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Showing posts with the label South Africa

The First Genocide of the 20th Century

Germany's colonial rule of what became modern Namibia was not only responsible for killing 10,000 Nama (a subgroup of Khoi people), it was also responsible for the deaths of thousands of Herero people (part of the Bantu group). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herero_and_Namaqua_Genocide * Germany has only recently (2004) apologized for this massacre, but it is doubtful that monetary compensation is forthcoming.   http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3565938.stm

Who Are/Were the Hottentots?

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Coetzee speaks of them in various books (especially in his autobiographical works; some essays): I believe he uses both the Dutch term: Hottentot (now considered offensive), and the name these people called themselves: Khoikhoi or Khoi. I believe he also says that these natives have pretty much disappeared, or were largely absorbed into the "coloured"  of South Africa. Here's part of what Wikipedia says: The Khoikhoi ("people people" or "real people") or Khoi , in standardised Khoekhoe/ Nama orthography spelled Khoekhoe , are a historical division of the Khoisan ethnic group, the native people of southwestern Africa , closely related to the Bushmen (or San , as the Khoikhoi called them). They had lived in southern Africa since the 5th century AD . [1] When European immigrants colonized the area in 1652, the Khoikhoi were practising extensive pastoral agriculture in the Cape region, with large herds of Nguni cattle . The European immigrants ...