Brief Summary
This video provides an overview of the history, culture, and socio-economic aspects of the San people in Southern Africa during the 19th century. It covers their origins as hunter-gatherers, their physical characteristics, social structures, religious beliefs, economic activities, and their eventual decline due to European colonization.
- The San people, also known as Bushmen, were the original inhabitants of Southern Africa.
- They were nomadic hunter-gatherers with a simple social and political organization.
- Their culture included unique artistic expressions, storytelling, and a deep connection to their environment.
- European colonization led to their extermination and displacement, significantly impacting their population.
Introduction to the San People
The video introduces the history of the San people, also known as Bushmen, who were the original inhabitants of present-day Botswana, Namibia, and Northwest South Africa. They are hunter-gatherers belonging to the kisan linguistic group, speaking languages with click consonants. Despite some similarities, the San and the kooi represent distinct ethnic groups that coexisted in the same region.
Origins and Etymology
The San people are Stone Age settlers in Southern Africa. The term "San" reportedly comes from a word meaning "gatherer of fruit or harvest." Europeans described them as "Bushmen," a term now considered derogatory. The San were known for their hunting activities around the Kalahari Desert, their ancestral location.
Physical Characteristics and Early Habitation
The San are generally of small stature, light-skinned, and with visible wrinkles. They once occupied areas across Southern Africa, including Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, Tanzania, Angola, and South Africa. Their presence in the region dates back 2,000 to 30,000 years, possibly even earlier. Archaeological findings, including tools dated around 15,000 years ago, demonstrate their Stone Age origins.
Social Organization and Way of Life
The San were nomadic hunters and gatherers with a social organization adaptable to their lifestyle. They lacked formal clans, with hunting parties of around 100 people forming their social units. They had rudimentary tribal organizations and lacked elaborate political structures. The Dutch referred to them as "Bushmen" upon encountering them in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Cultural Practices and Traditions
The San were improvident, making no provision for the future. They were known for their rock engravings and paintings depicting animals. They moved from place to place, gathering fruits and vegetables, without engaging in crop planting or cattle grazing. They lived temporarily in caves and under rocks. Unlike other African groups, they left no oral traditions, relying instead on drawings and rock engravings to preserve their way of life.
European Contact and Early Perceptions
When Europeans encountered the San in the 15th and 16th centuries, the San were still living as Stone Age hunter-gatherers. They were scattered across Southern Africa and belonged to a homogeneous group. Europeans called them "Bushmen" due to their improvident lifestyle of hunting and gathering, viewing them as primitive with no settled life or social organization.
Habitat and Physical Traits
The San inhabited the plains and edges of the Kalahari, with some living in mountain areas and coastal regions. Their environment dictated their hunting activities. They were of small stature, around 5 ft tall, but physically tough with remarkable endurance. They had light skin, triangular faces, and deep-set eyes.
Social Institutions and Marriage
Marriage among the San was feeble, with weak family connections. Polygamy was practiced, and young men had to fight to win their brides. Parental authority ended when children could fend for themselves, and the old and infirm were often left behind.
Religious Beliefs and Language
The San feared violating their customs and respected traditions. They wore charms for protection against witchcraft and propitiated spirits, worshipping ancestors and believing in immortality. Some groups worshipped Kagan, a sky deity, while others worshipped the moon and stars. Their language had a limited vocabulary with no plurals and used clicks, and they were deficient in mathematics, often unable to count beyond three.
Artistic Abilities and Clothing
Despite their limitations, the San were acclaimed storytellers, fantastic dancers, and extraordinary mimics. Their strength lay in artistic representations, with paintings and engravings depicting a wide variety of scenes. Their clothing was made of animal skin, and they adorned themselves with necklaces made of eggshells or seashells.
Economic Activities: Hunting and Gathering
The San were primarily hunters and gatherers, hunting in small groups using traps, spears, and arrows tipped with poison. Every part of the animal was consumed, leading to their description as improvident. Men were predominantly involved in hunting, while women and children produced clothing and bags from animal skins.
Diet and Cooperative Systems
Their diet included berries, mongongo nuts, insects, fruits, and small animals. Women also obtained roots and plants from over 100 types of crops. Those near the coast engaged in fishing. They had a cooperative system of hunting and gathering, sharing food resources among their families and clans, which ranged from 10 to 60 people.
Social Structure and Spiritual Beliefs
San society was egalitarian, emphasizing shared work, responsibility, and leadership chosen from a group of elders. They had developed burial rites and a spiritual belief system centered around a single all-powerful God and smaller deities who were likely ancestors. They lived in small clan groups with no concept of private property, though territorial habitation was well-defined.
Hunting Practices and Domestic Life
Occupationally, they were hunters and gatherers, known as the best trackers and hunters. They used traps and lived in caves or rock shelters. Their weapons included bows, arrows, and stones. Women used digging sticks for food. The only domestic animal they kept was the dog, used for hunting. They stored food for domestic consumption, including vegetables, fish, honey, berries, and insects.
Trade and Economic Challenges
There was rudimentary trade among the San, exchanging hunting products for iron from their B two neighbors. Their economy was a constant search for food, which was precarious. Their simple political institution, loose social organization, and precarious economic systems made them vulnerable to better-organized groups like the KO koi and the B two.
Land Ownership and Political System
The notion of land ownership was questionable due to their mobility. Politically, they had a simple system, traveling in clans of about 300 people, each with a war leader who had little institutionalized authority. Clan members made decisions democratically.
Decline and Extermination
The San were among the earliest settlers in Southern Africa since the Stone Age, but they were destroyed by the first Europeans in 1652. They were seen as inferior and described as "white animals" by European anthropologists, leading to the derogatory term "Bushmen." The extermination of the San resulted in the death of over 200,000 people, with some sold into slavery, affecting their population in Southern Africa.
