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The term "Khoisan" collectively refers to various indigenous hunter-gatherer tribes of Southern Africa, comprising two evolutionarily related but culturally distinct groups that have lived in the region for up to 140,000 years. The Khoikhoi and Sān, often grouped under the single term "Khoesān," represent the indigenous populations of Southern Africa before the arrival of Bantu-speaking peoples, which occurred approximately 1,500 to 2,000 years ago. Many Khoisān peoples are believed to be direct descendants of an early migration of anatomically modern humans to Southern Africa over 150,000 years ago. Around 22,000 years ago, they were the largest human group on Earth.
The Sān are traditionally known as foragers in the Kalahari Desert and other regions such as Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, and Northern South Africa. The term "Sān," derived from the Khoikhoi language, refers to foragers ("those who pick things up from the ground") who do not own livestock, distinguishing them from pastoralist or agriculturalist communities. Today, only about 100,000 Khoisan, also known as Bushmen, remain. They are often described as the world’s oldest people or Africa’s first people due to their genetic retention of ancient Homo sapiens elements.
Origins:
It is suggested that the ancestors of the modern Khoisan migrated to southern Africa from East or Central Africa before 150,000 years ago. By the onset of the "mega-drought" 130,000 years ago, two ancestral population clusters existed in Africa: the ancestors of the Khoisan and the bearers of haplogroup L1-6 in central and eastern Africa, who were ancestral to everyone else. This ancient group gave rise to the San population of hunter-gatherers, whose nearest living relatives are believed to be the Hadzabe people of north-central Tanzania and the Mbuti pygmies of the eastern Congo.
Language:
Khoisan languages are notable for their click consonants and are not related to other African language families. While once thought to be genealogically related, these languages are now considered to comprise three distinct language families and two language isolates. The abundance of click consonants, particularly in the Khoisan languages, is believed by linguists to indicate their ancient origins, with some languages featuring as many as five distinct clicks, making them among the most complex in the world.
Appearance:
The Khoisan are generally lighter-skinned than many of their neighbors, though they do not carry European or Asian DNA. Charles Darwin discussed the Khoisan and sexual selection in his 1882 work The Descent of Man, noting that their steatopygia, most prominent in females, likely evolved through sexual selection. Like East Asians, many Khoisan individuals have epicanthic folds, but contrary to speculation, they do not possess Asian DNA. Instead, their genetic lineage is far older, dating back to before the first migration of Homo sapiens out of Africa around 80,000 years ago. Therefore, it is more accurate to say that East Asians may have inherited DNA from the Khoisan rather than the reverse.
The San people are renowned for their expertise in surviving off the land, finding water where none seems to exist, and using over 1,000 different plants for food and medicine. For example, the Hoodia gordonii cactus, traditionally used by the San to suppress hunger and provide energy, is now incorporated into modern weight-loss drugs.
Khoisan People: The Oldest Humans on Earth?
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