is not intended as a critical assessment of the different opinions and strategies applied, but merely as a beginners introduction to a culture worthy of greater respect and to encourage active dialogue and a better understanding of the few remaining old world cultures.

Who are the Bushmen?

Woven within a tapestry of mystique and legend, the Bushmen have been known by many names throughout recorded history. This is an attempt to strip away some of the romantic notions and show them as a real people facing outside pressures in a very real and often harsh world. Although the most studied anthropological group in the world, there are still many misconceptions concerning them, not least of them the beliefs that they are just another African Tribe, that they are truly Nomadic (in the same manner as the Bedouin), that they all speak a common tongue and that those living in the deserts were driven there by white settlers. Many of these beliefs can be rooted in ignorance, prejudice & inaccurate observations by early settlers and explorers while many other misconceptions, although having some small underlying element of truth, are fundamentally misleading and inaccurate.

The Bushmen, often referred to as the San or the generic term Khoisan, are the remnants of Africa's oldest cultural group, genetically the closest surviving people to the original Homo-Sapien core from which the Negro emerged. They are small in stature generally with light yellowish skin, which wrinkles very early in life. Despite the later massive expansion of the pastoral and agrarian tribal cultures, those Bushman groups that utilised environments that were unsuitable for farming, survived until fairly recently with a high level of genetic purity.

They were hunter/gatherers, with traditionally about 70/80% of their diet consisting of plant food, including berries, nuts, roots and melons gathered primarily by the women. The remaining 20/30% was meat, hunted by the men, using poisoned arrows and spears. Their hunting & gathering economy and social structure had remained virtually unchanged for tens of thousands of years until very recently, a socio-economic culture that has sustained mankind universally during their evolution until the advent of agriculture. The Bushmen did not farm or keep livestock, having no concept of the ownership of land or animal.

Their social structure is not Tribal because they have no paramount leader and their ties of kinship are fairly relaxed. They are a loosely knit family culture where decisions are made by universal discussion and agreement by consensus. An individual's opinion is naturally weighted according to their level of skill and experience in the particular field of discussion.

Families within a clan would speak a common language but neighboring clans would usually speak a different tongue, although there would normally be a fair degree of similarity & understanding between them. As you will appreciate, the further afield the clans, the less commonality in language and vocabulary. Get a better idea from the Families & Clans Page, which explains the broad Khoisan language family groups.

Bushmen are generally nomadic within fairly limited boundaries, governed by the proximity of other families and clans. As a very loose guideline, the territory of a family may stretch to a 25-mile circle. Obviously, if there are no other bordering clans or other people these areas may stretch further, as far as is needed to ensure adequate food and water sources.

The roles of men & women were very distinct and rarely overlap, which is a characteristic almost universal amongst hunter/gatherers the world over. It based on survival needs encouraging the most efficient utilisation of available skills and resources. Despite what is often perceived as a very sexist society, the importance of women is very high within the group and their opinions often take precedence, particularly where food is concerned.

It is very difficult today to find genetically pure lines, but in some areas groups can be found which appear to have little or no interbreeding with other peoples and cultures. It is even more difficult to find Bushmen who still totally reliant on traditional methods of survival. The reasons for this are very varied and often the cause of much academic, ideological, economic and political conflict. Without pointing fingers I will try to explain the different forces that have impacted most heavily on these "First People" of Africa.

Names

Where do they live?

They can be found in Southern Africa in the following countries, although I stress that virtually none live purely by hunting and gathering today.

Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Angola, with loosely related groups in Tanzania. Recorded history also placed them in Lesotho and Mozambique.

Rock art and archaeological evidence can place them as far north as Libya, Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, with the evidence of legend & racial type suggesting some traces remain in Kenya.