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In-Depth Information
ety. Use of fire was universal, tools (made from wood and animal products as well as
stone) had become more sophisticated and natural pigments were being used for personal
adornment. From around 8000 BC (the late Stone Age) they began producing pottery, and
started to occupy rock shelters and caves such as those at Twyfelfontein, Brandberg and
the Tsodilo Hills in Botswana.
The Settlement of Namibia
The archaeological connection between the late Stone Age people and the first Khoisan
arrivals isn't clear, but it is generally accepted that the earliest documented inhabitants of
Southern Africa were the San, a nomadic people organised into extended family groups
who were able to adapt to the severe terrain.
During the early Iron Age, between 2300 and 2400 years ago, rudimentary farming
techniques appeared on the plateaus of south-central Africa. However, whether or not the
earliest farmers were Khoisan, who had adapted to a settled existence, or migrants from
East and Central Africa, remains in question. Regardless, as the centuries came and went,
Bantu-speaking groups began to arrive in sporadic southward waves.
The first agriculturists and iron workers of definite Bantu origin belonged to the
Gokomere culture. They settled the temperate savannah and cooler uplands of southeast-
ern Zimbabwe, and were the first occupants of the Great Zimbabwe site. Cattle ranching
became the mainstay of the community, and earlier hunting and gathering San groups re-
treated to the west, or were enslaved and/or absorbed.
At the same time, the San communities were also coming under pressure from the
Khoikhoi (the ancestors of the Nama), who probably entered the region from the south.
The Khoikhoi were organised loosely into tribal groups, and were distinguished by their
reliance on raising livestock. They gradually displaced the San, becoming the dominant
group in the region until around 1500 AD.
During the 16th century, the Herero arrived in Namibia from the Zambezi Valley, and
proceeded to occupy the north and west of the country. As ambitious pastoralists, they in-
evitably came into conflict with the Khoikhoi over the best grazing lands and water
sources. Eventually, given their superior strength and numbers, the Herero came to domin-
ate nearly all of the indigenous Namibian groups. By the late 19th century a new Bantu
group, the Owambo, settled in the north along the Okavango and Kunene Rivers.
European Exploration & Incursion
In 1486 the Portuguese captain Diego Cão sailed as far south as Cape Cross, where he
erected a stone cross in tribute to his royal patron, João II. The following year, another
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