Khoisan

Khoisan (also spelled Khoesaan, Khoesan or Khoe-San) is a unifying name for two ethnic groups of Southern Africa, who share physical and putative linguistic characteristics distinct from the Bantu majority of the region.

Culturally, the Khoisan are divided into the foraging San and the pastoral Khoi.

The San include the original inhabitants of Southern Africa before the southward Bantu migrations from Central and East Africa reached their region, which led to Bantu farmers replacing the Khoi and San as the predominant population.

Khoi pastoralists apparently arrived in Southern Africa shortly before the Bantu.

Over time, some Khoi abandoned pastoralism and adopted the hunter-gatherer economy of the San, likely due to a drying climate, and are now considered San.

Similarly, the Bantu Damara later abandoned agriculture and adopted the Khoi economy.

Large Khoisan populations remain in several arid areas in the region, notably in the Kalahari Desert.Other terms used to describe the Khoisan people include Bushmen, referring to the San, and Hottentot, referring to the Khoi or Khoe.

Khoi derives from the old Nama word for "person", while Khoe is the modern Nama word.

"Bushmen" is still being used by some individuals, though considered obsolete by others (the use of "San" is politically correct, despite its origins as a derogatory Khoe term for the Bushmen), while "Hottentot" is generally considered derogatory and is no longer used ("Khoe" should be used instead).San community representatives declared a preference to be known either by their individual community names (!Xun or ‡Khomani, for example) or collectively as Bushmen, rather than as San or Khoisan.

If the Bushmen need to be grouped with the Khoe pastoralist groups, the term Khoe–San is preferred.

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