Khoikhoi

The Khoikhoi (Khoekhoe), praise-name for the Khoe-speaking pastoralists, Inqua, Griqua, Gonaqua, Nama and their sisters, once moved Nguni cattle across the Cape in the 17th century. Grouped with San foragers as Khoisan, they diverged from other humans 100,000 to 200,000 years ago by genetics' count; their Khoe tongues join Khwe and Tshwa dialects in one family. Mostly giving up nomadism in the 19th and 20th centuries, Nama, Damara and Griqua towns keep the matjies reed houses, the praise poetry and the Namaqualand flower seasons. Dutch and British land theft broke the great herds, and Hottentot, the old slur, is buried. Nama herders still move goats across the dry lands. Griqua towns still elect their own councils. Khwe and Tshwa cousins share the Khoe family. Cape Town's first residents herded where the city stands. The old slur is banned from every schoolbook. Namaqualand herders, Griqua councils and Windhoek Khoekhoe classes keep the praise-name nation speaking.