The
Khoikhoi people are native
pastoralists, who have lived in South Africa since the 5th
century AD. Prior to the colonization
the region, Bayard (1882)
asserts that they had been practicing widespread
pastoral agriculture within the Cape region. They
had large herds
of cattle that are referred
to as Nguni. They were labeled as “Hottentots†by the Dutch settlers. Archeological evidence illustrates that the Hottentots people entered into South Africa coming from Botswana through different
routes, journeying west, avoiding the
Kalahari towards the West Coast, and
then downwards towards the
Cape. This paper will look into the life
of the Hottentots people
during the 19th century, placing emphasis on agricultural activities, as well as hunting and
gathering.
Chapman
describes Natal as an area
that portrayed a lot of development, most of the people being English, making
the
region being to be a significant
area under the British crown,
with the
rich fertile soils being one of the
important factors (p.3).
Among the crops that would be
planted in these extraordinary agricultural lands waiting for
export include sugar, coffee, indigo, cotton, tea, ginger, and many
other tropical productions.
Taylor, Bayard, who
was a traveler, he describes the
Hottentots as being the primitive inhabitants of the Cape country, and who were
scattered all over the colony. According
to him, the name “Hottentotâ€
that was given to them by the early settlers.
The traveler describes the pure-blooded
Hottentot as being weak, dwarfish creature that is rarely five feet high,
with a spine so curved towards the base that it
gives him a half-stooping attitude.
His skull is described as thin wool- a feature described
as being so comical, that it suggested to the
Dutch settlers the nickname of “peppe-heads†(14). A superior tribe referred
to as the Griqua was produced from a mixture of the Hottentots with the early Dutch settlers.
Firstly, they formed a nomadic race but
they took the
possession of the territory along the Orange River. According to the traveler,
it is the missionaries who had accompanied them in their wanderings who had taught them to add agriculture to cattle-raising, to establish themselves in villages, as well
as organize a primitive system of government.
The
precise translation of
Khoikhoi is “People.†They were
conventionally in colloquial language
referred to as Hottentots by the
white colonialists, a name that is presently
offensive. According to Academe
& Gottlieb (2006), the word
“Hottentots means “stutterer†or
better still “stammeredâ€
within the northern dialect of the Dutch people. In addition, some Dutch people utilize the word to imply a clicking sound that is dominant within the Hottentots languages. In addition, it may as well refer to an ill-famed
vertebrate that is very poisonous
and is found in the African continent. The invasion
of the Hottentots lands by the Europeans compelled the Hottentots people to seek land in areas
that were arid, hence affecting their agriculture as well as hunting activities that were predominant in the fertile valley (Bayard, 1882).
Hunting and herding: Evidence from archaeological excavations
illustrate that the major source of day to day nourishment for the Hottentots people was meat that was
gathered from activities such as hunting as well
as herding (Delphic, 2007, p.112). South African Library, Smith, & Pfeiffer (2003) asserts that bones belonging to sheep, cattle,
as well as seals shows that
there was a coexistence between the two distinct disciplines, that
is, heralding as well as hunting. According to Academe & Gottlieb (2006), when a header in the Hottentots group lost his stock, for instance through theft or drought,
he could always go back to hunting, and after he
has recovered his losses, he would again become a
harder.
The
livestock owned by the Khoikhoi people were primarily utilized as a source of milk, as well as they were
slaughtered during some ritual occasions. It was traditional
for the men
who did not have livestock to work as “servants†for those who
had a large wealth of livestock. In return, their compensation for tending
to the livestock was that they
were offered a free access
to milk, and they were usually
paid in the form of livestock. Driven by the need
to seek for pasture, as well as water for their stock,
the Hottentots led a conventional form of pastoral life. They
kept a large herd of animals, particularly the fat-tailed sheep and long-horned cattle.
The main animals that the Hottentots people kept included the
Nguni sheep as well as cattle which were used in
inter-regional trade, where they traded
their animals with other goods such as
copper and tobacco (Meyer, Benjamin &
Huguenot Memorial Museum, 2006). The European merchants, specifically the
English and the Dutch would sail to South Africa so as to replenish their stocks of animals from the
Khoikhoi people that
would then be used for trading
with the Indians, as well as other merchants from Asia. Eventually, a disagreement between the Hottentots
people as well as the Europeans came into existence in relation to the trading system.
Conversely, the Europeans started
demanding more cattle than the Hottentots people could supply as some of them were unwilling to sell their herd as they depended on them for basic livelihood.
