SOUTH AFRICA

Is located in the south part of Africa and is made up of five small countries and national boundaries those include; Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia and Republic of South Africa.

THE VIDEO BELOW SHOWS A SLIGHT HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA

THE PEOPLES OF SOUTH AFRICA

South Africa is composed of great variety of people leading different kinds of life these include the Africans, Europeans and Asians.

TYPES OF PEOPLE FOUND IN SOUTH AFRICA

• The San/bushmen

They came from central and eastern Africa to settle in South Africa. The San were still stone age people when they reached South Africa by 1000AD.

Today they live in the Kalahari desert in much-reduced numbers. They were pushed there first by the Khoikhoi,then by the Bantu and finally by the Boers.

In the 15^th and 16^th century they occupied higher areas such as Drankenstern, Cedarberg, Winterberg, Stormberg and Drakensberg e.t.c.

• The Khoikhoi  (Hottentots)

The Hottentots a name given to them by the first European to meet them also came from eastern and central Africa. They reached South Africa between the 13^th and 14^th Century.

They came into contact with the San and through this contact they got a click in their language from the San.

Like the San, the Khoikhoi settled at the cape before the Europeans came to South Africa. They were however driven toward the arid and semi-arid areas toward the northwest by the Bantu and Europeans.

The Khoikhoi were nomadic, they roamed along the coast of Namibia(Southwest Africa) the cape and along the east coast of South Africa as far as the Ked river.

They were attacked first by the Bantu and then the Boers in South Africa. This led to dislocation of families and property.

• The Bantu

These were the third group of people in South Africa and they dominated the history of South Africa. The Bantu entered South Africa in 4 groups.

• The Shona who were the first settled in the Limpopo
• The Sotho and Tswana, made the second Bantu group and settled in Lesotho and Botswana.
• The Nguni and Songa, settled in eastern cape and Natal
• The Orambo and Herero settled in Namibia.

The Bantu came from west and central Africa and were in South Africa more than 1000years ago. The Bantu Number is about 70% of the total population in S.A.

2. EUROPEANS

•  The Dutch/Afrikaans.

The first group of Europeans to migrate to South Africa and settle there were the Dutchmen from Holland in 1652. The Dutch are also known as Afrikaans or Boers.

•  The French

The second group of Europeans was that of the French who followers of the Christian founded by Hugu. These French men arrived in South Africa in 1668; they wanted to avoid persecution in France because at that time the only religion allowed was Roman Catholics.

• The English

The third group of Europeans to settle in South Africa was that of the English men from England. These started to arrive in South Africa in 1806.

3. THE ASIANS

These started to arrive in South Africa during the second half of the 19^th century. They were brought by the British government to work on sugar plantations in Natal.

4. THE COLOUREDS

Before the population of Europeans increased in South Africa both the settlers and European sailors used to marry Khoikhoi, San and Bantu women. Their offsprings are referred to as the coloureds.

WAYS OF LIFE

The San

These are believed to have been the earliest, modern inhabitants of South Africa. They are generally known as Bushmen a name given to them by the Xhosa/Boers. They are also referred to as the Twa or Rous.

The sans belong to the bush manaid race. They are yellow, brown skin, have short structure and a click sound in their language.

The San originally lived in central and eastern Africa and were forced southwards by stronger and more organized Bantu speaking people.

They also migrated due to overpopulation, famine and drought, search for food and insects, epidemics like smallpox and love of adventure.

On their arrival in South Africa, the San settled in Damara land, Bahlapin, the hills of Griqualand urest, the Orange Free State, the Transvaal and Transkei.

Today the remains of their settlements are shown in rock paintings, stone implements and engravings found in the present areas of Botswana, Namibia and are about 10,000 people.

