Genocide of Khoekhoe and San Peoples of Southern Africa

In Southern Africa, like many other parts of the world including the Americas, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific, a significant proportion of the genocides of indigenous peoples took place during the course of colonial expansion (Gordon and Douglas, 2000; Gall, 2001; Hitchcock and Twedt, 2009). In 1652, when Europeans established a full-time presence in Southern Africa, there were some 300,000 San and 600,000 Khoekhoe in Southern Africa. During the early phases of European colonization, tens of thousands of Khoekhoe and San peoples ¹ lost their lives as a result of genocide, murder, physical mistreatment, and disease (Philip, 1828; Moodie, 1838, 1841; Theal, 1919; Elphick, 1977; Gordon, 1985, 1989, 2009; Gordon and Douglas, 2000; Skotnes, 1996a, 1996b; Morris, 1996; Gall, 2001; Brantlinger, 2003, pp. 68–93; Crais and Scully, 2009). There were cases of “Bushman hunting” in which commandos (mobile paramilitary units or posses) sought to dispatch San and Khoekhoe in various parts of Southern Africa (Wright, 1971; Marks, 1972; Penn, 1995, 2006).