🐄 Khoikhoi

Who Are the Khoikhoi?

The Khoikhoi (meaning "people people" or "real people," formerly called Hottentots—now considered derogatory) are a pastoral people closely related to the San, speaking click languages of the Khoe family. Before European colonization, the Khoikhoi inhabited southwestern Africa, particularly the Cape region of South Africa and parts of Namibia. Their population was devastated by colonial violence and disease; today, Khoikhoi heritage survives among various communities in South Africa and Namibia, though distinct Khoikhoi populations are difficult to enumerate due to historical mixing. The Khoikhoi were the first indigenous people encountered by European settlers at the Cape, and their dispossession marks the beginning of Southern Africa's colonial tragedy.

Pastoral Society

Unlike their San relatives who were hunter-gatherers, the Khoikhoi were pastoralists, herding cattle and fat-tailed sheep that had arrived in Southern Africa approximately 2,000 years ago, possibly from East Africa. Cattle were central to Khoikhoi society—wealth, prestige, and social relations were measured in livestock. They practiced transhumant pastoralism, moving with their herds between seasonal pastures. Khoikhoi social organization was more hierarchical than egalitarian San society, with chiefs, lineages, and wealth distinctions. They lived in portable dome-shaped mat houses that could be moved with the herds. Hunting, gathering, and fishing supplemented herding. This pastoral economy was well-suited to the Cape's Mediterranean climate with its seasonal rainfall.

Colonial Destruction

Dutch colonization beginning in 1652 was catastrophic for the Khoikhoi. The Dutch East India Company's Cape settlement seized Khoikhoi lands and livestock through trade, warfare, and theft. A smallpox epidemic in 1713 killed enormous numbers—perhaps the majority of Cape Khoikhoi. Dispossessed of their cattle, the foundation of their economy and society, surviving Khoikhoi became labor on Dutch farms or retreated beyond colonial control. The colonial system categorized them as "Hottentots," subjected to discriminatory laws. Over generations, Khoikhoi, San, European, and later other populations mixed, creating the Cape Coloured population, though distinct Khoikhoi identity persisted in some communities. This devastation represents one of history's most complete colonial destructions of an indigenous society.

Contemporary Khoikhoi

Modern Khoikhoi identity is experiencing revival. Post-apartheid South Africa has seen Khoisan peoples organize politically, advocating for recognition, land rights, and cultural preservation. The Griqua, descendants of mixed Khoikhoi, European, and other ancestry, maintain distinct identity. Various communities in the Northern and Western Cape claim Khoikhoi heritage. In 2019, South Africa's Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Act provided official recognition to Khoisan communities. Efforts to revive Khoikhoi languages (mostly extinct, with Nama surviving as a related language in Namibia) continue. The Khoikhoi story illustrates both colonial devastation and indigenous resilience—how identity can persist and revive even after catastrophic population loss and cultural disruption.

References

• Elphick, R. (1985). Khoikhoi and the Founding of White South Africa
• Smith, A. B. (1992). Pastoralism in Africa: Origins and Development Ecology
• Penn, N. (2005). The Forgotten Frontier: Colonist and Khoisan on the Cape's Northern Frontier