ORGANIZATION OF THE SAN

Political Organisation

• They did not have a common central authority instead the work of government was done by a level of settlement through the head man with the assistance of the council of elders.
• Leaders of bands had ritual functions always related to rainmaking.
• The head man’s role was to implement what was decided by the council of elders. The head man also exercised ritual powers which increased his political authority.
• Regular council meetings were held to handle important political matters, membership to council meetings was opened to all male adults.
• The San were divided into 3 large groups each comprising of a number of tribes which in turn were composed of scattered settlement. The groups included; the northern San, central San and southern San. Members of each group were bound together by the common language and name which distinguished them.

Economic Organisation

• Economically, they kept no animals except the hunting dogs.
• They lived by hunting wild animals.
• The San were great hunters and gatherers.
• They lived on wild roots, honey and locusts, white ants and caterpillars.
• To supplement on their diet the San caught fish in the river such as Kei, Vaal, Tsamo, Umzi, Mvubu, and Tugela.
• The hunters used bows and poisoned arrows for small games and in order to get a large games pits were dug.
• They led a predominantly nomadic life. They did not grow food crops but traded in skins and feathers for food.
• Their wealth consisted of hunting dogs, hunting territories, temporary shelters and cares with pictures of animals.
• When other people entered the region, they carried raids against the San being weaker compared to the new comers, the San were regularly displaced.

Social Organisation

• Being nomadic the San kept moving from place to place where they even settled, they lived in small settlements mostly composed of 25-70 people. A few large settlements consisted of 200-500 people.
• The San slept in caves and temporary shelters. Their caves were usually decorated with beautiful wall paintings based on their daily experiences.
• The San boys underwent initiation where by their hunting skills were tasted, initiation was at puberty.
• It was a common practice of girls of about 7-8 years to be married to boys of 14-15 yrs. After the marriage the boy would join his wife`s family for whom he would be obliged to hunt.
• They used traditional healing herbs as medicine and they taught their use to the youth.
• Polygamy was widely practiced but they had few children, many children would be a burden to normadic families.
• They also lived by dancing; they danced at new and full moon. At the dances the hunters prayed for fortune in the hunt.
• The sans were artists and they painted rocks to record major events. Their religious beliefs were related to their form of art.
• The religious beliefs of the San indicated that they believed in life  after death and a super natural being.
• They believed in a god “Kaggen” and a praying mantis represented him. They treated the praying mantis with respect because it was a symbol of wealth and good fortune.
• The most important ceremony amongst the San was sacrifice to the rain because they lived in a dry area.
• The San also offered prayers to heavenly bodies including the moon. They also believed kageni to have had powers over such things such as rain, thunder and lightening. He was thought to live in the sky with dead people.
• The San also celebrated important moments such as birth, puberty, marriage and death by sprinkling the person with the gall of sacrificial animal.
• Their way of life was interrupted by other people, some of them ended up being destroyed or absorbed by the new people.
• Today only a few San live in South Africa the rest totaling to about 1500 live in Botswana and Namibia.

THE KHOIKHOI 

They were herders who settled on the land from the Atlantic to the buffalo coast on the Indian Ocean.

Like the San, the Khoikhoi belong to bush maniod race, they were yellow, brown-skinned and their language full of click sound.

They are at times called Hottentots a name given to them by the first Europeans to meet them.

Before they migrated and settled in South Africa, they lived in Central and Eastern Africa. They were forced Southwards by stronger and more organized Bantu speaking people.

By the time the Portuguese came, the Khoikhoi was living in Saldahaha bay. They had reached the cape in the 13^th and 14^th century.

By the middle of the 17^th century, the Khoikhoi were living around the cape along banks of the Orange River and the coast of natal and over much of modern Namibia. At present, the Khoikhoi live in South Africa and Namibia.

ORGANISATION OF THE KHOIKHOI

Political Organisation.