There were as well complaints from the European merchants that the Hottentots people were not selling to their best cattle, but instead, they were selling lame, as well as old cattle (Aardema & Gottlieb, 2006).
According
to Chapman (1868), the
Khoikhoi people were initially a part of the pastoral culture
as well as language group that was found in South Africa. Husbandry of domesticated animals such as sheep, goats
as well as cattle that were grazed
within the fertile valleys that are in the region were a great source of stable as well
as balanced diet that made the Khoikhoi
to live in large groups in an area that was
previously inhabited by hunters and gatherers group, referred to as the San. Despite the intermarriage
between the two groups, the two group remained
distinct, with the Khoikhoi people grazing their livestock whereas the San being hunters
and gatherers.
The
arrival of the Europeans had a tremendous influence
on the lives of the Khoikhoi people. The Khoikhoi at first encountered the European explorers as well as merchants in around AD 500. The encounters between the two races were
often violent. However, the population
of the Khoikhoi significantly reduced
when the Europeans exposed them to smallpox (Meyer,
Benjamin & Huguenot Memorial Museum, 2006).
The
conventional lifestyle of the
Khoikhoi people was
negatively affected following
their expulsion from their traditional
farming lands by the European. The damaged social organization
of the Khoi people by colonial expansion, as well as land seizure,
made them settle on farms. The traditional
Khoikhoi was hunters as well as gatherers community. They resided in simple as well as disposable huts that were made
of long sticks and grass. According
to Boozier (2007), the Khoikhoi people
are amongst the remarkably successful hunters and gatherers in terms of survival in Africa.
The
Khoikhoi people often painted their walls of the caves that
they lived in by paintings that imply animals, for instance,
the Eland, which is a large species of the antelope
family. These caves existed in the
Drakensberg Mountains. Archeologists, as well as historians, tend to
believe that the early painting
of caves by the Khoikhoi people is a representation of the significance that they placed on animals as well
as hunting in the early South Africa. It is good to note how
representative the depictions
of animals are, whereas the representation of human hunters. Dancing paintings within the caves are a common representation of an activity that prepares
the hunters to go hunting activities
(Delphic, 2007, p.187).
Agriculture
(Growing Crops): The Khoikhoi people gauged their wealth in accordance
to the livestock they had- cattle,
goats, as well as sheep (Vilene, 2006). As a result, the people
who utilized land for the
purpose of farming so as to earn a living
were those who
did not have livestock. These groups
of persons were regarded as having a low socio-economic status as compared to the Khoikhoi people who kept livestock.
The farmers were usually referred
to as “Bushmen†and they were least respected
within the Khoikhoi society. The low respect
is because they were not perceived
as being successful. Vilene asserts, “a big proportion
of the population relies on agriculture as the basic source of livelihood.
In addition, they largely practice livestock breeding, particularly
the sheep as well as the cattle.â€
Breeding as well as cattle counting was a significant source of a balanced diet in the
Khoikhoi society (Academe & Gottlieb, 2006, p.89).
The
European colonization drove away the Khoikhoi people towards the north as well as west,
where the land
was not more productive as in the valleys, therefore, compelling most of them to become laborers. The
nomadic lifestyles that the Khoikhoi people had adapted appeared to be a more “established existence†as their initial tribal chiefs had by then become the leaders
of the villages (Newton-King et al., 2001,
p.78). Even though a small number of the
Khoikhoi people still lead a nomadic form
of lifestyle or the keeping of livestock, has turned out to be much more dominating as compared to activities such as hunting. Chiefs were responsible for managing
the nomadic tribes that were occupying
their territory. In the 19th century, cattle still
remained to be a major source of food as well as it is the
primary source of trading activities. Within the Khoikhoi people, the difference that led between wealth, as well as prestige in the tribe, was
attributed to the ownership of cattle.
The Khoikhoi people, along with the San were the first persons to inhabit the land that in contemporary day is referred to as South Africa. According to Newton-King et al. (2001), scientific evidence illustrates that the Hottentots people had inhabited this land for approximately 5,000 years. They largely settled within the high-veldt as well as the Western semi-arid areas. Whereas the Hottentots was pastoralists, the San people practiced hunting as well as gathering. In addition, some Dutch people utilize the word to imply a clicking sound that is dominant within the Hottentots languages. In addition, it may as well refer to an ill-famed vertebrate that is very poisonous and is found in the African continent. The Hottentots people are characterized by their light skin, in comparison to other African people who inhabited the area later. The Hottentots possessed a special language dialect that comprised of different clicking sounds. This is among the reason as to why the Europeans referred the Khoikhoi people as Hottentots, a name that
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