The KhoiKhoi

Before Imperialism

Family Life

       A family consisted of intermediate members that made up a Khoikhoi's village, or clan. Each clan was distinguished by its male descendants, who mingled with friendly neighboring villages to find wives and encourage bountiful offspring (Boyce). A single village consisted of ten to twelve huts, and together the villages  create a larger sanction of land (CHNM). The Khoikhoi tribe is essentially a large area of land connected by the many families who share common descendants.


Village Life

The group of families that make up a village are overseen by the tribe headman, or leader (Boyce). Men were charged with more important tasks, like guarding the herds of animals, as well as hunting and preparing poisons and other useful tools (CHNM). The women maintained the traditional household-keeper role, and were not too intimately involved with the "official" business of the village. However, some experts believe that women were involved with trade agreements, as well as other matters that the Khoikhoi men usually took care of (CHNM).


Intellectual Curiosity

        Previously thought a rather primitive group of humans, the Khoikhoi legacy was given a boost of self-confidence when a Khoisan mummy was excavated by Dr Johan Binneman of the Albany Museum (Dispatch). "The mummy," says the deputy director of arts and culture in the Humansdorp area, John Witbooi, "had been preserved with plants, [showing] the intelligence of the Khoi people" (Dispatch). The Khoikhoi were even creating art around 11,000 B.C.; cave paintings were discovered on rocks in southern Africa (Kidipede). Evidence of the intellectual development of the Khoikhoi shows their ingenuity to make pottery around 2,000 years ago (Smith).