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Khoekhoe (/ˈkɔɪkɔɪ/ KOY-koy) (or Khoikhoi in former orthography)[a] are the traditionally nomadic pastoralist indigenous population of South Africa. They are often grouped with the hunter-gatherer San (literally "Foragers") peoples.[2] The designation "Khoekhoe" is actually a kare or praise address, not an ethnic endonym, but it has been used in the literature as an ethnic term for Khoe-speaking peoples of Southern Africa, particularly pastoralist groups, such as the Griqua, Gona, Nama, Khoemana and Damara nations. The Khoekhoe were once known as Hottentots, a term now considered offensive.[3]
While the presence of Khoekhoe in Southern Africa predates the Bantu expansion, according to a scientific theory based mainly on linguistic evidence,[citation needed] it is not clear when, possibly in the Late Stone Age, the Khoekhoe began inhabiting the areas where the first contact with Europeans occurred.[2] At that time, in the 17th century, the Khoekhoe maintained large herds of Nguni cattle in the Cape region.[according to whom?][citation needed] They mostly gave up nomadic pastoralism in the 19th to 20th century.[4]
Their Khoekhoe language is related to certain dialects spoken by foraging San peoples of the Kalahari, such as the Khwe and Tshwa, forming the Khoe language family. Khoekhoe subdivisions today are the Nama people of Namibia, Botswana and South Africa (with numerous clans), the Damara of Namibia, the Orana clans of South Africa (such as Nama or Ngqosini), the Khoemana or Griqua nation of South Africa, and the Gqunukhwebe or Gona clans which fall under the Xhosa-speaking polities.[5]
The Xirikua clans (Griqua) developed their own ethnic identity in the 19th century and settled in Griqualand West. Later, they formed another independent state in Kwazulu Natal named Griqualand East, unfortunately losing their independence barely a decade later to the British. They are related to the same kinds of clan formations as Rehoboth Basters, who could also be considered a "Khoekhoe" people.[according to whom?][citation needed]
The nomadic pastoral Khoikhoi kraals were dispersed and their organization and culture broken. However, their successors, the trekboers and their Khoikhoi servants, managed flocks and herds similar to those of the Khoikhois. The trekboers had adapted to African-style, extensive pastoralism in this region. In order to obtain optimal pasture for their animals, early settlers imitated the Khoikhoi seasonal transhumance movements and those observed in the larger wild herbivores.
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