Khoisan (increasingly commonly spelled Khoesan or Khoe-San) is the name for two major ethnic groups of southern Africa. From the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic period, hunting and gathering cultures known as the Sangoan occupied southern Africa in areas where annual rainfall is less than 40 inches (1016mm)—and today's San and Khoi people resemble the ancient Sangoan skeletal remains. Both share physical and linguistic characteristics, and it seems clear that the Khoi branched forth from the San by adopting the practice of herding cattle and goats from neighboring Bantu groups. The Khoisan people were the original inhabitants of much of southern Africa before the southward Bantu migrations—coming down the east and west coasts of Africa—and later European colonization. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Categories: Africa geography stubs | Southern Africa ... Map showing the distribution of the Khoi-San languages. ... This article is in need of attention. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. ... The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. ... The Sangoan industry is the name given by archaeologists to a Palaeolithic tool manufacturing style which may have developed from the earlier Acheulian types. ... In meteorology, precipitation is any kind of water that falls from the sky as part of the weather. ... Map showing the approximate distribution of Bantu (dull yellow) vs. ... Map showing the approximate distribution of Bantu (dull yellow) vs. ... World map showing the location of Europe. ...

Culture

Culturally they are divided into the hunter gatherer Bushmen (sometimes known as San, although this can be interpreted as derogatory) and the pastoral Khoi (sometimes known as Hottentots, although this is considered obsolete and offensive). The Khoisan languages are noted for their click consonants. This article is about the pre-agricultural practice of harvest from the wild. ... The Bushmen (also known as Basarwa in Tswana, or San in Nama) are an indigenous population of the Kalahari Desert, which spans South Africa and neighboring Botswana and Namibia as well southern Angola. ... The Khoikhoi (men of men) or Khoi are a division of the Khoisan ethnic group of south-western Africa, closely related to the Bushmen (San). ... The Khoikhoi (men of men) or Khoi are a division of the Khoisan ethnic group of south-western Africa, closely related to the Bushmen (San). ... Map showing the distribution of the Khoi-San languages. ... Clicks are stops produced with two articulatory closures in the oral cavity. ...

Over the centuries the many branches of the Khoisan peoples were absorbed or displaced by the Bantu who were migrating south in search of new lands, most notably the Xhosa and Zulu, who both have adopted some Khoisan clicks and loan words into their respective languages. The Khoisan survived in the desert or in areas with winter rains which were not suitable for Bantu crops. During the colonial era they lived in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana, and were massacred in great numbers by Dutch, British, and German settlers in acts of genocide (e.g. the Herero and Namaqua Genocide).[[1]] They contributed greatly to the ancestry of South Africa's coloured population. Today many of the San live in parts of the Kalahari Desert where they are better able to preserve much of their cherished culture. Map showing the approximate distribution of Bantu (dull yellow) vs. ... The Xhosa (IPA ) people are peoples of Bantu origins living in south-east South Africa, and in the last two centuries throughout the southern and central-southern parts of the country. ... Languages Zulu Religions Christian, Animist Related ethnic groups Bantu Nguni Basotho Xhosa Swazi Matabele Khoisan The Zulu (South African English and isiZulu: amaZulu) are a South African ethnic group of about 10 million people who live mainly in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. ... Genocide is the mass killing of a group of people as defined by Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG) as any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or... Surviving Herero after the escape through the arid desert of Omaheke. ... In the South African, Namibian, Zambian and Zimbabwean context, the term Coloured (also known as Bruinmense, Kleurlinge or Bruin Afrikaners in Afrikaans) refers to a heterogeneous group of people who posess some degree of sub-Saharan ancestry, but not enough to be considered Black under South African law. ... The Kalahari Desert is a large arid to semi-arid sandy area in southern Kgalagadi Africa extending 900,000 km² (562,500 sq. ...

The distribution of the Khoi-San language family can be seen in this map of African language families.

Download high resolution version (600x657, 48 KB)Map showing the distribution of African language families and some major African languages. ... Download high resolution version (600x657, 48 KB)Map showing the distribution of African language families and some major African languages. ... Map showing the distribution of the Khoi-San languages. ...

Oldest human group

According to neutral (autosomal) gene analysis, the Khoisan are similar to other sub-Saharan African populations. The study of their Y-chromosomes however shows that their original Y-haplogroup A is the oldest human lineage and could have diverged from the evolutionary tree of other humans more than 100 000 years ago (Knight et al. 2003). Khoisans thus actually represent the most archaic human group that was largely isolated from the rest of mankind for tens of thousands of years. A long time ago, a part of their ancestors headed north and gave birth to modern Nilotes, which is evident from the presence of a subclade A3b2 in East Africa. According to Knight et al. (2003) Y-haplogroup A is today present in various Khoisan tribes at frequency of 12-44%. The rest is formed by recent admixture of Bantu male lineages E3a (18-54%) and in some tribes, noticeable Pygmy traces are visible (B2b). The Khoisan also show the largest genetic diversity in mtDNA of all human populations. Their original mtDNA haplogroups L1d and L1k are one of the oldest female lineages as well. The San people themselves say they came first of all human beings, and while many cultures bear that same myth, each of themselves, not only genetic but archaeological evidence bears the Khoisan out. The distinct characteristics of all human varieties, from those of East Asia to those of Northern Europe and the Americas all may have beginnings in the physiology of the Khoisan people^{[citation needed]}. In human genetics, Haplogroup A (M91) is a Y-chromosome haplogroup. ... Nilotic refers to East African tribes originating in sub-Saharan northeast Africa. ... Genetic diversity is a characteristic of ecosystems and gene pools that describes an attribute which is commonly held to be advantageous for survival -- that there are many different versions of otherwise similar organisms. ... Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is DNA which is not located in the nucleus of the cell but in the mitochondria. ... East Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms. ... Northern Europe is marked in dark blue Northern Europe is a name of the northern part of the European continent. ... World map showing the Americas CIA political map of the Americas The Americas are the lands of the Western hemisphere or New World consisting of the continents of North America[1] and South America with their associated islands and regions. ...

Bibliography

• Barnard, Alan (1992) Hunters and Herders of Southern Africa: A Comparative Ethnography of the Khoisan Peoples. New York; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

• Lee, Richard B. (1976), Kalahari Hunter-Gatherers: Studies of the !Kung San and Their Neighbors, Richard B. Lee and Irven DeVore, eds. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

• Lee, Richard B. (1979), The !Kung San: Men, Women, and Work in a Foraging Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

• Coon, Carleton: The Living Races of Man (1965)

• Knight, Alec, et al.: African Y chromosome and mtDNA divergence provides insight into the history of click languages. Current Biology, 13, 464-473 (2003).

• Smith, Andrew; Malherbe, Candy; Guenther, Mat and Berens, Penny (2000), Bushmen of Southern Africa: Foraging Society in Transition. Athens: Ohio University Press. ISBN 0-8214-1341-4

• Thomas, Elizabeth Marshall. The Harmless People.

• P. Underhill et al.(2000), "Y chromosome sequence variation and the history of human populations": Nature Genetics, 26, 358-361

Richard Borshay Lee is an anthropologist who has studied at the University of Toronto and Berkeleys University of California, where he received a Ph. ... Richard Borshay Lee is an anthropologist who has studied at the University of Toronto and Berkeleys University of California, where he received a Ph. ...

External links

• The Khoisan
• Home of the Southern African San
• "Khoesan languages" from Web Resources for African Languages