• They had no centralized system of government; however, they had political system which helped them to manage their affairs.
• They lived in large camps or groups each consisting of several related clans. In each camp was a village which operated as an independent political unit.
• Each camp had a chief who ruled with the help of the elders who headed the clans in that camp or village.
• The chief usually settled disputes between members of different clans in his camp. He even had powers to sentence a man to death.
• However, the chief `s power was at times limited for instance, the relatives of the murdered person had the right to act or even kill the murderer without being restrained.
• The chiefs among the Khoikhoi were also responsible for the safety of the camp while the San had a weak political system and had no chiefs. The chiefs ruled through customary established practices that defined their powers. The disputes among the clan members were settled by the leading clan elders.
• The differences between members of different clans were settled by the chief of the group together with the different clan heads. Among the Khoikhoi, the chief had clearer and heavier responsibilities than the San.
• The Khoikhoi held their meetings in public and original members were free to attend the proceedings. This kind of political organization was better than that of the San.

Economic Organisation

• They were great herders who kept large flocks of fat-tailed sheep and long-horned cattle. Some of the Khoikhoi particularly the Nama kept goats as well.
• In order to supplement the food provided by their animals, the Khoikhoi also did hunting, fishing and gathering.
• They also jealously guarded their hunting grounds. It was rare for the Khoikhoi to slaughter cattle for meat and only did so for important ceremonies or feasts.
• They carried out barter trade with the Bantu and later with Europeans i.e. the Portuguese and the Dutch. They exchanged cattle and related products for European goods like Brass, Copper, beans and cloth.
• Their best food was milk like San, they also fed on honey, wild fruits, roots and fish. They killed wild hens by use of poisoned arrows.
• The Khoikhoi practiced ironworking and pottery making, the San did not have this knowledge.
• They had a lot of material wealth more than the San. They also had permanent shelters and their tents were carried by oxen.
• The Khoikhoi were nomadic and grew no crops for food they moved from place to place in search of pasture and water for their animals.
• They had a better economy and lived in larger political groups than the San. It was 600-2000 people and clothing was made from animal skin.

Social Organisation

• The nature of the economy of the Khoikhoi influenced their social organization.
• They were always moving in order to get food, water and pasture. This meant that they could not make permanent settlements.
• The Khoikhoi lived in simple homesteads each consisting of a beehive-shaped hut. The huts were made of reed mats and could be carried by their oxen when they moved.
• The Khoikhoi boys underwent initiation whereby their hunting skills were tested. They were prepared for adulthood, initiation was performed at puberty and girls were initiated at menstruation.
• Marriage among the Khoikhoi was more complex. It was after initiation and marriage within the clans was forbidden.
• The young couple stayed with the bride`s parents until the birth of the first child.
• Sheep were presented to the bride`s parents before the bride was taken. Then the bride would go with her own animal as presents from her family which remained hers in her new home.
• They used traditional herbs as medicine and they taught their use to the youth.
• Polygamy was widely practiced but the Khoikhoi had few children. Many children would be a burden to nomadic families. In case of giving birth to twins, one of the pair of twins was commonly left to die.
• They celebrated important moments like birth, puberty, marriage and death by sprinkling the person with gall of the sacrificial animal.
• The Tsui god was worshiped and believed to be the giver of rain, property and good health. He was called father of our father.
• They danced at the new and full moon. They treated a praying mantis with respect because it was a symbol of wealth and good fortune.
• Like the San, they believed in life after death and supernatural being. They thought of God as part of the mystery of the sky which brought rain.
• The most important ceremony among the Khoikhoi was sacrifice to the rain because they lived in dry area.
• The Khoikhoi also believed that the soul of a dead person accompanied its self into a ghost. Ghosts were taught to be responsible for harm and death.
• They were also associated with a supernatural being and the Tsui god was held responsible for sickness, shooting stars and eclipse of the moon and sun.

THE BANTU SPEAKING PEOPLE.

The Bantu who speak more or less similar language began to enter South Africa at around 1000AD. They have a distinguishing common suffix “NTU” in their language.

They belonged to the negroid race. Examples of the Bantu people who settled in South Africa include; the Shona, the Nguni under which the Xhosa, Pondo, Embu and Zulu fall.

