Editing History of South Africa (section)

===San and Khoikhoi===
The descendants of the Middle Paleolithic populations are thought to be the aboriginal [[San people|San]] and [[Khoikhoi]] tribes. These are collectively known as the ''[[Khoisan]]'', a modern European portmanteau of these two tribes' names. The settlement of southern Africa by the Khoisan corresponds to the [[Early human migrations#Within Africa|earliest separation]] of the extant ''Homo sapiens'' populations altogether, associated in genetic science with what is described in scientific terms as matrilinear [[haplogroup L0]] (mtDNA) and patrilinear [[Haplogroup A (Y-DNA)|haplogroup A]] (Y-DNA), originating in a northwestern area of southern Africa.<ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Chen YS, Olckers A, Schurr TG, Kogelnik AM, Huoponen K, Wallace DC |title= mtDNA variation in the South African Kung and Khwe, and their genetic relationships to other African populations|doi=10.1086/302848|year=2000|journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics|volume=66|issue=4|pages=1362–83|pmid=10739760|pmc=1288201}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title= History of click-speaking populations of Africa inferred from mtDNA and Y chromosome genetic variation|pmid= 17656633|url= http://www.africandna.com/ScienPapers%5CHistory_of_Click-Speaking_Populations_of_Africa.pdf|year= 2007|last1= Tishkoff|first1= SA|last2= Gonder|first2= MK|last3= Henn|first3= BM|last4= Mortensen|first4= H|last5= Knight|first5= A|last6= Gignoux|first6= C|last7= Fernandopulle|first7= N|last8= Lema|first8= G|last9= Nyambo|first9= TB|last10= Ramakrishnan|first10= U.|last11= Reed|first11= F. A.|last12= Mountain|first12= J. L.|volume= 24|issue= 10|pages= 2180–95|doi= 10.1093/molbev/msm155|journal= Molecular Biology and Evolution|display-authors= 8|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110420053808/http://www.africandna.com/ScienPapers%5CHistory_of_Click-Speaking_Populations_of_Africa.pdf|archive-date= 20 April 2011|df= dmy-all|doi-access= free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Schlebusch CM, Naidoo T, Soodyall H |title=SNaPshot minisequencing to resolve mitochondrial macro-haplogroups found in Africa|doi=10.1002/elps.200900197|year=2009|journal=Electrophoresis|volume=30|issue=21|pages=3657–64|pmid=19810027|s2cid=19515426}}</ref>

The San and Khoikhoi are essentially distinguished only by their respective occupations. Whereas the San were hunter-gatherers, the Khoikhoi were pastoral herders.<ref>Area Study – South Africa, US Library of Congress [http://countrystudies.us/south-africa/2.htm ''The Earliest South Africans'']</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Barnard|first=Alan|title=Anthropology and the Bushman|year=2007|publisher=Berg|location=Oxford|isbn=9781847883308|pages=4–7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e3MihaaJ314C}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Who are the San? – San Map|url=http://www.wim-sa.org/about-the-san/who-are-the-san|publisher=WIMSA|access-date=13 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140113052634/http://www.wim-sa.org/about-the-san/who-are-the-san|archive-date=13 January 2014|url-status=usurped|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The initial origin of the Khoikhoi remains uncertain.<ref>[[Karim Sadr]], [http://www.karimsadr.com/resources/Sadr%202008%20SAH.pdf ''Invisible Herders: The Archaeology of Khoekhoe Pastoralists,''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151120051616/http://www.karimsadr.com/resources/Sadr%202008%20SAH.pdf |date=20 November 2015 }} [[University of the Witwatersrand|University of Witwatersrand]], South Africa</ref><ref>C. Garth Sampson, [http://www.nieu-bethesda.com/images/stories/history/prehistoricherders.pdf ''Prehistoric Livestock Herders in the Upper Seacow River Valley'']{{Dead link|date=July 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Archaeological discoveries of livestock bones on the [[Cape Peninsula]] indicate that the Khoikhoi began to settle there by about 2000 years ago.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Arthur | first = Charles | title = The archaeology of indigenous herders in the Western Cape of South Africa | journal = Southern African Humanities | volume = 20 | pages = 205–220 | location = Pietermaritzburg | date = December 2008 | url = http://www.sahumanities.org/ojs/index.php/SAH/article/viewFile/235/194 | access-date = 22 January 2017 | archive-date = 5 February 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170205014500/http://www.sahumanities.org/ojs/index.php/SAH/article/viewFile/235/194 }}</ref>
In the late 15th and early 16th centuries, Portuguese mariners, who were the first Europeans at the Cape, encountered pastoral Khoikhoi with livestock.
Later, English and Dutch seafarers in the late 16th and 17th centuries exchanged metals for cattle and sheep with the Khoikhoi.
The conventional view is that availability of livestock was one reason why, in the mid-17th century, the Dutch East India Company established a staging post where the port city of Cape Town is today situated.

The establishment of the staging post by the [[Dutch East India Company]] at the Cape in 1652 soon brought the Khoikhoi into conflict with Dutch settlers over land ownership. Competition between Dutch and Khoikhoi pastoralists over grazing land led to livestock theft and conflict.<ref>{{cite web |title=How Indigenous South Africans Resisted The First European Intruders |url=https://www.africarebirth.com/how-indigenous-south-africans-resisted-the-first-european-intruders/ |website=Africa Rebirth |date=24 October 2023 |access-date=13 March 2024}}</ref> The Khoikhoi were ultimately expelled from the peninsula by force, after a succession of wars. The first Khoikhoi–Dutch War broke out in 1659, the second in 1673, and the third 1674–1677.<ref name="sahistory">{{cite web |publisher= sahistory.org.za |date= 21 November 2006 |title= Chronology of the 1600s at the Cape |url= http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/chronology/general/1600.htm |access-date= 18 April 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110606163252/http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/chronology/general/1600.htm |archive-date= 6 June 2011 }}</ref> By the time of their defeat and expulsion from the Cape Peninsula and surrounding districts, the Khoikhoi population was decimated by a [[smallpox epidemic]] introduced by Dutch sailors against which the Khoikhoi had no natural resistance or indigenous medicines.<ref>SA History Online, [http://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/smallpox-epidemic-strikes-cape Smallpox epidemic strikes Cape]</ref>