History of every nation, every people is the treasury of the past that determines the present state of things to a great extent. This is why one of the main drawbacks of modern culture is its being present-minded (Thompson 2001, 1). The main weak point and the main mistake of the researchers that study history of South Africa is that they start their historical accounts resorting to Vasco da Gama’s voyage round the Cape of Good Hope and then they devote their attention to the first white settlers who came to South Africa in 1652 (Thompson 2001, 1). Still, to get at the history of South Africa, it is necessary to apply a more broad approach and to include much wider timelines in the study of South Africa and its history. Thus, the present paper will be devoted to the comparative analysis of various indigenous groups that lived in South Africa during precolonial era and dealt with one another and the second focus of the present paper will be the relationship between European groups that came to South Africa and the natives inhabiting the territory.
Still, there is one peculiarity that deserves mentioning at the very beginning and Leonard Thompson, whose study of history of South Africa will be the basis of the present paper, mentions this peculiarity at the beginning of his book as well. Though precolonial history is of special importance for overall understanding of cultural and historical legacy of the peoples of South Africa, the main difficulty the researchers face is that there are no authentic records of history of precolonial South Africa as indigenous peoples of the region were illiterate. This suggests that all the findings if historians are based on approximations and probabilities (Thompson 2001, 2). Still, if it is impossible to turn back the wheel of history and get accurate information, the information offered by Thompson seems the best to choose.
In general, South Africa, can be characterized by tripartite principle of the division of population in the precolonial period. It is necessary to focus on the indigenous groups from the beginning of the Christian era (Thompson 2001, 6). As it has been mentioned above already, tripartite division of the indigenous population of South Africa was as follows: the first group consisted of hunters-gatherers, called Bushmen, as for the second group, they were the pastorals and called themselves “Hottentots”. The third group was called “Kaffirs” and the main occupation characterizing them was mixed-farming (Thompson 2001, 6). The main difference between these three tribes was the difference of the languages they used to communicate, either the Khoisan languages or the Bantu languages. Also, to clear the matter with the terminology, it is necessary to mention that hunter-gatherers are referred to as San, pastoralists are called Khoikhoi while the Bantu-speaking mixed farmers are called Africans (Thompson 2001, 10).
The main feature of the San or Bushmen people was that they were the real indigenous people of South Africa. The group of the San people can be characterized as a peaceful group of South African dwellers. We have mentioned above already that Bushmen (the San) were a hunter-gatherer society, but they could not be treated as such exclusively as they there were certain changes in their economy and culture because they were forced out of their traditional habitat by other groups. Thus, the Bushmen were poor as they had to chase to provide their living (Thompson 2001, 19). This is why, in the course of time, they domesticated some animals and the Bushmen also participated in subordinate relationship with Khoikhoi who were more powerful than they were. One more peculiar detail is that Bushmen were sometimes in the state of conflict with pastoral Hottentots as they hunted cattle of their neighbors.
When speaking about the Khoikhoi, it is necessary to analyze their name that means “the real people” or “men of men”. The meaning of the name suggests some details about their relationship with other tribes. In fact, this means that the Khoikhoi treated other groups as inferior. In fact, it can be stated that the Khoikhoi managed to adapt themselves to the Cape environment and the groups living nearby by mixed existence that is they could live as pastoralists and they could also depend on hunting and gathering. This shows that indigenous peoples of South Africa lived in close relationship and they often blended establishing numerous cultural and ethnic ties.
Still, the subsequent part of the preset paper will be devoted to the changes that occurred after the establishment of European contact with South Africa. It so happened that the permanent contact with European groups became the reason for the Khoikhoi’s losing their identity and their independence. Before 1652, there were some contacts between the Khoikhoi and Europeans who came for trading reasons: they sold indigenous people iron and metal objects and got provisions instead. Thought the meetings had commercial orientation, they were seldom pleasant for the participants. In fact, the end of such meetings was often violent but such occasions were infrequent and the Europeans did not stay. Then came Commander van Riebeeck (Thompson 2001, 32) and his coming was a starting point of the worsening relationship between indigenous population and the Europeans. This was the beginning of the European contest and the beginning of tension and conflicts.
As the presence of the Europeans became permanent on the Cape peninsula, the Dutch and the Khoikhoi spoilt their relationship. The main reason for that was the fertile land that could not be peacefully divided between the invaders and local indigenous people inhabiting the peninsula. Those Khoikhoi, by the way, acted like mediators between the Dutch and indigenous people inhabiting the inland. The conflicts over trade occurred and they resulted in war conflicts with the Dutch and among indigenous peoples as well. As the result of such confrontation and the European persistence in the establishment of total control, the Kroikhoi lost their position, they were reduced to servitude. He Dutch administered severe punishment to indigenous inhabitants, like beating and exile to Robben Island (Thompson 2001, 62). In 1973, and the epidemics of smallpox became the final ordeal for the Khoikhoi and the whites established total control over the fertile territory (Thompson 2001, 38). Though indigenous people tried with all their might to stop the invasion of the foreigners, they fought, they did not trade, the Europeans still managed to conquer their territory. And the final option was to become servants of the Europeans. The final thing to mention is that the Whites rarely made any distinction between their slaves and their servants belonging to indigenous people.
Drawing a conclusion, it is possible to say that the indigenous peoples of South Africa had been rather developed and diverse before the European conquest. There was no serious animosity among the tribes and they managed to coexist together and even share certain common cultural and economic features. With the beginning of the European invasion, situation changed for the worst and it was more and more aggravated by constant conflicts that finally resulted in submission of the indigenous people and loss of their cultural and historical identity.
Reference
Thompson, Leonard. 2001. The History of South Africa. USA: Yale University Press.