It is believed that the Bantu originated from West Africa around Benue valley in Nigeria or Western Cameroon. A number of factors have been put forward why the Bantu speaking people migrated from their cradle land and finally settled in South Africa.

The Bantu who migrated into South Africa was composed of four major groups. They are Shona (Rozwi and Kalanga), Sotho-Tswana, Nguni-Tsanga, Horere-Ambo.

Reasons of the Bantu Migration.

• There was an increase in population in their cradle land and this led to greater pressure on land. The affected groups of Bantu moved in search of vacant places.
• They also moved because of constant attacks from stronger tribes from the Nile/Niger valley.
• Internal conflicts among the Bantu led to search for safer areas.
• Drought and famine might also have contributed to the Bantu migration. They moved in search of land which was free from drought and large foodstuffs.
• Epidemics and other diseases forced the Bantu to migrate to South Africa. They were forced to look for land which was free from animal and human diseases.
• The Bantu also migrated in search of freshwater and pasture for their animals since the pasture had got exhausted as a result of overstocking.
• The Bantu wanted to spread their skills of ironworking and this encouraged them to move.
• They had spears which encouraged them to move without fear
• The youth were tired of getting orders from the old especially on behavior matters so they migrated to areas where they would be free from such rigid customs.
• Others migrated because their neighbors, friends and relatives were also moving.
• The Bantu especially the youth were wonder lust wishing to move to see what lay beyond their boundaries.

ORGANISATION OF THE BANTU

The Nguni and the Sotho were basically the same in many ways

Economic Organisation.

• The Bantu were cattle keepers and the cattle provided food and clothing to the Bantu. Cattle was only currency in which dowry and validating marriage could be paid.
• They were ironworkers which made it possible for them to use iron implements. The iron implements were superior to those used by the San and Khoikhoi.
• The Sotho and Nguni also practiced agriculture. Millet the staple food was mainly planted by women and corn not needed for immediate consumption was stored in covered pits. Maize was introduced later by the Portuguese.

Political Organisation.

• Among the southern Bantu, the tribe was the basic political unit though larger than those of the Khoikhoi usually consisted of only a few thousand members.
• At the core of every tribe was a lineage. The chief was always a member of this and his close relatives held subordinate offices or were members of his council.
• In addition to members of the central clan, most tribes contained families that belonged to their clans. These commoner`s families associated themselves with traditions of the royal clan to a considerable extent.
• The ancestors of the chief were regarded as the guardian spirit of the whole community and the tribal was either taken from that of the outstanding or from the totem.
• The territory was subdivided into a number of subdivisions, provinces and districts. Each of those was under an officer.
• Administrative authority among the Bantu was therefore distributed between the chief and hierarchy of subordinates.
• The chief’s position was of the greatest importance. It was the civil-military, judicial and religious head of the people. Its court was the supreme court of appeal and his decision was final in all political matters.
• He was expected to rule with the advice of the leading men, inner council and in accordance of the custom and consensus of opinion.
• On more important occasions a wide council (pitso) of important subordinate chiefs would be held before decisions were taken. All adult male members were free to attend the proceedings and anyone interested would speak his mind and even criticize the chiefs severely.
• Though the chief always had the last word, he very much respected public opinion.
• Whenever a rule became unpopular, some families would transfer their loyalty to other tribes. Such an action restrained rulers from acting contrary to public opinion.
• The chief was further assisted by at least one permanent official (Induna).  The induna was supposed to inform the chief about public opinion and guard against the rebellion and conspiracies. Indunas ruled the local political units and were from commoner families and experienced in civil and military fields.
• Each tribe laid claim to a definite territory and rights to the use of land within this area was controlled by the chief in the name of the tribe as a whole.
• Permanent ownership of land was not recognized. A chief could allow other communities to temporarily use the tribal land in return for a payment in recognition of his authorities.
• The chief was the only one allowed to offer sacrifices to ancestral spirits and conduct ceremonies connected with rainmaking and war.
• Conflicts among the Bantu tribes were common and often result into fighting. Fighting was normally limited to ceasing cattle or grazing lands and rarely processed to the extent of crushing an enemy tribe completely.

