CON LOS BUSHMEN OMATOKO VALLEY

video de national geographic
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0102/feature6/media2.html

Who are the San?
The San, ‘Bushmen’ or Basarwa are the living descendants of the first populations that inhabited in southern Africa over 20,000 years ago. They are famous the world over for their distinctive ‘click’ languages (see box), their rich culture rooted in thousands of years of hunting and gathering, and their unrivalled knowledge of the lands they inhabit. Despite all this, they are also among the most disadvantaged people in the region.
History
Until very recently, most San were hunter-gatherers, using their exceptional knowledge of local flora and fauna to subsist in some the world’s most inhospitable lands, including the Kalahari Desert.
People lived in bands of 10 to 40 people, which contrary to popular stereotypes occupied well defined territories, where they the had access to water, plant foods, game, and other resources. With no centralised leadership structures, decisions were made by consensus. Material possessions were distributed on an egalitarian basis, and men and women, though they had different roles, were treated as equals. There was no sense of collective San identity. Rather, communities labelled themselves by local groupings, which were usually based on linguistic differences.
The extent to which San were reliant solely on hunting and gathering and how much they interacted with other groups is still being debated and documented by anthropologists, but there is no doubt that the traditional way of life has all but come to an end in most parts of southern Africa. With the expansion of socially dominant African groups as well as European settlers and their farming economies, San communities were dispossessed of vast tracts of their traditional lands. Gradually, they were either pushed towards the margins of their ancestral territories, or incorporated into the new social order as impoverished landless labourers. In the wake of this upheaval, some communities lost languages, cultural practices and important pieces of indigenous knowledge and many became riddled by social problems.
The present day
100 000 San, belonging to more than 13 different language groups, continue to live in the southern African region. The vast majority of these are in Botswana and Namibia, whose populations number 46 000 and 38 000 respectively. In Angola there are 7000 San and in South Africa there are 6000. Zambia and Zimbabwe also contain small San communities numbering just a few hundred.
Who are the San of South Africa?


The San are the aboriginal people of South Africa. Their distinct hunter-gatherer culture stretches back over 20 000 years, and their genetic origins reach back over one million years. Recent research indicates that the San are the oldest genetic stock of contemporary humanity.

Today, the two largest San groups in South Africa are immigrants from Angola via Namibia. These are the !Xun and the Khwe, who were settled on their land Platfontein at the end of 2004, approximately 15 km outside the Northern Cape provincial capital, Kimberley. There are 3 500 !Xun and 1 100 Khwe. Both groups claim an indigenous identity on the basis of their languages and cultures.

The next largest group is the San population of the southern Kalahari. Today, most San in this area (Lower Orange District) describe themselves as the ‡Khomani. The group is descended from several original San groups, including the

Ng!u (close relatives of the !Xam who lived south of the !Gariep River), the ‡Khomani who spoke the same language as the

Ng!u but had distinct lineage, the
’Auni, the Khatea, the Njamani and probably others whose names are now lost to us. Most San of this bloodline now speak Khoekhoegowap and /or Afrikaans as primary language. There are 7 speakers of the original 23 confirmed speakers of the ancient N
u language remaining. They constitute some of the few surviving aboriginal South African San. Approximately 1 500 adults are spread over an area of more than 1 000 km in the Northern Cape Province. Most people live in the northern reaches of Gordonia, at Witdraai, Askham, Welkom, Rietfontein and surrounding villages. Others live in and around Upington and Olifantshoek.

A small pocket of aboriginal South African Xegwi San lives on farms in Mpumalanga Province near Lakes Banager and Chrissie and around the towns of Lothair and Carolina. Their numbers are not known, though estimates run between 30 and 100 adults. These Xegwi San are descendants of a displaced group of Drakensberg San, famous for the rock paintings made by their ancestors up until the middle of the last century. Their original language is extinct.
There is a group of about 70 adult !Kung San living across the border from South Africa at Masetleng and Ngwaatle Pans in Botswana. These people originally lived next to the ‡Khomani in what became the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park (KGNP). They were displaced by the KGNP and driven into Botswana. They have lodged a land claim in South Africa though they have yet to resolve the issue of their citizenship. !Kung is a Northern San language.
There are thousands of people in the Northern Cape who are to some degree aware that they are direct descendants of the largest South African San population of the 18th and 19th centuries, the !Xam. In the area of Prieska there are semi-nomadic farm labourers known as Karretjiemense (Cart People). These people know they are of San descent and may have spoken San languages in the previous century. In recent years the Khoisan Representative Council attempted to claim responsibility for !Xam representation. It is unclear at this stage if there are any coherent community structures that have maintained a !Xam identity or whether this is a form of revisionism.
SASI works with those populations that are recognised by the Working Group of Indigenous Minorities of Southern Africa (WIMSA) and have coherent community structure.
http://www.sanculture.org.za/

The San are the aboriginal people of South Africa. Their distinct hunter-gatherer culture stretches back over 20 000 years, and their genetic origins reach back over one million years. Recent research indicates that the San are the oldest genetic stock of contemporary humanity.

Today, the two largest San groups in South Africa are immigrants from Angola via Namibia. These are the !Xun and the Khwe, who were settled on their land Platfontein at the end of 2004, approximately 15 km outside the Northern Cape provincial capital, Kimberley. There are 3 500 !Xun and 1 100 Khwe. Both groups claim an indigenous identity on the basis of their languages and cultures.

The next largest group is the San population of the southern Kalahari. Today, most San in this area (Lower Orange District) describe themselves as the ‡Khomani. The group is descended from several original San groups, including the

Ng!u (close relatives of the !Xam who lived south of the !Gariep River), the ‡Khomani who spoke the same language as the

Ng!u but had distinct lineage, the
’Auni, the Khatea, the Njamani and probably others whose names are now lost to us. Most San of this bloodline now speak Khoekhoegowap and /or Afrikaans as primary language. There are 7 speakers of the original 23 confirmed speakers of the ancient N
u language remaining. They constitute some of the few surviving aboriginal South African San. Approximately 1 500 adults are spread over an area of more than 1 000 km in the Northern Cape Province. Most people live in the northern reaches of Gordonia, at Witdraai, Askham, Welkom, Rietfontein and surrounding villages. Others live in and around Upington and Olifantshoek.

A small pocket of aboriginal South African

Xegwi San lives on farms in Mpumalanga Province near Lakes Banager and Chrissie and around the towns of Lothair and Carolina. Their numbers are not known, though estimates run between 30 and 100 adults. These

Xegwi San are descendants of a displaced group of Drakensberg San, famous for the rock paintings made by their ancestors up until the middle of the last century. Their original language is extinct.

There is a group of about 70 adult !Kung San living across the border from South Africa at Masetleng and Ngwaatle Pans in Botswana. These people originally lived next to the ‡Khomani in what became the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park (KGNP). They were displaced by the KGNP and driven into Botswana. They have lodged a land claim in South Africa though they have yet to resolve the issue of their citizenship. !Kung is a Northern San language.

There are thousands of people in the Northern Cape who are to some degree aware that they are direct descendants of the largest South African San population of the 18th and 19th centuries, the !Xam. In the area of Prieska there are semi-nomadic farm labourers known as Karretjiemense (Cart People). These people know they are of San descent and may have spoken San languages in the previous century. In recent years the Khoisan Representative Council attempted to claim responsibility for !Xam representation. It is unclear at this stage if there are any coherent community structures that have maintained a !Xam identity or whether this is a form of revisionism.





http://www.kalaharipeoples.net/

http://www.natron.net/nacobta/omatako-valley/main.html