San people of Namibia
The San people of Namibia have been derogatively known as the Bushmen. In physical appearance they are of a small stature, yellow to light brown in skin colour and have black, peppercorn hair. Their traditional social organisation is nomadic and they construct only temporary shelters, usually from tree bark, palisades or grass. The Namibia Nyae Naye Area is the main area of the San people, Tsumkwe being the capital of this area. Although the San people are known to migrate to different areas during different seasons. Mainly in the Kalahari, and the areas stretching from Grootfontein to Kavango river and far into the Caprivi and the whole of Ovambo region.
As in the past, the San communities still mostly lead a food gatherer and hunter mode of life. Much of the Stone Age art, stone painting and engraving found in Namibia today is believed to be the work of Stone Age San people.
It was the Dutch, when commencing the conquest of the southern tip of African continent at the Cape in 1652, who coined the name Namibia Bosjesmannes, which when translated means forest man and which British colonialists transformed into Bushmen.
|
||||
The name San, is a word which originally meant hoarding, collecting fruits, digging roots and capturing animals. Anthropological studies tend to classify the San people with the Khoi-Khoi people in a ‘Khoisan race’.
