Griqua people

Griquas

Griekwa
Adam Kok III The Captain of the Griqua people
Total population
775,000 Coloured Afrikaans outside the Cape
Regions with significant populations
South Africa, Namibia
Languages
Afrikaans English IsiXhosa Korana Tswana Xiri[1]
Religion
Christian Protestant denominations, particularly Dutch Reformed Calvinist
Related ethnic groups
Coloureds, Khoikhoi, Basters, Oorlam, Afrikaners, Tswana, Xhosa

Griqua People also known as Griekwa, Chariqua, Korana or Koranna can be found in South Africa and Namibia, they are related to the Khoisan People.The name Griqua (Griekwa in Afrikaans) is of Khoekhoe origin. The kind Griqua representative Thys Mentoor (interview, March 6, 2009) explained the significance of the ethnonym in his mother tongue Afrikaans:

"Grie beteken mense and "kwa beteken ook mense.^[2] The Griquas are a unique ethnic group of Southern Africa. They are South Africa's first multiracial nation.^[3][4]

The Griquas are a subgroup of mixed-race heterogeneous former Xiri languages ^[1]-speaking nations in South Africa with a unique origin in the early history of the Dutch Cape Colony.^[5] The Griquas had ancestors from two groups: the Koks and the Barendse. The Koks were mostly Khoikhoi, and the Barendse were a mix of Khoikhoi and European people (Griqua | South African History Online).^[6] These predominantly Khoi indigenous people were reclassified as "Coloured" in the 1950s by the apartheid government.^[7] They undertook a migration away from the Cape colony, forming two "Griqua States" formerly known as Griqualand West and later Griqualand East. When the Boers and colonial masters came to what was then called Griqualand West, they stopped the Griquas from developing in the ways that they saw fit. Their land and native resources were taken away from them, and they were thrown into a sea of fast social change. This made them lose the freedom they had been looking for in the Orange Free State area. (Griqua | South African History Online) In 1826 a group of emigrants from Griquatown under Adam Kok II was allowed to settle at the mission station of Philippolis in the Transgariep. This became the capital of a new Griqua Captaincy, which for several decades was an important factor in the politics of the Northern frontier and the cause of the British Government first becoming involved in the affairs of the area (Schoeman, K, 2002).^[8] Similar to the Trekboers^[9][10] (another Afrikaans-speaking group of the time), they originally populated the frontiers of the nascent Cape Colony (founded in 1652). The men of their semi-nomadic society formed commando units of mounted gunmen. Like the Boers they migrated inland from the Cape and in the 19th century established several states in what is now South Africa and Namibia. Under the supervise of Adam Kok I, they held ceremonies celebrating the virginity of their young daughters. (Griqua people AFRICA/101 Last Tribes) The Griqua, who originated through the interracial marriages and relations between the KhoiKhoi people and the European Colonists, consider themselves as being South Africa’s first multiracial nation with people descended directly from Dutch settlers in the Cape, and local peoples.^[11]