Social Organisation

• Among the Nguni and Sotho, the cattle enclose (kraal) was the Centre of every settlement. This is where the men would meet to discuss their family or clan issues and it was a taboo for women to go there.
• Basically a family was made of a considerable number of closely related people of a male line. A single-family head would adjudicate over minor issues /disputes.
• Members of the family lived near each other their huts forming a large family compound with a lager settlement.
• The distribution of family settlements was determined by geographical as well as social considerations. On the east coast, where permanent sources of water were comparatively numerous families formed isolated family compounds.
• On the interior plateau, the Sotho tended to live in more concentrated village settlements and fringes of the Kalahari where water was scarce the Tswana lived in substantial towns around them.
• The Nguni and Sotho were polygamous. Their wives were divided into households with a fixed order of prestige and different rights to property inheritance.
• Persons who dressed decent (originating from the same ancestors) from a common ancestor constituted a common clan. They shared a common name and might not intermarry until after many generations had passed and when a chief wanted to marry within his own clan.
• Both the Nguni and the Sotho tribes practiced a system of initiation into manhood. It was only after initiation a young man would marry and take part in decision making of his clan.
• Among the Sotho tribes, initiation ceremonies were performed under the authority of the chief. All those who attended the same initiation formed regiments that were associated with a particular chief.
• In times of war, members of an age regiment as a unit under the leadership of their royal regiment.
• Among the Nguni and the Sotho, the cattle fulfilled religious needs. They were the only acceptable sacrifice on important ritual occasions and their possession was a sign of social status.

COURSE OF THE BANTU MIGRATION

The Bantu who finally settled in South Africa can be divided in four major groups.

1. The Shona; these settled in present day Zimbabwe (Southern Rhodesia)
2. The Sotho; who moved from the plateau areas that is between L. Tanganyika and L.Malawi and settled in the North at a point where the Orange and Vaal rivers meet. It is believed that the Sotho had by the 13^th century settled in the eastern part of their present area.
3. Nguni-Tsonga; they took the route towards the east almost along the coast. They traveled through the low veld into Natal and then to the Eastern Cape. By the 16^th century, they were living along the Natal coastal plain. And by the 18^th century various ethnic groups had developed from the large group of Nguni. These groups include the Xhosa, Zulu, Themb, Mthethwa, Ngwana and swazi.
4. The last major group was that of the Herero-Ambo. The members of this group are believed to have left the Southern part of the Congo basin in the 16^th From the Congo basin, these people moved into Namibia (South West Africa). They reached the present Ambo land where the climatic conditions favored subsistence agriculture and pastoralism in the 2^nd half of the 16^th century. The Herero moved West of Ambo land through the southern belt southwards into the grasslands of Namibia.

Before the Mfecane, the Bantu people of South Africa were organized in communities of mixed farmers which were law-abiding and relatively peaceful.

By the 18^th century, the Bantu had become the most widespread of all the people in South Africa and up to date they are the majority and most famous.

                                

THE NGUNI

The Nguni are one of the Bantu speaking people in South Africa. By the 16^th century, the Nguni were living along the Natal area. They had formerly lived in the Eastern coastal area that is from Zulu land and to the border of cape colony.

They occupied areas that received high rainfall in South Africa; presently the Nguni people are living in the area of Transvaal, Natal, Cape Province and Zulu land.

They speak similar language but without click sounds. The Nguni include ethnic groups like the Pondo, Ndebele, Xhosa and Zulu.

They were pastoralists and cultivators and they grew crops such as millet, sorghum, beans, yams and pumpkins. Some of the Nguni were engaged in iron working especially the Zulu.

The Nguni did not actively participate in trade with foreigners. However, by 1795, they had started practicing trade with the Portuguese.

The smallest social unit was a homestead in which a man lived with his wife and children. A number of homesteads usually formed a local group that recognized the leadership of a Shona man and a number of local groups made up chiefdom under a chief.

The largest Nguni grouping was entirely based on common ancestors in the male line and a number of lineages made up a clan.

NGUNI CONTACT WITH THE KHOI-SAN

The Nguni who settled in places near the Khoi-san affected them in the following ways;

The Khoi-san lost their land

The Nguni were cultivators therefore they had enough food which led to an increase in population and this caused them to export the Khoi-San in order to get enough land.

The Nguni were better organized than the Khoi-San so some of the Khoi-san were absorbed by the Nguni tribe leading to the loss of identity by the Khoi-San who even went ahead to adopt the Nguni culture.

In other cases/areas where the Nguni settled, they developed links with the Khoi-san in terms of language and culture e.g .the Xhosa language include the click sound of the Khoi-san.

There were also intermarriages between the Nguni and the Khoi-san example the Xhosa chiefs often took the Khoikhoi women as principle wives.

BANTU`S CONTACT WITH THE KHOI SAN, NGUNI AND SOTHO.

There is little culture mixing between the Nguni, Ndebere who established themselves on Northern Trans-Vaal and Khoisan. The Ndebere maintained their language.

The Nguni who settled in other places however affected the Khoisan in different ways.

The Khoisan lost their land due to the settlement of the Nguni in South Africa. The Nguni were cultivators with enough food and therefore their population was able to grow thus expelling the Khoisan.

The Nguni were better organized than the Khoisan and some of the Khoisan were absorbed by the Nguni tribe the Khoisan lost their identity and adopted Nguni culture.

In other places, they developed some links between the Nguni and the Khoikhoi in terms of the language and custom by the Xhosa language includes the click sound of the Khoikhoi,

Intermarriages between the Nguni and the Khoisan,, the Xhosa chiefs often took Khoikhoi women as principle wives.

Many Khoisan were conquered and pushed to drier and poorer parts of South Africa were game and food was scarce.

The Khoikhoi also traded with some Bantu especially the Xhosa.

On the western side of the Nguni territory there is mixing i.e. the san who lived side by side with the Xhosa and the Thembo.

It was only in 18^th century when the friendship between the san and the Nguni deteriorated. Many sans were killed in wars with the Nguni.

The Nguni had better weapons made of iron. These wars were due to the need by the Nguni to occupy the land inhabited by the san.

HOW DID THE BANTU MIGRATION AND SETTLEMENT AFFECT THE KHOISAN

• The Sotho-Tswana settled north of river Orange, the Nguni Songa settled around the Natal coastal plain. The Ambomud into present Amboland and settled in the Namibian plateau. The Shona settled in what is now Zimbabwe between the Zambezi and Limpopo River.
• The Bantu migration settlement of South Africa had a number of effects on the Khoisan.
• As a result of Bantu settlement in South Africa, there was a gradual displacement of Khoisan. This was because the Bantu grew food crops and mantled more land for cultivation.
• There was intermarriage between the Bantu and the Khoisan which led to the absorption of the later in to the formers culture.
• The Bantu were many in numbers. They wanted more land for settlement this led to conflicts and later wars with the Khoisan which led to loss of lives.
• With the settlement of the Bantu in South Africa the Khoisan were pushed in the arid regions by the Kalahari and Namib deserts where the San survive today.
• The Bantu social and political organisation were adopted by the Khoikhoi example the religious customs of the Xhosa affected those of the Khoikhoi.
• The Bantu languages were affected by the Khoisan languages. The Xhosa have a click sound in their language. They also borrowed some from the Khoisan language.
• Many Bushmen lost their independence as well as their identity.
• Being great ironworkers the Bantu introduced this skill to the Khoisan.
• Being cultivators the Bantu introduced new crops like pumpkins, millet and beans and this ended to the Khoisan foodstuffs.
• The Bantu also exchanged their products i.e. iron implement for cattle, sheep and cattle products from the Khoikhoi.